Register Your Domain Carefully

There are certain things we might take for granted when we are setting up an online presence. You should always be aware of what you are doing and be particularly careful if you are in a rush to get a website set up for any reason. A little bit of care here can reap dividends for you over time. If you have come across a particularly nice domain name, you might be worried that somebody else has his or her eye on this name as well and be tempted to rush to register the name as quickly as possible. Be careful when registering the name and always protect your privacy.

Fundamentally, you should make sure that you create your domain anonymously and choose a Domain Registrar, also known as a DR, who allows you to do this. You don't want your company information or your private details to be available for anybody to access, just by looking up the "whois" information on file. Hackers love this resource as they can find out a great deal of information about you and the more information that is circulated in this way, the more you are liable for identity fraud. People often wonder how others become victims of identity fraud and for some reason or another they believe it will never happen to them. While you can never truly be safe, unfortunately, a little common sense application will go a long way for you.

Even though you may be in a rush, take time to select a DR who has a great reputation. It's certainly worthwhile contacting a number of different candidate organisations and you could send them a couple of simple questions to see how they respond. Gauge their level of response carefully as this will be representative of the kind of experience you will have with them, should you decide to sign up. Always make sure that they have an easily accessible telephone line for support purposes and remember that if you move your domain from one hosting provider to another, you will rely on the DR to update your DNS entries correctly and within a reasonable amount of time.

If you are not in a rush to get your site up and running right away, you can take your time to do a comprehensive search. There are a large number of domain registrars. Do a Google search to see if you can find out some information on them, revealing their reputations, their security and their performance. Remember that your domain name is a very important asset and you need to be very careful whom you entrust this asset to.

For some reason many people do not seem to devote the same amount of care to their online properties as they would their off-line assets. Make sure that you use good common sense here and choose your DR wisely, as you are entering into a potentially long-term relationship with this organisation. A little preparation now will help you avoid a lot of heartache in the future.