Why Your Domain Matters (and Why You Must Own It Yourself).

DOMAIN · 4 MIN READ · WRITTEN FOR PEOPLE WHO OWN THEIR OWN SITE

Your domain (yourshop.com) is the permanent address of your business online. Websites get rebuilt, hosts change, marketing companies come and go. The domain is the thing that survives all of it, carrying your Google history, your customers' bookmarks, and every business card you ever handed out.

01 What it actually does for you

Legitimacy: customers and Google both treat yourshop.com as more real than a free-site address.
Continuity: everything you build online points at it. Own the address and you can change everything behind it without losing anything.
Email: you@yourshop.com only exists if the domain does.

02 The ownership rule, in bold because it's the whole article

The domain must be registered in an account you control, paid with your card. Not your web guy's account. Not the marketing agency's. Yours. This is the single most common trap in this industry: a company registers "your" domain under themselves, and when you try to leave, your address is their hostage. The polite ones charge a release fee. The others just keep it.

03 How to check who owns yours right now

Search your domain at lookup.icann.org.
Look at the registrant and the registrar. If your name or business isn't there, you don't own it, whoever built the site does.
If someone else holds it, ask them today, while the relationship is good, to transfer it to an account of yours. Any honest provider does this without drama.

How Bad Habit does it, so you know it's possible: every client registers their own domain, in their own account, and grants access when they want help. If we ever part ways, you lose nothing. Demand the same from anyone who builds for you.

Q What does a domain cost?

Usually $10 to $15 a year for a .com at an honest registrar. If you're paying much more, you're paying markup, not value.

Q Is .com worth fighting for over .net or others?

.com still carries the most trust and is what people type by default. If your exact name is taken, a small variation with .com usually beats the exact name with an odd ending.

Q Can someone steal my domain if I own it?

Practically no, if you keep your registrar account secure and your email current. Turn on two-factor and don't ignore renewal emails; those are the only real risks.

Rather have someone who does this every day handle it? That's the $75/mo plan. Or keep going solo, that's the whole point of these guides.

The straight answers Text Nick