Five Services to Expect from Your Registrar (or get a new one)

29 01 2008

Five Services to Expect from Your Registrar (or get a new one)

Posted by: in Productivity

Filed under: Business, Internet, E-mail, Productivity, Web services, Google

Registering domain names and enabling your managing those domains is what a registrar should do. Making those tasks logical and intuitive is gravy for personal users but is the deal-breaker for small business. It still amazes us that businesses register domains based solely on price without foreseeing the nickel-and-diming a registrar does or worse, prevent you from fully managing your domain. You probably won’t find out the hidden costs until you’re ready to launch your new Web site.

If you have a single fun or personal domain, skip this article. If you’re in business with an on the internet presence, there are five services a registrar should provide without charging extra. But first, let’s speak about price.

Low price is no longer the decision-maker
Domain registration varies from about $8 to $35 per year but rock-bottom pricing can no longer be your sole criterion. It’s bait-and-switch: you get the domain for a low price but you’re charged to do everyday tasks. Look beyond the price and itemize the services that you can do for free at a low-cost registrar. A low registration price does not guarantee you’re going to get services you need without paying per additional service. As managers of almost a thousand domains, this is our list of the five can’t-live-without features a registrar must include in the registration price.