Why Your Domain Name is so Important

Choosing your domain name is a lot harder than it seems – we covered this a couple of weeks ago in our blog; but many people out there underestimate the importance of domain names. Owning your own domain name and making sure a reputable company hosts yours is just as important as choosing the domain name itself.

At Online Innovations, we register your domain name for you and we can host it too. We also offer the full range of domain names and take pride in being an accredited registrar with the ZA Central Registry.

There are many important aspects of domains (far too many to go through them all), so we have three great pieces of advice for you to make sure your domain stays with you right where it belongs. 

Own Your Own Domain Name 

Being the owner of your domain name is vital to your business, brand and online presence. Having your own domain name not only builds on your brand, but also makes people more likely to click on your website.

When having a domain name registered for you, make sure that your name or your business’ name is listed as the owner. This is especially important should you wish to change domain hosts. If your domain is transferred to a new host and lists them as the owner, it could mean that you have no more control over your domain name; and should said new host decide to take it down, trying to get back ownership of it will prove to be a costly exercise. At Online Innovations, we reject any transfers to other hosts if the domain name is not in the owner’s name. 

Know Your Domain Hosts 

While opting for a free domain host may seem tempting, we advise that it’s a far better option to pay a small fee per year to have it hosted by a professional and registered company.

Once you’ve found a reputable hosting company, they will register your domain name for you; and they can even manage and host it. Online Innovations is an accredited registrar for .co.za, as well as registrars for .com, .net, .org, .info, .mobi, and most international extensions including South Africa’s new .joburg, .capetown and .durban.

The greatest benefit of having a web company host your domain for you is that they keep an eye on your domain name’s expiry date. It’s important to know that domain names need to be renewed annually, as you are “renting” it, so to speak. If your domain name expires without you renewing it, a lot can go wrong. It could get snatched up and bought by someone else and nobody can get it back unless they’re willing to sell it back to you (usually at a very high price), or you’re willing to spend up to R25, 000 on lodging a dispute.

If you’re not willing on doing any of those two options, it means you’ll have to settle for a new domain name – which will essentially ruin all your hard work on marketing your business and your brand with your previous address.  

Our domain management services means that we leave it up to our skilled team to manage your domain name’s annual renewals, as well as manage the DNS.

Invest in Domain Name Server (DNS) Management 

The domain name server is responsible for holding the web and email components of your company together by translating your domain name from a language we understand to an IP address – for the computer to understand.

Needless the say, the management of your DNS and DNS records is vital and affects the communication of your business, such as your email exchanges.

With almost 15 years’ experience, Online Innovations understands the importance of domain names and can register your domain name, host it and manage your DNS; all the while making sure that you remain the owner of it.

Interested in our hosting services? Give us a call for more information or if you have any enquiries.