I was just reading a colleague’s post on using your own domain at WordPress.com. For example, www.yourdomain.com, rather than www. yourdomain.wordpress.com. Good advice, but it got me thinking of domains. Especially the horror stories I hear.
You may be like hundreds, if not thousands of other people out there, and have bought a domain, or several domains to hold onto, in case you ever need them. Or maybe you bought that one domain that is “the one” and you have used it forever! Nevertheless, here’s a true story…
We’ll call her Jane. Jane wanted a website built, looked around at different designers, asked about prices, etc, and finally decided on her choice. All is well so far.
The web designer talked with her and asked her if she had a domain.
No, not yet.
Well, what’s the name of your company?
She told him.
Well, let me see if that is available. Time goes by…
Yes, it is! Let me go ahead and register it for you. In fact I’ll just throw that into the package
She jumped up and down. Yes, my domain is available! What are the chances of that??!! Please, do register it for me.
So the process moves forward. But shortly after this initial discussion, the web designer suddenly became sick, and said he wouldn’t be able to do the site for her.
Okay, I will get another designer. And about my domain name?
Yes, I would be happy to sell it to you for $200.
What?!
The story ends with her not having her own domain not only because of budget limitation, but because of a dishonest, and not upfront, web designer.
Lesson learned. Now, I know some people out there will say, Hey, this happens. It’s the cost of doing business. She should have known. NOT!
It’s web people like that, who give the rest of us a bad name. They know what they are doing. And I think it’s a bunch of crap. Especially when I have registered domains for clients, and yes, in their own name.
SO BEWARE! My suggestion.
If you know and trust your designer, and they ask you to if you want them to register it for you, say yes, and ask that it be registered in your name. ONLY if you know and trust them.
But to be on the safe side, if you are thinking of having a website done for you, go and check yourself if the domain is available. And if it is, YOU register it. All you have to do is go to a hosting service, such as Bluehost.com, type in what you want, and they will let you know if it’s available.
One last note. I knew someone that knew their “dream” domain was not yet purchased. They talked to someone about possible web design, but decided not to use them. Unfortunately, they shared what domain they were wanting to purchase, and by the time they did go in to register it, it was taken. No proof here of who did it, but you can only wonder…bad web designer or strange coincidence?
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