Sale Accelerator

Businesses and Domain Names 101

Understanding the fine points of your Business.com

In an evolving dot.com world it’s important to understand the structure of domain names for Businesses and how to avoid common misunderstandings and pitfalls of the system.  A Business can go though justifiable melt down surrounding this issue.  It’s important to know how domains registrations, management and renewals work within the relationship of their service providers.  There are some simple guidelines that can provide you with valuable wisdom around this evolving subject. 

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions and their answers you can share with anyone in your organization that this responsibility falls on.

1)      What is a domain name?  www. (anything in between) .com .net or any other extension is considered and Internet domain name

2)      How can my web provider end up owning my pre-existing domain name?  There are a few ways this can happen.   New registrations.  Most service provider’s bulk registration accounts have pre-set registrant data that is listed on all new listings.  Renewal errors. This is common is when a web developer that manages the account uses the domain owners credit card to renew and the card is declined by the registrar.  When this happens some providers apply the charge to the managing company’s primary account, which can often switch registered ownership and contact information.  This can be a nightmare for all parties and as of 2008 that seems to be an issue of the past.  Renewal default settings. Frequently domain names can change hands by simply renewing a name with new payee information.  The best preventative maintenance is to check your domain names yearly and know the renewal date.  Most developers manage thousands of names and it can be nearly impossible to manually cross reference them all without hiring a full time staff.

3)      Can I manage my own registration account?  Yes.   Within just the last 6 months we have been able to create sub accounts with individual passwords for separate clients making management and yearly renewal payments less hassle.  Migrating old accounts to new platforms has proven to be a hassle but is expected to become manageable as domain registrar providers advance their technologies.

4)      Are there disadvantages of self managed domains?  Yes several.  First, most people forget to renew them.  One day they wake up and their website is down.  This is usually followed by less than friendly calls to the developer.  72 hours later the web-developer calls after discovering the domain name wasn’t renewed and as a result the name has to be redeemed, which usually costs $150.00 and brings the site down for as much as a week.  The key is a failsafe alarm clock or just register domains for several years at a time.  The second biggest issue is server pointing.  Developers often re-point websites to upgraded and new equipment.  Without access to the domain, this responsibility falls on the owner.  Usually it becomes a hassle resulting in sufficient down time.  Developers manage I.P. addresses in clusters so domains outside the group can be very difficult to track.  Also domains have both web records and e-mail records.  In the event of an outage the developer must be able to trouble shoot the issue, which requires either access to domain name records or instant collaboration from the technical contact listed on the record.  The easiest solution for these two challenges, if domains are self controlled, is to hire a full time I.T. person who has experience in the field.  Even so your guaranteed triple the down time but while it’s a costly solution it may be worth the investment if you have enough records to manage or a large enough email user base.  Finally when your domain name is managed by the provider you won’t get scammed by all those fake renewal notices that we’ve all received in the mail.

5)      Can a provider hold up the transfer of a domain name due to non-payment of services?  Yes.   Once service is interrupted due to non payment, it of course must be restored again to complete the transfer, which is a part of the service most of us are paying for in the first place.  It would be like not paying a cell bill and then trying to move the delinquent phone number to another cell company to get out of paying charges due. 

6)      What is the relationship between email and domain names?  While in the physical world we can’t be in two places at one time, in the internet world that’s not the case.  You see each single domain name actually is in two places at once.  One part of the domain points to the web or www address of the website itself and the other part points to the email server hosting the domain’s email.  So in essence domains must be dually managed.  The key is to have both web and mail managed in the same place.  Especially for the auto industry where the primary purpose of the website is to generate leads.  The primary advantage of this method is the fact that a developer can test the leads from the website all the way to the mail server, which keeps finger pointing down to a minimum.

7)      What is the relationship between administrative, billing and technical contacts on my domain record?  In essence each record will be in receipt of different notices as the occasion arises.  Technical aspects of the site can be managed by a qualified technical person, while other aspects such as billing notices can go to say the accounting department.

8)      How much should I pay for domain registrations and renewals?  Depending on volume and service provider between 5.95 and 12.95 per year.  Some providers will give discounts or multiple year registrations.

9)      How valuable is my domain name?  That all depends.  If it is the name of your Businesses then its value is clearly high on the food chain.  If it is a lead generating name then it is as valuable as your current month’s ad budget.  Advertising can be decreased as the result of continued marketing, creating an exciting suspended value but pull the plug all together and you’re looking at a short shelf life.  Finally a name is as valuable as the conversion rate it can produce in terms of visitors to leads.  This is more a measure of your developer than a name.

10)   Who in my organization should be in charge of domain names? Either a qualified I.T. employee whom is governed under a similar agreement as a standard service provider or the business principal or all of the above.  Many times when management moves from one store to another, small details such as domain names can be completely forgotten about until the need arises.  I.T. employees by contrast don’t overlook these kinds of details as it is a standard part of their job description and is a piece of their employee agreement.

11)   What do I do if one of my managers is listed on my domain who as left the company and is now unreachable?  A simple notarized change request letter to the domain provider on company letter head will usually suffice and typically takes less than two weeks.

12)   What are some examples of problematic domain issues that can be avoided through best practices?  The list is almost endless.  Just in the past year we have seen several circumstances surrounding some easily avoidable issues.  In one case a dealer from the northeast coast left their domain name on our registrar for nearly two years after the service expired.  With all the names we register we never even noticed and subsequently and unknowingly paid all the costs associated with the name free of charge.  That was mildly humorous.  What was not funny was when their current provider dropped their email record bringing down the whole Business’s email system, resulting in a rightfully upset friend angry at completely the wrong person.  These situations can be difficult to explain when someone is panicking over their much needed email and are easily avoidable.  Providers have witnessed attempts to try to abscond with services, back-date notices, have ex-employees try and get money they didn’t earn and so on. 

For example when our dealer in Houston acquired a new Dodge Dealership we learned that the domain was owned by a scalper.  Every time we sent him a notice to relinquish the domain he would transfer ownership to another fictitious company making it nearly impossible to pin him down.  In the end we were able to find his primary hosting provider and after holding them accountable through some well crafted letters, the domain name was magically released saving our client tens of thousands in legal fees.  The ideal situation would have been to secure the name before the Business was purchased.  Luckily I enjoyed the hunt.  Sort of.

Conclusion:

Most domain related challenges are the result of simple confusions, which when understood are not so seemingly scary.  Through a crash course in domainology, businesses can install best-practices and sleep better at night.  Providers are typically more motivated for clients to have a grasp on the inner workings of their domains than the clients themselves.  This is due to the fact that in nearly 100% of the time fingers are pointed at the provider in the event of a misfire, which only reflects unjustly on the provider.  As a result providers are always eager to provide a helpful and free course on domain name CPR.