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Protecting your Domain Name.
by Bj aka Bill Brown Hosting and Backup Service provider
Bj aka Bill Brown 
Hosting and Backup Service...
Protecting your Domain Name.
After reading the reply from Venerina in my article Why do you need your own Web Site and Domain name? Saying how she lost her domain name and web site, I thought I would also give some information on how to protect your domain name to prevent you ending up in a similar situation.
The first thing to do is secure your Domain Name yourself, DO NOT let someone else purchase it for you.
I know there are hosting companies around that offer you a domain name if you host with them. However as you can see from Venerina's post this is definitely NOT a good idea.
When they buy a Domain Name for you it is registered to them and they are the legal owner as far as the registrar's are concerned. It makes no difference to them that you can produce proof of payment to the person that registered it showing that the payment is for the domain name or not.
Some companies, including a very large one that is well know, will absolutely not let you keep your domain name if you do not host with them. I know several cases where people are very unhappy with the support they get and want to change hosting companies, however if they do, they lose their domain name because the company will not put any Domain Name Servers in the information except their own, and they will not give you a release code so you can transfer your Domain name to another registrar.
This means they are held to ransom to stay with a company that is giving them inefficient support.
If they leave that hosting company then they will have to start all over with a new domain name, rebuild all their traffic they have managed to build up, and the traffic that was going to their site would end up going to the companies default page. luring other unsuspecting people into joining them only to be treated just as badly as the person that left.
At lowcost-webspace.com We tell all our clients that ask if we provide the Domain name that they need to purchase their own Domain Name and we explain the above to them.
So lets go through the actual registration of a Domain name.
First you need a reliable Registrar. For this I recommend NameCheap.com.
If you do not have a Domain name but want one you can either Register for an account first or during the purchasing process you will be asked to create an account if you don't have one.
If you do not want to use your Credit Card you can transfer funds from paypal but naturally you would in this case have to create the account first, then fund it from paypal. In this case create an account and make sure you transfer enough from paypal to cover the paypal fees as well. Then from inside your account make your domain name purchase.
If you already have a domain name and you can get a release code from the person that registered it for you then sign up for an account, and from inside your account use the transfer domain option.
You will be required to pay for at least one years registration which will be added on to your current expiration date.
If, for example, your domain was due to expire in MAY 2008 and you transferred now (November 2007) your payment would extend your domain registration until MAY 2009. So you don't lose anything by doing this.
They will send you an email advising you to enter the release code. Once you do that things "Should" happen automatically within a few hours. Note I say "Should" as sometimes if the secure who is not unlocked as well then you cant transfer and you have to resubmit.
Once you get the confirmation that it has been transferred to you then all you have to do is go in and enter the Domain Name Servers given to you by your hosting company.
Nov 24th 2007 16:27
Hosting and Backup Service...Protecting your Domain Name.
After reading the reply from Venerina in my article Why do you need your own Web Site and Domain name? Saying how she lost her domain name and web site, I thought I would also give some information on how to protect your domain name to prevent you ending up in a similar situation.
The first thing to do is secure your Domain Name yourself, DO NOT let someone else purchase it for you.
I know there are hosting companies around that offer you a domain name if you host with them. However as you can see from Venerina's post this is definitely NOT a good idea.
When they buy a Domain Name for you it is registered to them and they are the legal owner as far as the registrar's are concerned. It makes no difference to them that you can produce proof of payment to the person that registered it showing that the payment is for the domain name or not.
Some companies, including a very large one that is well know, will absolutely not let you keep your domain name if you do not host with them. I know several cases where people are very unhappy with the support they get and want to change hosting companies, however if they do, they lose their domain name because the company will not put any Domain Name Servers in the information except their own, and they will not give you a release code so you can transfer your Domain name to another registrar.
This means they are held to ransom to stay with a company that is giving them inefficient support.
If they leave that hosting company then they will have to start all over with a new domain name, rebuild all their traffic they have managed to build up, and the traffic that was going to their site would end up going to the companies default page. luring other unsuspecting people into joining them only to be treated just as badly as the person that left.
At lowcost-webspace.com We tell all our clients that ask if we provide the Domain name that they need to purchase their own Domain Name and we explain the above to them.
