So you’re ready to get a new website. You’ve had your eyes set on "mysuperdomain.com" and your going to make the plunge. Click, boom, done! The domain is yours. Unfortunately, you’ve never done this kind of thing before and you’ve just created a nightmare that seems to have no end.

Although purchasing a domain is the first step in the life of your new site, its also one of the most notoriously overlooked. Your domain is the most important part to the beginning of a successful online marketing campaign. Not only does it dictate how people will reach the information that you want them to see, but it also has a world of red tape and technical bureaucracy behind it, that can cause some serious setbacks. Thankfully, out of the goodness of our humble hearts, sticky IT has prepared a few guidelines to help you in your travails!

Rule #1: Never use an international registrar

The problem comes down to speed and timeliness. If deciphering strange accents, waiting on hold, and dealing with peculiar business practices sounds like your cup of tea, then maybe you can sidestep this rule. We have helped more clients who have had communication and transactional problems with international registrars. A client will get a redesign for their 7-year old site, attempt to move their hosting and soon discover that they can’t simply because the registrar has an email on file from MSN or Yahoo! that they haven’t used in years. Changing that takes faxes, calls, paperwork and hassle – try to send that over an ocean and see what happens. We had an occurrence with one client who couldn’t get their domain moved because their current provider didn’t have a phone number. Or a fax number. Or even an email. The only way they could communicate was via online chat, in which case, they couldn’t validate that they were actually talking to the owner of the domain. Their domain was OFFICIALLY hijacked!

Rule #2: Never use a registrar only because you're saving 2 bucks

You get what you paid for. Period. When you purchase a domain, you’re not buying anything other than the fees that you owe for the intrinsic work involved in making a transaction. After that you’re paying for service. So what did you want to do with your domain again?

Rule #3: If you don’t know what you’re doing, have your web firm do it for you

We are the experts. And you shouldn’t have to be. If you don’t know what you’re doing, don’t try to wing it. Doing so just creates more cost and time for yourself down the road. Any web developer who’s worth their weight in binary should be more than happy to handle the technical stuff. You make money doing what you do, why try to change that now?

In Conclusion...

It's dangerous out there, so try and keep all of your limbs will ya?