Don’t be defeated by technobabble if you want to move your domain registration

I don’t normally do technical posts, but this week I wanted to look at the issue of transferring your domain name registration. This is something that is surprisingly, and I think unnecessarily, difficult to do.

Many people purchase their domain name as part of a package when they first set up a website. There are lots of service providers who offer domain name registration, templates for you to use to build your site and ongoing hosting packages. This can seem convenient, however, be aware that you may be storing up issues for the future.

There are three elements:

1. Domain Name Registration
This is simply registering your domain name and pointing it to wherever the website is hosted (which could be with a different company).

2. Website Building
You can either use a template from a DIY website provider or you can have a custom built website.

3. Website Hosting
The place where your website is stored. Not all hosting is the same and you want to be sure you have enough space for your site to grow and that the hosting provider regularly backs up your site.

If the time comes when you would like to use a different website host, either because you found a better deal or a template you prefer, or because you have decided to have a custom website built, you will need to point your domain name to the new host. Many of the all in one package providers don’t offer this service, so you are left with the choice of abandoning your domain name (which most people don’t want to do!) or transferring the domain name to a new company.

I recently did this for one of our clients, we transferred from flavors.me to www.GoDaddy.com. The process took me three weeks which is outrageous. There was a lot of back and forth with tech support at flavors.me and it took serious persistence on my part to get the job done.

A quick search on the web shows that this is a common problem, some all in one providers even charge a fee to allow you to transfer away from them.

Our advice on this issue is:

1. Avoid the problem in the first place
Register your domain with a company that offers registration and pointing such as www.GoDaddy.com instead of using an all in one product. You are not tied to using this company for the other services so you have the freedom to build/host your site wherever you want.

2. Don’t give up on getting your domain
Don’t be defeated by the technobabble when you are trying to do this. We like using www.GoDaddy.com to register domains and they had some helpful advice on how to transfer a domain.

Here’s our outline of how to make a transfer work.

Tell your current host what you are doing. Feel free to use message below:

“I will be transferring my domain to www.GoDaddy.com.

1. Please ensure that the administrative contact for my domain is [MY EMAIL ADDRESS]
2. Please Unlock my domain
3. Please send me the Authorization Code

Thank you for your assistance.”

Purchase a Domain transfer service

– Login to your www.GoDaddy.com account or create a new account with them
– Go to Domain Names
– Click Transfers
– Enter your domain and click Go
– purchase the transfer service

Monitor the transfer

Check the progress of the transfer anytime by:

– logging in to www.GoDaddy.com
– top right, click Hi [NAME] and select “Visit my account”
– Click on Domains
– Select the Transfers Tab

This will tell you what stage the transfer is at. If it gets stuck, contact www.GoDaddy.com support team for advice.

If you are struggling with a domain transfer, or would just prefer to delegate this process from the start, please let us know and we would be happy to help.