Protect Your Domain Name

I can't blog about it enough. There are still web designers out there who will steal your domain name and try to sell it back to you. Basically, what they do is register the domain name for you but put themselves as the owner, not you. I personally know several small business owners that this has happened to, right here in the Inland Empire, and they can’t afford the legal costs of a resolution.

Make sure you are the “Owner” and/or “Registrant” of your domain name. The best way to ensure this is to go to a domain registrar website and register it yourself -- even if you’ve been promised a “free” domain name from your web designer. You can get a “.com”, “.net” or “.org” name for less than $10 these days. If you do register the name yourself, don’t get seduced into buying additional domain-related products that you may not want or need (email accounts, hosting, SSL, privacy, etc.) and make SURE the registrar website allows easy access to a control panel that lets you modify your nameservers – sounds a little techie but that is crucial to the ability to host your website anywhere you choose.

I've been registering domain names through Christian Web Site for years with no problems and I've also been registering at iPower for the last year or so. Both sites offer domain names for under $10 and give control panel access to modify your nameservers. You can also try Yahoo and GoDaddy.

And, don’t forget the name of the website where you registered the name! Save your confirmation email in a safe place -- you'll need it later!