Who Will register your Domain and in Whose name?

Although registering a domain name is straightforward, some people are not comfortable doing it themselves or they’re too busy, so it’s not uncommon for a web designer or a company to register a domain on behalf of their client. If that’s how you’re having your domain name registered, there are several steps you’ll want to take to make sure that the domain remains under your control.


At the very least, you should be listed as the registrant: Use your mailing information, your e-mail address, and so on. The registrant is the one who controls the domain name. There are three other contacts for a domain name: administrative, technical, and billing. Usually all four contacts are the same, but it can be useful to have the person or company helping you listed as the technical contact. That way they have authority to talk to the registrar if there are technical issues to be resolved. The key is that you be listed as the registrant.


Of all the information listed for you as registrant, the most important is your e-mail address. It’s used for a number of crucial tasks:

1. Notifying you of the domain’s Q expiration date
2. Sending approval requests should you want to transfer to another domain registrar
3. Sending password information should you ever lose your password

Once the domain name has been confi gured so that it’s pointing to your server and your website is functional, you should change the password for the domain manager. You can always supply the designer or company with this new information should they later need to help you with the domain name. What you don’t want is to discover a year later that some former employee still has access to your domain and goes in and changes the registrant e-mail and password, thereby taking control of the domain.

Action Items:

1. If you don’t have a domain name yet, registration is very easy to do yourself. You can get someone to help you later with correctly pointing the domain at the server, and then change the password when they’re done.
2. If someone else is going to register your domain for you, clarify in whose name it’s being registered. Make sure it’s yours. Also, make sure they’re paying a good price.
3. If you already have a domain name registered, but didn’t do it yourself, check who is listed as the registrant.