How to buy a domain name for your business and keep control of it

Why the domain matters more than the website

A domain name is the address for your website and the second half of every business email address. Websites get rebuilt. Email hosts get switched. The domain stays. If it's registered to the wrong person, or lapses because a card expired, your site and email stop working on the same day, and getting the name back can take weeks or fail entirely.

So treat this as two jobs: picking a good name, and setting up ownership so nobody can lose it for you. The second job is the one most small businesses get wrong.

What you'll need

• Your legal business name and address, exactly as you use them elsewhere.
• An email address the business will control long term. Not a web designer's address, and ideally not one employee's personal inbox.
• A company card that won't expire soon, for auto-renewal.
• A password manager or secure record where the login will live.
• Two or three name options in case your first choice is taken.

Step 1: Pick the name

Choose for people, not for search engines. Google's SEO starter guide says that when picking a site name you should do what's best for your business, and that keywords in the domain name alone have hardly any effect beyond appearing in breadcrumbs. A name like bestcheapplumberdetroit.com doesn't help you rank, and it looks less trustworthy on a truck than your actual company name.

A good test: say the name out loud over the phone to someone who's never heard it, and ask them to type it. If they ask "with a dash?" or "how do you spell that?", keep looking. Rules of thumb:

• Match your business name, or a short version of it.
• Avoid hyphens, numbers and unusual spellings.
• Prefer .com for a US business. Google says the extension only matters if you're targeting users in a specific country, but customers still type .com by habit.
• Don't tie the name to one town if you might expand, or to one service if you might add others.
• Search the US trademark database and do a regular web search for the name, so you don't build on a name someone else already uses in your trade.

Step 2: Choose a registrar

A registrar is the company that registers the name for you. ICANN, the body that coordinates domain names, says names in generic extensions like .com must be registered through an ICANN-accredited registrar or one of their resellers, and it publishes a directory of accredited registrars. Check that yours is on it.

When comparing registrars, look past the first-year price. Check:

• Renewal price. Low first-year prices often renew higher. Read the renewal line on the pricing page.
• Privacy. ICANN notes that registrant contact details are often publicly available, and that privacy and proxy services exist to keep them out of public view. Some registrars include this; some charge.
• Two-step login. Required, in our view. Your domain account is a target.
• Plain DNS editing. You'll need to add records for email and your website. The screen should be easy to use.
• No forced bundles. You don't need the registrar's hosting, website builder or email to own a domain.

Steps to register and lock it down

1. Create the account in the company's name. Use the business email address you control. If your designer offers to "handle it", ask them to set it up in an account you own and add them as a user, if the registrar allows that.
2. Search and register the name. Enter your legal business name as the registrant organization. ICANN's registrant responsibilities say you must provide accurate information and keep it updated. False or outdated details can put the registration at risk.
3. Choose a registration length. Several years at once means fewer renewal moments to miss. Auto-renew still matters.
4. Turn on auto-renew and attach a company card. Set a calendar reminder a month before the card's expiration date.
5. Turn on two-step login and store the login in the company's password manager.
6. Confirm the transfer lock is on. Most registrars show a "locked" or "transfer lock" status. It stops the name from being moved until you turn the lock off.
7. Verify the contact email. Registrars send a verification email after registration. Click it. ICANN also says registrants must respond to their registrar's inquiries within 15 days.
8. Point the domain where it needs to go. Add DNS records for your website host and your email host. Our guide on getting a business email address walks through the email records.

What happens if a renewal is missed?

ICANN's Expired Registration Recovery Policy gives you some protection. Registrars must send at least two reminders before expiration, approximately one month and one week before, plus another notice within five days after. After expiration, the registrar must interrupt the domain's DNS for a period before deletion, which is when your website and email stop. For generic extensions, a deleted name enters a 30-day redemption grace period where you can ask to restore it, usually for an extra fee.

That's a safety net with holes in it. Reminders go to the contact email on file, which is useless if it belongs to a former employee or an old designer. Keep the contact email current and keep auto-renew on.

How do transfers work if you need to move registrars?

To move a domain to a different registrar, you turn off the transfer lock at the current registrar, request the transfer code (also called an auth code or authorization code), and enter that code at the new registrar. ICANN's FAQ for domain holders says your registrar must provide the code within five calendar days of your request.

Watch for the 60-day windows. Per the same ICANN FAQ, a registrar may deny a transfer within 60 days of the initial registration or a previous transfer, and you can't transfer to a different registrar within 60 days of changing the registrant name, organization or email address (some registrars let you opt out of that last lock). So if you're cleaning up ownership and moving registrars, plan the order.

ICANN also says registrars can't deny a transfer just because the domain expired or wasn't renewed, unless a previous registration period went unpaid. A domain in the redemption period has to be restored by the current registrar before it can move.

Common mistakes and how to fix them

• Your designer owns the registrar account. You pay them; the registrar sees them as the owner. Fix: ask them to move the domain into a registrar account in your company's name. Most registrars support moving a name between accounts without a full transfer.
• The contact email is dead. Renewal reminders and verification emails go nowhere. Fix: update it today to an address the business controls.
• Not sure who owns it? Look up the domain in ICANN Lookup, which shows the registrar and whatever registration data is public. Then log in at that registrar, or ask whoever set it up which account it's in.
• Buying ten variations. Extra domains cost money every year and rarely matter for a local service business. Fix: buy your main .com, and maybe a common misspelling, and redirect it to the main site.
• Letting a name lapse during a rebrand. Old domains still receive email from customers and links from other sites. Fix: keep the old domain renewed and redirect it for at least a few years.

Next steps

With the domain registered in your name, set up email on it and plan the website. The pages themselves are covered in what a contractor website needs. When we build websites, the domain stays registered to the client, and we work from access the client grants us, never by holding the registration ourselves.

Frequently asked questions