www.Herding.Cats

The domain name game.

Ok, stop me if you've heard this one. Hysterical client calls, their web site is down. Gone. 404. Turns out their domain name had expired. Ok how about this one? Client asks for "advice" on how to get a bitter and non-responsive web site company to transfer the client's domain name from the vendor's name to the client's name. (no, not that web site company) This one didn't end so funny. Said client had to wait over 6 months for the domain to expire and pick it up again. Oh, oh one more. Client secures www.perfectdomainname.com for a deal that they'd reserved over a year ago, pre-construction, forgets about it, let's it lapse, and another community on the same street snaps it up and reserves it for 10 years. Decade long competitive advantage.

This seemingly mundane topic has tripped up the savviest of organizations, and unnecessarily costs thousands of dollars and hours in wasted time. The market for domain names has matured and the race to snatch up dot com monikers for real estate assets is shifting into the secondary market and a bristling aftermarket.

Now is the time to take stock of your domain name strategy, before disaster strikes.

Seven steps to domain name nirvana:

1. Duh
A simple spreadsheet tracker that lists all of your company's domain names is the easiest way to take control of this. Include all domain names (whether you're using them or not), the Registrar for each, account login information, expiration dates, and any other identifying information you would need to access the domain quickly. Put the tracker in a public, but secure location and designate someone to manage it. (email me if you want a template to use for your tracker)

2. Whois on First
Go to www.whois.net, or the "Whois" link on any Registrars site to find the details about each of your domain names. Who the Registrant is (a.k.a. who owns it), contact email address, where it was registered (a.k.a. the Registrant, I.E. Network Solutions, Go Daddy), expiration date, etc. If you're doing an audit, print this information out. Don't know what domain names you have? You can also search by keyword, Registrant and other identifying information in the Whois lookup area.

STOP! What if a vendor is listed as the Registrant of the domain name?

If you read nothing else in this post, read this:
A third party should NEVER own one of your domain names unless you have the ability to access and transfer the domain name at any point. Domain names are in no way linked to hosting, and if a vendor registers domain names on your behalf, it should be in your name. Adding a vendor as a Technical Contact is standard practice, and will give the vendor any access they need to make DNS and other modifications, but the vendor should not be the Registrant unless they have provided you with the password.

3. Consolidate and Harmonize
Armed with your tracker and Whois information in hand, it makes sense to pick one or two Registrars, and aggregate your domain names by transferring them all to the same place. Which one should you pick? Depends on annual cost, ease of transfer and simple math. That is to say, it's usually easiest to transfer TO the Registrar where you already have the most domain names listed. If you have redundant and vanity domains, pick a Registrant that offers free forwarding services. Transferring domains is usually cheap (or free) and will instantly iron out a lot of things. Use this step as an opportunity to transfer any domains away from vendors or previous owners while you're under the hood. Also change any old information like addresses, phone numbers or contact names. (see step 5) Transferring domain names will not affect your hosting or email.

4. Benjamins
It makes sense to try and streamline payment processes as much as possible. Use as few credit cards as possible. If you use a 3rd party vendor's credit card for billing, your company should still be the Registrant. You can give access to the domain name to another company for the purposes of managing payments.

5. domains@yourcompany.com
Set up a single email account, or forwarding account that can be used as the contact address for all domain names. We recommend domains@yourcomapny.com. This is where all correspondence, expiration notices and domain-related spam will come, and if IT Guy or Marketing Gal is no long with your organization, you can simply reassign this generic email address to someone else. As part of step 3, change and update your Registrant information accordingly.

6. Procrastinate
Domain names are cheap. Register and renew your domains for long periods of time (yes, even if you don't plan on holding the asset).

7. Document
By now your domain names have moved in together, gotten their shots and renewed their leases for 5 to 10 years. To stay vigilant, create simple policies and processes for procuring any new domain names, and for eliminating old ones. Add domain names to the list of items to be transferred when an asset changes hands, and develop simple plans for managing personnel changes so you're not having to hack into a long gone comrades email account to reset a password.

Hopefully these simple measures will make life easier.

Next week we'll talk about the sexier side of domain names, marketing and search strategy.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to Jessica Gale or myself at CFR with any questions about the above steps. We're on a mission to eradicate domain name confusion and wrongdoing on behalf of our clients.