There’s something very satisfying about having your very own website and it’s not hard to do. It’s usually a matter of following a series of steps set up by the web hosting company. You enter your details, specify the URL of your site, specify a registration period, pay and it’s all done. When you set up your website you’ll need to register your domain name correctly or the error can come back and bite you in the future.
Avoiding Domain Registration Problems
Though it’s not hard to complete website registration, most organizations usually outsource the creation of their website to IT companies. This makes a lot of sense. You pay them and they do the rest, saving you time on all sorts of website management and maintenance details. You’ll get a hassle-free website that functions smoothly and looks great.
There are things that can go wrong, unfortunately, and this is one that we’ve seen. When you register your website you need to make sure that it’s registered to your business, not the website designer or the IT company doing the work. They may use their name by default if you haven’t specifically instructed them to use your details. This isn’t done to benefit themselves. Usually it’s just something that happens so they can keep going with the process and avoid hassling you.
You won’t notice anything at first. Your website goes live, you have your own domain name and you love it all! All done and you’re forging ahead. It’s only down the line that the registration problem rears its ugly head. You might want to make changes to the site and if you’re going to keep it running you’ll need to re-register it at the end of the initial website registration period. Here’s where you could run into trouble with the registration of the domain name.
Perhaps the website designers were employed to create your site as a one-off. Now you have to track them down for the registration information. That’s still okay if they’re still in business but if they’re not you could have a whole lot of trouble finding them and obtaining the registration information you need.
Get Everything Right Initially
This doesn’t have to happen and can be avoided with good communication throughout the process of website creation initially. You should specify up-front that the website must be registered in your or your organization’s name. One mistake people make is that they see that the company name is included in the URL and assume that your business is therefore registered as the site owner. Also check that it’s your email address that is used in the registration. Look over all the registration paperwork before it’s submitted and double-check with the designers that it’s all as it should be.
It helps a lot if your website design company is one you know, trust and have a good relationship with. Your usual IT services company may offer website design services, but if it doesn’t then they should be able to recommend you to someone reputable and reliable.
At Quikteks we work with websites all the time and we can help with the website registration process. We can walk you through it all and check the registration information. Give us a call at (973) 882-4644 if you have any questions about creating and registering your new website.