My plea to anyone is to OWN YOUR STUFF! You should ensure you retain sole ownership of your Domain Name and ensure you understand your web and email hosting situations.

Understand how your domain name works and own it!

Your domain name is one of the first things your customers interact with when dealing with your business online.

When you purchase your domain, you do so at a “Domain Registrar”. This is very similar to registering your business with the state you reside in.

Many registrars such as GoDaddy offer several other services as well, including web hosting or email hosting.

Knowing WHO you have registered your domain with is extremely important and is the first step in total ownership of your digital brand.

Additionally – make sure YOU OWN YOUR DOMAIN! By owning, I mean:

• Your the primary contact on the account and your contact information is correct
• Your credit card is the one being billed
• Never share your login with anyone

I often see situations where web development agencies will register domains for their clients. Do not do this. Most registrars have tools to grant developer access to your domain for technical configuration.

Action Items – do this now:

• Where is your domain registered?
• Do you own the account that the domain is registered with?

If you don’t own the account – work with your developer or web agency to transfer ownership to an account you control NOW.

Your domain at work. Domain Name Settings.

Once you’ve purchased and registered your domain, the next step is to make it work for you.

Domains have a setting called “Nameserver” that is configured at the registrar. Essentially this setting POINTS your domain to a specific address that contains your Domain Name Settings (DNS).

By default, it points to the registrar unless changed.

The Domain Name Settings are a list of configurations (settings) for your domain to connect to other services such as email and your website. It’s literally just a list of instructions.

It’s normal to have the Domain Name Settings located on a different service – such as your web host. However – KNOWING WHERE is extremely important.

My recommendation for 90% of small business owners, is to keep your Nameserver pointed to your Registrar – this will make it so your DNS settings are at the Registrar and you have total control.

Action Items – do this now:

• Where are your Domain Name Settings right now? Who controls them?
• Do you have access? How can you get access?

If you don’t know, or can’t do this. Figure it out now before there’s an emergency! If it’s hosted at another vendor, make sure you have a plan if you stop working with them.