So lets go through the actual registration of a Domain name.
First you need a reliable Registrar. For this I recommend NameCheap.com.
If you do not have a Domain name but want one you can either Register for an account first or during the purchasing process you will be asked to create an account if you don't have one.
If you do not want to use your Credit Card you can transfer funds from paypal but naturally you would in this case have to create the account first, then fund it from paypal. In this case create an account and make sure you transfer enough from paypal to cover the paypal fees as well. Then from inside your account make your domain name purchase.
If you already have a domain name and you can get a release code from the person that registered it for you then sign up for an account, and from inside your account use the transfer domain option.
You will be required to pay for at least one years registration which will be added on to your current expiration date.
If, for example, your domain was due to expire in MAY 2008 and you transferred now (November 2007) your payment would extend your domain registration until MAY 2009. So you don't lose anything by doing this.
They will send you an email advising you to enter the release code. Once you do that things "Should" happen automatically within a few hours. Note I say "Should" as sometimes if the secure who is not unlocked as well then you cant transfer and you have to resubmit.
Once you get the confirmation that it has been transferred to you then all you have to do is go in and enter the Domain Name Servers given to you by your hosting company.
Nov 24th 2007 16:27
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Comments
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Monika & Wayne T.
 Time TravellersThanks Bill, this info is invaluable to the new user. Great job. Nov 24th 2007 17:17 |
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Eric Smith
Online ProfessionalI know when i got my first domain package i used Yahoo Business Hosting and when i was ready for a faster more reliable server i had no way to get my domain name because i didn't realise how it all worked when i first registered it with yahoo. Someone has since told me they do have an out but it can be costly (so i'm told). Nov 24th 2007 17:36 |
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Jenny Stewart
 Good advice there BJ, The only safe way to have your own domain registered is in your own name! Jenny Nov 24th 2007 18:17 |
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Indrit Shkodra
Well, what do you think using an apache server, and NO-ip free. I am trying to do this but i am counting difficulties. Nov 25th 2007 04:15 |
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Bj aka Bill Brown
Hosting and Backup Service providerHi Indrit, Using Wamp on your PC is good for PHP/Mysql site development on your PC, providing you have a reasonably powerfull PC. With No -ip free you would not have your own domain name, and for any one doing marketing you cannot have the free version. They are also more expencive on their domain names Nov 25th 2007 08:49 |
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Bj aka Bill Brown
Hosting and Backup Service providerHi Mark, I quite often work with clients through Skype when they are ready to get their Domain Name, and assist them in finding something as close as possible to what they want if it is not free. But they still have to make the final decision and do the registration. I find doing it this way is the best. Nov 25th 2007 09:18 |
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Bj aka Bill Brown
Hosting and Backup Service providerHi Monika & Wayne Appreciate the feed back. Nov 25th 2007 09:19 |
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Bj aka Bill Brown
Hosting and Backup Service providerHi Eric, Well that was not the particular company I was thinking of, but yes another good example of how the big companies can hold you to ransom if you are not aware of this sort of thing. It also adds more proof that the only safe way is to buy your domain name yourself from a reliable registrar. As I said to Mark although I wont register a domain name for someone, I will work with them and help them to get it. Nov 25th 2007 09:55 |
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Mick R.
Webmaster & EntrepreneurHi This is another great and informative article, I would also recommend namecheap as i have used them for a few years now and never had a problem and the pricing is pretty good too, Specialy if your just starting out. Nov 25th 2007 13:26 |
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Bj aka Bill Brown
Hosting and Backup Service providerHi zzand, Thanks for backing up my confidence in namecheap. The only problems I have had so far are the ones created by the registrars that i am moving from while transfering my domains over to namecheap, but namecheap has not given any problems themselves. Dec 2nd 2007 20:18 |
Great Tips Bill! I always urge folks to register their own domain.
(plus I don't want the hassle when someone says they want GetMyDomain.com and all that is available is Get-My-Domain.info and you are ready to check out) most of the time the person requesting the domain is unavailable when you are doing a bulk registration anyway!)
Nov 24th 2007 16:43