SiteMeUp have assisted many clients over our years in business and we have come across situations often to many where small businesses are not in control of their companies domain name (www.yourcompany.co.za). This comes as no surprise, as when talking about hosting, websites, domains requires some technical understanding and unfamiliar terms. This being said developers and designers are free to develop their clients websites and register the website domain name in their ownership. Below we will explain the importance of owning your domain name.
How does this become a problem for you as a business owner?
You have paid your developer for the website and assume you own it! Websites are coded, some use already built platforms to implement your website such as wordpress and some use actual hard coded websites. All of which is hosted on your domain name that as you may not be aware yet is not registered under your ownership. The end result is you don’t own the code on the server where your website is hosted. I am sure you are now understanding where the problem is.
So where to now, how do I know if my domain name is registered in my ownership?
The good news is that this information is publicly available and is found on the whois website. Here is a quick link for .co.za (South African) companies to check who the domain name registrant is:
Look at who’s name is, Registrant and Registrant email. – Those credentials should be at a company level (Director, Partner)
Should your domain name not be registered in your name and possibly the developer you can request your developer to transfer ownership in the registrar to yourself or contact your hosting company directly to discuss this procedure.
Another problem that we have come across which is not that common is email accounts:
It is also important to know that with most hosting companies you are often allocated mailboxes and the quantity often depends on the hosting package you are on. I have come across a few companies that still actually pay companies for email accounts.
What sort of costs should I be looking at in a hosting company so I am not ripped off?
SiteMeUp have huge respect for a company called Hetzner, their hosting packages are very competitive, their up time is outstanding and best of all there support is unrivaled in South Africa from our point of view. For a business you can look at a package of around R99pm and includes unlimited traffic, generous amount of disk space, 100 email accounts which is more than sufficient for a small business. There are plenty of other benefits in their hosting packages and this can be viewed on their website. www.hetzner.co.za
If you have any concerns about your hosting or domain name then contact us and I will guide you through the process.
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