Domain name
Definition
The domain name is your address on the internet (yourcompany.be). It is a company asset: it must be registered in your name, not your supplier's.The domain name is often treated as a technical detail. It is actually a strategic asset: it is what your clients type, what appears on your cards and your invoices, what carries your online reputation and your professional email addresses.
The golden rule: the domain must be registered in your company's name, in an account you can access. Every year, businesses discover their domain legally belongs to a defunct agency, a former employee or "the nephew who built the site". Recovering a domain in those conditions is slow, sometimes impossible.
The domain also carries your email: the DNS records attached to it decide where your mail arrives. That is why a website redesign must always handle the domain with care: a badly prepared switchover can cut the whole company's email.
In our projects, the domain remains your property; we handle the technical management if you wish. See also our definition of DNS.
Check right now whose name your domain is registered under (whois lookup) and who holds the access. If the answer is unclear, fix it before any redesign project.
Frequently asked questions
You, always. The domain is an asset of your business: registered in a provider's name, it makes you dependent on them for every change. A serious agency registers it in your name or helps you repatriate it.
Take the ones your clients might type and redirect them to the main domain. For a Belgian business, the .be is a must; the .com is worth reserving as protection when it is available.