If I hear one more story of a small business losing their domain name, I am going to explode. I mean it, I’m talking spontaneous combustion!
There are a few absolutes when it comes to marketing, and one of them is you MUST own and be in control of your domain name. Just in case I am speaking a tech language you don’t understand, your domain name is your web address. (example: www.yourcompanyname.com)
Whether you are working with a design company or your brother-in-law’s sister’s cousin’s uncle, you need to be in control of this stuff. If working with a firm, get it in writing that you own the domain. That way, if you decide not to work with them at some point, they don’t walk away with your domain name. If you are working with a friend or family member, you should be in control of the hosting and domain name. It isn’t hard, just have the friend or family member sit down with you and set everything up on those items using your name and email. That way, you will get any notices that something is going to expire and can take action. This is a frequent problem when businesses do stuff through a friend or family member. If the Dallas Cowboys can lose their domain name by not paying close enough attention, then it can happen to anyone.
Think of your domain name as real estate. Over time, it builds up equity online. If you lose your name and have to start over, all that equity is gone. This stuff is important and does require your attention.
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I’m with you on domain control. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to help a client try to regain a domain that they let someone register for them.
It looks like you had the same inspiration as I did when the Cowboys website went down.
I wrote a similar post on Power Creative’s digital marketing blog at http://www.powercreative.com/blogs/digital-marketing/be-master-your-own-domains-part-1 .
It is a sad tale I have heard too often. Thanks for the comments.
One of the many things that wind me up is businesses (not all of them small ones at that) using generic providers for their email – yahoo, gmail etc.
Not only does this blow all of their other lovely branding out of the water but, as a consumer, it’s a nightmare to remember which provider they’ve used.
Bill@fontainemarketing.com is great.
Billsmithcarpets@fontainemarketing.com – or was it .yahoo.com? yahoo.co.uk perhaps? And so on…
It’s such a simple, cheap thing to do and yet many businesses don’t seem to care… If you’re interested, the argument is continued here: http://interacter.wordpress.com/2010/09/12/small-businesses-dont-give-a-stuff-about-their-email-addresses/
All the best
Neil
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