Wouldn't it be scary to think that you may have signed the 'deed' to your web domain over to a stranger? Don't let me scare you too much, but a little fear (i.e. healthy respect) is good for business, right? Are you too small an operation to think about this now? Could you have already given away the store? Don't think you have? Are you sure? Can you prove ownership in a court of law? Does the 'deed' have an expiration date? If it does, do you know when that is? If there's a typographical error in the company name, or address, do you know how to fix it?
First priority for you as a current or future domain owner; You must safeguard the 'deed' to your internet property. No-one else will do that for you. There will always be those aiming to steal it out from under your very nose. Even the folks that aren't out to get you can make a mistake that can cost you hours of work to repair.
reg·is·trar: an official recorder or keeper of records: as
a : an officer of an educational institution responsible for registering students, keeping academic records, and corresponding with applicants and evaluating their credentials
b : an admitting officer at a hospital.
Let me explain; your internet real-estate, in many respects, IS the domain name for your business web site. A domain registrar holds the public record of your 'deed' to that real-estate. The registrar entry lists who is legitimately involved with any domain name.
Think of your domain name registration (at NetworkSolutions.net, ICAAN.net, Register.com, etc.) as a unique and well known 1-800 phone number and the hosting of your website as your business building. The phone number can go with you from building to building, address to address, state to state and everyone recognizes it. Indexes that the search engines have created will point to your 1-800 number no matter what building (web host) it's connected with.
There are at least three offices associated with any registered domain name. They are the Administrative Contact, Technical Contact and Billing Contact. What do these mean to you as a domain owner?
For a well written and brief article about this please read http://www.mymommybiz.com/webhost/domainnamecontact.html
Be aware that your email address recorded with the Admin Contact information is very, very important. This is the channel through which the Registrar will confirm your authority to request the changes to your domain records. If it is incorrect, there may be some very difficult steps ahead of you to correct this.
Also monitor the expiration date of your domain record. Every domain registrar tracks this and you can easily find out what that date is. Watch for it and don't let it lapse. This would be an open invitation for the 'bad guys' to snatch it up and do anything they want with the domain. Like turn it into an online casino, get rich quick scheme or worse; a porn site. Just think of all the existing links to you from other web sites and search engines that will then point 'your' visitors to this new web site!
Learn to read your site traffic reports. It is important that your web host provides up-to-date and clearly understandable statistics. Without this skill, how are you going to be able to monitor the effectiveness of your web site efforts? Ask us to help you with this, we'd love to teach you how!
Make the web site part of your overall business strategy. Make sure everyone that answers inquires, knows what functions and information the web site has and how it is organized so they can direct inquiries to the web site for the latest and greatest. This will increase visits and repeat visits. Referring a caller to the page with the right answer will also reduce time consuming "frequently asked question" phone calls.
OK, in light of this information, lets discuss the situation for your domains. Contact us for a more detailed discussion of this.
If you are visiting our web site and feel you need more information, then please give us a phone call and setup a face-to-face meeting so we can review your situation to help you become an online success. Then we can discuss the next steps to improve your web presence and your bottom line.