Domains: renting or owning

[bobbin]

Paul,  I don't know if I own my domain or not.  How do I find out and  how do I correct the oversight and switch from renting to owning?  Is owning a hugely expensive prospect or just one of those things that requires some money but doesn't leave you totally strapped?

[sofadoc]

Now that Paul explains it that way, I'm not sure whether I own or rent. My hosting company (local) took care of the domain registration. They told me that they would have to re-register it every year ($20 each time). So is that the same as renting?
That deal Paul mentioned about multiple domains for one price is interesting.

I remember someone here saying that even if all you have is a rough draft, go ahead and publish it. Don't hold off waiting until it's perfect.
I got a lot of business from my "rough draft". Maybe they were just being nice, but all my customers told me how much they liked it.

I piddled with one of those "build your own" places a couple of years ago. All the templates looked basically the same to me, and the pics I uploaded didn't come out well. Maybe they're easier to navigate now.

[mike802]

The first thing I did when I signed up with Jack was make sure I owned my domain name.  He assured me I would, I was concerned the if I ever "moved" my name could go with me, but I still had to pay a registration fee each year, or what ever they call it. 

[bobbin]

I'm confused about that subtle difference.  I have to "re-up" every year (I think I signed on 3 yrs. up front) but don't know if that means I own it or not.  I'll have to sniff around the GoDaddy site and see if I can find the answer. 

When does this stuff start getting less confusing? :)

[sofadoc]

Read this:
http://www.avvo.com/legal-guides/ugc/domain-name-ownership---things-you-need-to-know
Point #4 explains that domain ownership is like a trademark. You must renew it periodically, or you COULD lose it. If someone else comes along that likes it, they could register it in their name, and snatch it right out from under you.
Kinda like home ownership. It belongs to you.....as long as you're current on the taxes.

[MinUph]

Yes Sofa has the idea. A domain is registered (rented) for a time. 1 yr 3 yrs, 10 yrs etc. When and if it expires it is open for someone else to register it. What I was saying about being sure it is yours is that you are the registrar. Some consultants will register a domain for you and they will be listed as the registrar. There are three people people or companies listed on a domain. Registrar (like go-daddy), Administrative contact (Owner), Technical contact (could be owner or someone else). If you went to a registrar like go-daddy and did a search for your domain you will see it is taken and you can also see the WOIS database information that show these contacts. As long as your the Admin your good.
  There is no Owning a domain just registering it. It is yours as long as you renew it each term.
  An example of what concerns me is my employer has a domain and he is not the Admin. If he wants to move the domain or whatever he will have to rely on the person that is listed. If he or she doesn't want to help he is sunk. She owns the domain not him. This happens all to often.
 

[JuneC]

Paul and Sofa are correct.  Here's a link you can use for godaddy.

   http://who.godaddy.com/whois.aspx?domain=godaddy.com&prog_id=GoDaddy

On the right hand side you'll see the GoDaddy ownership Paul described.  At the bottom, put in your own domain and see what it comes up with.

June

[sofadoc]

Hey, for 1700 bucks I can have texasupholstery.com.

[sofadoc]

It can be important to have a domain name that is easy for the customer to find.
Since my shop is in a visable commercial location, people just instinctively type in the name of my business with a "www." in front of it, and a ".com" at the end.
I don't advertise my website, yet people find it on their own. Of course, most of these people are the ones who already know I'm there.

Also, one phase of my business that I stress is recliner repair (easy money).
When a customer does a yahoo search for "recliner repair Greenville tx", my site comes up 2nd. But if they only type in "recliner repair tx", I don't show up until page 8 (about 71st).  On Google, I don't show up until page 16. So key words and phrases can really help you get hits. And as you get more hits, you'll move higher on the search ladder. Trying to anticipate what words the customer will search for can be challenging.

Two years in a row now, the Yellow Pages has failed to add my website name on my print ad. They refunded me 50% last year. I've told them that if they fail again next year, I'm not paying them one thin dime. Those terms have already been entered into our agreement for next year.

So if your shop is in a remote location, and your website name isn't exactly a "household word" in your community, you're going to have to do some type of advertising to get the word out to the masses about it. And try to include lots of verbage on your site that people will naturally search for.

[Mojo]

You want to make sure the domain name is as short as possible. That is getting hard these days as so many good and short domain names are taken.

I lucked out and personally have  -  throgmartin.com -  Stonevos.com  and a couple others I bought for an investment, which reminds me, I need to sell those. :)

Chris