This is a tale of caution for any small business owner. Probably one of THE most important parts of your online management - taking ownership and control of your domain.

I often sit in meetings for new web projects with clients and I slip in the question, “So, who manages your domain?”. Often, with a coy and bewildered look, I get one of the following three responses:

• “Not sure, our IT guy set it up and he’s left now”
• “Our web designer, the one we’ve fallen out with, sorted it out for us”
• “I bought it using one of those online superstores. I got it very cheap. Can’t remember which one though”

It’s infuriating to think that their biggest online asset it not being monitored, managed or controlled. I don’t get angry for me, I just can’t understand how anyone would not want to control their prized asset.

An old client of mine once bought a .TV domain online through Easily, using an e-mail account to register it that he rarely checked. The domain expired. It then cost him a lot of time, 90 days and £160 to get it back. That doesn’t include any lost business through no e-mail or website for three months.

What Is a Domain?

Your domain is like a prized personalised number plate. Mine, is craigkillick.co.uk and I use it for my web address on www, for this blog on blog.craigkillick.co.uk as well as for my e-mail address.

If I decide to move my hosting, I can just manage my domain to point it to a new server, a bit like taking a number plate and putting on a new car.

Also, as any domain I own, admittedly not this one, increases in value, it is imperative that the right legal entity owns it, whether that be a Limited company, or an individual. What you don’t want is for your domain to be legally owned by your web agency, hosting company or your IT guy that left - YOU need to own it.

Who Owns Your Domain?

You can check who owns and manages your domain using WhoIs web search tools - I tend to use www.swhois.net, but you should be able to Google “whois” and find other versions.

At the very least you need to make sure you are the owner of the domain. If you don’t you need to take steps to get it. The administrator is the first person to go to and their details should be on the Who Is information.

Managing Domains

Yes, you need some technical know-how to manage your DNS and Nameserver settings and I am not the person to go into that in great detail.

I do however use 123-reg to buy and manage my domains. I’ve never had any problems with them. It is easy to buy your domain and manage it in a control panel, transfer it to other hosting companies, or, if you have the know-how you can point your sub-domains and e-mail to any server you choose.

That said, finding a good hosting company - now that’s a whole ‘nother story.