In this week’s article, we look at domain name registration and who should be in control of it because over the past few weeks, we have had clients that have asked us to build or improve their websites but could not find a way of accessing their domain name administrative dashboards or credentials. In most cases, these domain names are registered by Web Developing companies or just someone who develops the website. On average, you will find that because these domains are registered by someone else other than the owner of the website, the credentials associated with the domain are retained by the company or individual who registered the domain and who in most cases are reluctant to share the credentials.
Today, let us demystify this domain thing as it is one of the most important parts of any website. In a nutshell, a domain name is simply an address on the internet that points to your website. There is nothing complex about the domain name system and this is why I think there is really no reason you should be allowing anyone to control it for you as many organizations and individuals are doing. There are some pros and cons to this and let us offer a brief overview of how domain names work and then also offer some perspective on why I think you should be in total control of what happens to your domain name.
A domain name (like “exponent.co.zm”) is an address that defines a “territory” on the Internet. Think of it as your home or office location. Your address (e.g 166 John Soko Road) is where all your mail is sent and also a place where people or clients come to if they want to visit you. Imagine this address being printed out on a billboard or signpost, giving directions to your location. If someone is visiting your website, what that simply means is that the person is using your domain which points to your website just as your physical address on the billboard points to your home or office.
How Domains Work
For a domain to work, it has to be registered with a registrar. A registrar is simply a company that issues and manages domain names. You can have your domain locally issued from companies like Microlink, ZAMNET, etc or internationally by companies like GoDaddy, Bluehost, Hostgator, etc.
Once your domain name has been issued, the next step is to have it assigned a specific address called an IP Address, which stands for internet protocol address and is made up of four segments separated by a full stop e.g 168.211.100.830. This IP address points to your website. The final step is to get your domain to point to the assigned IP address which in turn points to your website and this achieved by assigning a set of what are called nameservers.
The setting up of nameservers is usually done by the hosting company hosting your website. For example, Exponent Technologies’ nameservers are identified with the names “ns1.exponentt.com” and ns2.exponentt.com”. Nameservers route domain names to their respective IP address. When a domain name is assigned to a set of name servers, that gives authority to those nameservers to point the domain name anywhere. In perspective, the whole arrangement looks like: registrar points the domain name to nameservers, nameservers point the domain name to an IP address, and IP address points the domain name to a website.
Who Should Control Your Domain?
A lot of individuals and organizations have outsourced the control of their domains to an agency simply because they feel domain management is very complicated. We are very much against this practice because we think that a domain name is the heart and soul of every website and should be something controlled by the owner of the website. One other very important thing to consider is what happens if the agency or person with all your domain credentials cannot be accessed for various reasons? We have had quite a number of cases over the past few months where the person who registered the domain won’t pick up calls, changed numbers or won’t just be helpful. What this means is that you are at the mercy of the person or agency who registered your domain because you can’t renew its subscription and you are stuck with the same host provider because you can’t change the nameservers
If you have a website and you are not in control of your domain name, we urge you to take control by familiarizing yourself with how this all works. If you have questions about this, please feel free to comment below or contact us.