Buy Your Own Domain

Too often I come across business owners who have "lost" access to their domain (aka www.businessname.com).  Here is how the story goes:

"My ________ bought the domain for me because I had no idea what I was doing.  Now s/he is ignoring my calls and emails and texts.  Now what?"

You can fill in the  ______ with: boyfriend, programmer, husband, good friend, girlfriend, wife, son, daughter, etc.

If they are ignoring you and basically holding your domain hostage you need to kiss that domain good-bye.  To get it back (assuming the other party does not want to give it back) would mean bringing them to court.

Because stories like this are so common I NEVER EVER will buy a domain for someone.  I simply send them these instructions: 

1. Go here http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/redirect/go.asp?isc=cjcdplink and enter the domain you want.
2. Hit Select (make sure you are picking the right one and not another option that GoDaddy throws at you).
3. Hit Continue to Cart.
4. Now GoDaddy is going to try to sell you the WORLD! Say NO to everything.
5. They are going to try to get you to buy even more stuff on the shopping cart page, ignore it all. 
6. If they want you to buy more than 1 year, change it to 1 or 2 years (your choice).
7. Now, open a NEW window and GOOGLE around for a coupon code! There is ALWAYS a coupon code out there. Find a good code and enter it BEFORE you check out, on the Shopping Cart Page.
8. If your total is not around $12 or less make sure GoDaddy didn't sneak something into the cart.

More Tips:

• GoDaddy will ask for a physical address. Know that this information will be public so either pay for the privacy OR use your PO Box (or a friend's). You can always add privacy later so no worries if you want to run out and buy a PO box. For YEARS I did not hide my address and nothing bad ever happened.
• Buy a .com  Do not buy a .org or a .guru or a .info.  Make it a .com.
• If this is your first time creating a GoDaddy account make sure you use a REAL email and phone number.  You will need to verify things.
• After you buy it, set up an alarm in your phone and on your calendar (yes, two alarms) to go off 1 month BEFORE your domain will expire.  So if you paid for 1 year set it to go off at 11 months.  You will want to make sure you RENEW that domain. If you forget to renew there are companies out there who will buy your domain and then ask you to pay them hundreds of dollars to get it back.

The link I posted above is an affiliate link. That means I get a kickback if you buy a domain through GoDaddy.  But kickback or not, I strongly recommend GoDaddy. They are HUGE, so I know the company is not going to disappear. Their customer service is the BEST I've seen.  You can call them up and get real help. Sometimes they even call you just to make sure everything is OK or to remind you your domain is about to expire. Really, I love them. The only reason not to love GoDaddy is (as you saw) they try to upsell you on services.

Now that you've bought your own domain you know it is safe (just do not lose the password) :)

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