I have always been a proponent of clients having control of their web properties. Having access to your logins and understanding how your domains and hosting are purchased, help give you peace of mind to know that someone else does not have control of your website. It can also save you money and headaches as well.

It All Looks Very Official

Last week I was sorting through the daily mail and I came across something of interest. It had an official title regarding domain registration services. These things usually get tossed in the recycling file. But today, I decided to hang on to it and see just what they are offering.

Paying For What You Already Own

The letter was in regards to one of the domains to our website. It was telling me that the domain was coming up for renewal and that they could take care of it for $39.90 per year and recommended that they do it for two years for $79.80. They could also add on domains for .net and .org for $39.90 each per year. Sounds fair enough right?

Actually, in our case, because we purchased the domains through our account, they will automatically renew for a total cost of about $18.00 for two years which when you do the math is a difference of $61.80 that you don’t need to be paying.

It Is Not Illegal – It Is Unnecessary

While there is nothing illegal about this practice, it is unnecessary and it takes advantage of people’s ignorance to make profit doing very little work. By maintaining basic control of your domain and having the necessary login information, this will protect your domain and your web properties against paying too much for services.

You should always be aware of who hosts your website and have the login information for access. You should also make sure that you maintain control of your domain name. The next article will discuss more domain related issues and how to make sure that your business is protected.