Domain Name Registration and Web Hosting Choice – Minneapolis St. Paul, MN

As the internet has grown to include billions of websites, choosing the domain name for your new business website has become more and more crucial. In addition, providing fast access to your website by Google searchers depends on the performance of the company that hosts your website. Many businesses have made costly mistakes in both of these areas. We want to help you understand the best ways to handle these choices and are always ready to assist our clients with domain name selection and registration, along with web hosting decisions. Here are the questions you should ask and the best answers to those questions?

• What are domain registrars and domain registrants?

  • Domain Registrar: An accredited company that registers and secures domain names for individual users. After you have completed domain registration with the chosen domain registrar, the domain becomes yours for the registered period, which can be one year or multiple years. Before your registration expires, you must renew your domain name with your registrar, or it becomes available to the general public. If someone buys your domain name after it expires, you will have to pay a high price to get it back.
  • Domain Registrant: The individual or the business entity that registers the domain name. Only the domain registrant can renew and transfer the domain, or make changes in the details of a domain name. You, not your web designer or web design company, should be your own domain registrant for your business website.

• Why should you never let anyone else register your domain name?

  Your domain name is your most important asset on the internet. Many business owners allow their web designer to register the domain name. That makes the design company the official registrant. Only the registrant can renew the domain registration and make changes to its settings. If the relationship between your company and the web designer ends for any reason, you will likely have a difficult time keeping the right to use the domain. The old web designer could hold your domain hostage. Having your web designer register your domain name is no different from having your realtor sign the deed of your house. So, always register the domain name yourself. We will be happy to help you with the details, but we always insist that the business owner also be the official registrant.

• Why can the right domain name boost your search engine rankings?

  Many businesses think that a domain name that is the same as their business name is the best choice. That’s often not the case. The reality is that most Google users do not search for companies by name. Instead, they use a wide range of search keywords and phrases. For search engine optimization purposes, a carefully chosen domain name can be a powerful performance booster and can increase traffic on the site. Our SEO experts can assist you in evaluating and selecting an effective domain name for your business. We’ll explain why we suggest a particular domain name and show you how the right domain name can help grow your revenues.

• How can you choose a reliable web hosting company?

  Your website must be hosted on an internet server with the capacity, technology and bandwidth to handle the needs of your website. There are thousands of web hosting companies, but not all of them are the same. Web hosts are evaluated based on connection speed, uptime reliability and technical support quality. Look for a minimum uptime of 99.5%. For a business website, downtime means loss of potential customers and revenue. We can help you choose an affordable hosting service that has proven itself over time.

  For most small- to midsize companies, their email server and web server both reside on the same computer at the web hosting company. Losing leads or sales orders in email can be devastating. Having a solid, reliable web host often means less downtime for emails. The web and email hosting companies we recommend provide fast, dependable service at all times.

  You should avoid hosting your own website or having your website hosted by small local companies or your web designer. Those solutions cannot offer the necessary bandwidth, resources and technologies to guarantee a reliable hosting solution. Further, small hosting companies often charge much more for the same features, but provide only limited services and slow response times. Rely on us to recommend a proven web hosting service that saves you money and provides outstanding performance.

Domain Registration and Web Hosting for Small Business – Twin Cities, MN

For every decision related to your website, the choices you make affect how successful your website will be for many years to come. Before making any choices, it’s always best to consult a reputable web design and SEO company. Making the wrong decisions can keep your website from being found by visitors or slow down their access to your online marketing tools. As part of our complete website design and search engine optimization services, we assist every client in making the best decisions at no additional charge. You always have complete control over your domain registration and hosting decisions. Your success and satisfaction are our highest priorities. Contact us today for a free initial evaluation and consultation. Let us show you how we can help your company grow.