Top reasons to keep your domain name registration and web hosting separate

Why in the world would you isolate your domain registrations from your website hosting?

A/ To Avoid Domain Loss

…which can happen through 1/ or 2/ below:

1a/ Registrar locking: See https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/locked-2013-05-03-en.

1b/ Extortion by a domain seller/web developer: It happens. It just takes a desperate, dishonest person to lock you up in their services and charges, whether you like them or not. If you want to break away, that developer can make it very difficult for you to do so, unless you have full and separate control of both your domain registration and your web hosting server’s control panel.

1c/ Locking by the web hosting provider that also provided your “free” domain name: Many inexperienced website publishers grab “bundle” deals that offer domain plus hosting bundles, promising a “free domain” along with web hosting. Avoid this. Here’s why: If for any reason you have a problem with that web host and initiate actions to move your website elsewhere, you might find that company has locked / disabled both your website and your domain name and might not release them without a legal fight. Worse still, if that domain and web-hosting company goes out of business, you will lose your domain — which is disastrous if you’ve already spent considerable time, effort and money to build up that domain presence. However, if you prefer the convenience of the “bundle” deal, there are ways to protect your investment. Firstly, make sure the domain name you chose is somewhat disposable, and buy a backup similar domain name (without delay). E.g., grab it with a different TLD (see 4/ below) and make sure you buy it from a reputable domain registrar but do not use any web hosting services they might perchance offer. Secondly, be vigilant: Download backups of your website regularly.

2/ Data breaches: If data breaches happen at servers that offer combined domain-web hosting services that are insecure (e.g.., lacking multi-step authentication), then theft of your domain could occur. Also, if your domain is “parked” at your web host, a hacker could transfer your domain name to another registrar. Then it would be exceedingly difficult to prove your rightful ownership of the stolen domain name.

B/ For Extensive Domain Name Options, Superior Services and Administrative Convenience

… such as in regard to items 3, 4 and 5 below:

3/ More Domain-specific Services such as Privacy and Security, Client area features, comprehensive E-mail services and DNS Zone Management should all be standard features. You ‘ll find those services at a good, dedicated Domain Registrar. Choose a registrar with several years of continuous business history. Good examples are hover.com and canspace.ca.

4/ Much wider Top Level Domain (TLD) options: A dedicated web domain provider offers many more options for TLDs. Some individuals or businesses like the idea of registering a domain specific to country (e.g., .ca for Canada a type of business, such as .tv for a website of live-television style presentations, .games for a website about video games, .dev for a developers website, .shop for retail, .photo for photography related websites, and so on.

5/ All your domains in one place – Many website creators quickly start acquiring additional domain names for different purposes. Having the management of them all in one place is a great idea for convenience.

How can we help you

to protect your domain name(s) and keep them separate from web developers’ whims or web hosting companies’ control? It is through our service process that we do this. You’re welcome to contact us for more information, and we will start by sending you a free info-graphic that outlines the steps of our service process. Let us open a clear way forward for your business or personal web presence.

Contact us today .