Domain Name Registration serves 2 main purposes
- Registers ownership of the domain name
- Controls where the domain is hosted (where it lives)
In the past, some web designers and web-hosting companies (including my company) have looked after this for their customers.
Although this makes it easier for customers and web-hosting companies, it is a mistake.
You, as the domain name owner should always be the domain name registrant – this gives you legal ownership of the domain name.
There are 4 types of domain name contact types (sometimes called slightly different names):
- Registrant Contact
- Admin Contact
- Tech Contact
- Billing Contact
Fairly obvious what they mean, but the most important one is the Registrant Contact – this should always be the domain name owner, and indeed the Registrant Contact is the legal owner of the domain.
Usually it’s best to have your own name in all contacts, except possibly for the Tech Contact, who can transfer your domain to a new host.
This does mean, however, that you are responsible for renewing your domain, unless you add your accountant, bookkeeper, or accounts person to the Billing Contact
You can check your own domain name contacts in any whois url.
I use this one https://mxtoolbox.com/SuperTool.aspx but there are plenty of other ones around. MxToolbox is very comprehensive, so I’ve got a little how to video below.
After starting the video, click the little “full screen” icon on the bottom right hand corner to view more easily.
It is slightly hidden.
