My Free Domain Name Cost Me $99!
My Free Domain Name Cost Me $99!
Internet hosting service providers very often offer one or more free domain names to make their hosting packages more attractive. Since domain names are important to any web site, they become valuable property. This is especially true when associated with a site with page rank and high traffic. It takes time and effort to make your domain name valuable.Are you aware that you may have expended all that time and energy on behalf of your internet hosting service provider? If you have accepted a "free" domain name from your web host, they may have registered it in their name and not yours. This is especially true if the host has advertised "free domain for life" as they are responsible for renewing the registration. This is not a problem as long as you continue hosting your web site with that host, but things can get sticky if you try to move your site to another host. Since they own the domain name, you may have to buy it from them to move your site. You have only "borrowed" it for the duration of your hosting contract. Thus any time and money you have spent to make that domain name valuable may have been enhancing its value for your internet hosting service provider.
If relations with the host of your web site go sour, they may choose not to release the domain, or they can charge whatever they like to transfer it to your name. They may also use it as leverage to keep you tied to their hosting. In my own experience, when I tried to switch from an $80/month hosting package to a cheaper one, the response was,"You can't." I did not own my domain name, and I had prepared my web site with their proprietary web building program. After paying their $99 price to transfer the registration of my "free" domain name to me and building a new web site, I was able to change to a cheaper internet hosting service provider.
If you have accepted a free domain name with your hosting account you should check the Whois register to find out who the registered owner and administrator are. If they are not both in your name, you should request that they both be transferred to you. Even if you are the registered owner, all communications for transfers must originate with the administrator. Thus the administrator still has control over the domain name and that could cause problems.
Also there is the question of what happens to a domain name that is registered in the name of the internet hosting service provider if that company should go bankrupt? If a domain name registered to them is valuable, would the creditors take over that value? If you sell your business can you sell "your" valuable domain name with the business or would the internet hosting service provider insist on the profits? One could come up with a number of situations where the host's ownership of your domain name could be very risky.
The folly of this situation is not widely known among the publishers of web sites. Your web hosting company may be honest and release the domain name to you when confronted, but don't count on it. When you pick an internet hosting service provider for your web site, be sure that any free domain name is registered in your name with you as administrator, and not in the name of the host.
The safest way to avoid problems is to register your domain name with a registrar (under your name of course) and host your web site with a different internet hosting service provider.
Register a Domain Name - How People Make Money Off Of You
It seems everyone is trying to give you some free advice on how to register a domain name. That's because registering domain names is big business and we all want a slice of the pie.But, make sure you do your homework before you register that domain name because once you've signed up, you can't get a refund. (Registrars may give you a refund on the web hosting package, but you'll never get the price of the domain name back.)
If you understand a little bit about how people make money selling domain names, you'll be able to take our information with a grain of salt. Here are three levels of people who make money off of domain names:
Large companies like GoDaddy or NetWork Solutions are Domain Name Registrars. They make money by registering the domain name for you. (You can't register a domain name by yourself. It has to be done through a registrar.) Domain names cost anywhere between $2.99 to $34.99 per year. If someone tells you it doesn't matter where you buy your domain name from, don't believe it. Different registrars offer different features and you need to find out what you get before you buy.
Smaller domain registrars might be domain name resellers. If you've ever seen a domain name registrar website that looked an awful lot like another company, it might be because one is a domain name resellers. You can make big bucks as a domain name reseller. Basically, they buy a whole bunch of domain names from the big companies at wholesale cost and then they resell the domain names to you.
People like me. We make money on commission by referring people to the big companies. It doesn't affect the price that you have to pay - that's set by the registrars. Our business model is to give out advice based on our personal experiences. People check out the registrars that we recommend, and if they decide to buy, then we get a cut of the action.
So, now you know. The reason why everyone is offering you free advice about registering a domain name is because, ultimately, we want you to use our links when you go to the registrar so that we get a referral fee.
Bottom Line: Search through the internet for information and reviews about domain name registrars and web hosts. Read things with a critical eye. Don't believe everything at face value. And, make sure you check out a few different sources.
When you're ready to register a domain name, just click on one of those companies that you've been reading about and buy your online property.
