Your domain name is the address people type to find you, and it sits at the end of every business email you send. Most owners register it once, years ago, and never think about it again.
That works fine right up until a renewal notice goes to an old inbox, or the person who registered it is no longer around. Here’s a plain-English look at how domains work, which ending to choose, and how to make sure the one you rely on actually belongs to you.
What a domain name actually is
A domain is the human-friendly name for your website, like yourbusiness.com.au. Behind the scenes, computers find each other using numbers. The domain is a label that points to those numbers, so people don’t have to remember them.
It helps to keep three separate things in mind:
- The domain: the name itself, which you register for a set period and then renew.
- The hosting: the server where your website files live.
- The DNS: the settings that tell the internet where to send website visitors and where to deliver your email.
These can all sit with one provider or be spread across three. Neither is wrong, but the more places they’re spread, the more logins, renewal dates and bills you need to keep track of.
.com.au or .com: which ending suits you?
For a business that trades in Australia, .com.au is usually the natural choice. It tells customers straight away that you’re an Australian business, and it’s the ending most locals expect to see.
A .com.au comes with eligibility rules. You generally need an Australian connection, such as an ABN, and the name needs a genuine link to your business. The rules are set by auDA, the body that manages .au domains, so if you’re unsure whether you qualify, that’s the place to check.
A .com can make sense if you sell overseas or plan to. Some businesses register both and point the .com at their main site, mainly so nobody else can take it. The shorter .au ending is also available, and some owners pick it up alongside their .com.au for the same reason.
Whatever you choose, keep it short, easy to spell out loud and free of hyphens if you can. You’ll be reading it over the phone more often than you think.
Renewals: the date that catches people out
Domains don’t last forever. You register one for a set period, then renew it. If the renewal is missed, the domain eventually expires. Your website goes offline and, just as painful, your email stops arriving.
The usual reasons a renewal gets missed:
- The reminder emails go to an address nobody checks any more
- The credit card on file has expired
- The domain was registered by a former staff member, a relative or an old web designer
- Nobody remembers which company the domain is registered with
Once a domain name lapses for long enough, it can be released and registered by someone else. Getting it back at that point can be difficult or impossible. A missed renewal is one of the most avoidable website problems there is, and one of the most stressful.
A few simple habits help. Turn on auto-renew, keep the contact email current, and make sure the card on file is one you actually use.
Who should own your domain name?
You should. Your business should be the registrant, with your details on the record and your own login to the account.
That sounds obvious, but it’s common for a domain to be registered under someone else’s name. A helpful nephew set it up. A previous web designer bought it “to make things easier”. A marketing company registered it in their own account. While everyone is getting along, nobody notices. When the relationship ends, you might find you need their permission to move your own address.
It’s fine for your web designer or IT person to manage the domain for you. Managing it and owning it are different things. They can look after renewals and DNS settings while the domain stays registered to your business.
We cover the bigger picture in our article on who really owns your website, which is a good read if you’ve never checked who holds the keys.
A quick ownership check
Take ten minutes this week and find out:
- Which company your domain is registered with
- Whose name is listed as the registrant
- Which email address gets the renewal reminders
- When it’s next due for renewal
- Whether you can log in to the account yourself
If you can’t answer one or more of those, sort it out while things are calm, not in the middle of an outage.
Your domain and your email are linked
Many owners think of their domain only as the website address. It’s also what makes an email address like [email protected] work. If the domain or its DNS settings go wrong, email can stop arriving without any obvious warning.
It also means a change to one can affect the other. Moving your website to a new host, for example, involves updating DNS. Done carelessly, that can knock out your email for a day or two. Done properly, nobody notices.
That’s one reason an address on your own domain beats a free one, as long as the domain is looked after. Our comparison of Gmail and business email covers the trade-offs.
Having one team look after it
At Inversit we look after domains and managed DNS alongside our managed Australian WordPress hosting and business email hosting. Your domain, website and email are handled by one small team in Lismore, rather than three suppliers who each say the problem is with someone else.
Our view is simple: your domain should be in your business’s name. You own your website, and there are no lock-in contracts. We can handle renewals and DNS changes for you, and Luke, our IT consultant, can help untangle an older setup if your domain is sitting in an account you can’t get into.
You can read more about our hosting, email and domain services.
Not sure who holds your domain?
Book a free website health check and we’ll review your site’s performance, design and SEO, then explain what we find in plain English. If you’d like help tracking down your domain, we can talk that through too. Call us on 02 6610 9202 or send us a message.
