While I have been working on the Internet for quite a while, for some reason I have never really considered registering my name as a domain name. I am sure I checked at one time to see if leerobertson.com was available but it must have been taken at the time and I never really gave it a second thought. That is until the other day when I was renewing some domain names over at GoDaddy. I get to the check out and there is this little box saying “leerobertson.com is available. Add this domain to your order.” What? My name is available? Well that is just to good to be true.

I did a few other searches and sure enough leerobertson.com is available and so was ericarobertson.com. My wife and son were out of luck, lynnrobertson.com and matthewrobertson.com were not available. So in what qualifies as a spur of the moment purchase I bought leerobertson.com and ericarobertson.com. Not sure what I will do with them, but considering there are people out there that won’t pick a name for their child until the check and see if the domain name is available I thought it can’t hurt to have them.

Anyone have any thoughts I what I should do with leerobertson.com or ericarobertson.com? I have them parked over at NameDrive for now. Not sure if I want to start a personal blog on my domain name. I think I have my hands full already between posting here and over at Epiblogger. Do you have a domain name with your name? What do you do with it?

There are some companies that just make me shake my head. One is the Domain Registry of Canada and now I really have to wonder about Register.com. I have been trying to get a domain name transferred away from them for a client, not because they are a bad registrar, they are simply too expensive.

It is common practise to need an authorization code to transfer a domain name to a new registrar, I understand that, but I have never had to actually call to get an authorization code. Not only that but when you do call they then send you a security code that you need to reply to to get the authorization code. They don’t send you the authorization code right away, that would be to easy. Of course when you call to have them send the security code, they ask questions like “Why do you want to transfer this domain name?” Easy, your company charges to much, besides it is really none of your business!

While I was looking around the Register.com website I came across this page entitled “5 Web Tips Every Small Business Owner Should Know” by Larry Kutscher the CEO of Register.com. Here are a couple of his tips that I just had to laugh at:

• Take Pride in Customer Service – No matter how big or small your company, the importance of good customer relations directly impacts success and the web offers some great new ways to provide great service to your customers. Some services to consider implementing include: dedicated service inquiries email, live online chat, and posting easily accessible FAQs on your site.
• Staying Competitive in Tough Economic Times – There are plenty of proactive and cost effective ways to manage your business during tough economic times. The cheapest and most effective way to reach your customers is through the Internet. Think about using your upcoming government tax credit to help optimize your website and be more competitive. More and more consumers are turning to the web for answers – so make sure you’re out there!

Take Pride in Customer Service – Perhaps you need to try transferring a domain name away from your company and see how well your customer service is? You do realize there are companies that don’t require customers to call to get an authorization code?

Staying Competitive in Tough Economic Times – Have you looked at your prices? $35.00/year to register a domain name? You know it is not the 1990′s anymore right? Here is some real good advice for small business owners. Don’t register your domain name at Register.com! Check out GoDaddy or Namecheap. GoDaddy charges $9.99 for a new domain name. Namecheap is currently charging $9.29. You could register three domain names for what Register.com wants to charge you for one. There is one thing he is right about in his tips about staying competitive in tough economic times. Consumers are turning to the web for answers, and the answer they are going to find is that Register.com charges to much for domain name registration.

I am sure we will eventually get the domain name transferred away from Register.com and my client will be able to save some money and have more control over their domain name. Perhaps it is time for Register.com to enter the real world if they want to compete.

I am not a big name domainer by any means but I do have a collection of domain names that I maintain. Some have websites on them, others are there waiting for the right day to be turned into the next great website. I have roughly 50 domain names altogether spread around different registrars like Namecheap, Domainsite and of course GoDaddy. I think everyone has at least one domain with GoDaddy.

Just after Christmas I got another email from them reminding me that I had some domains coming up for renewal so I finally went and logged in to see which names and how many were coming up. It was not to bad, only five names. GoDaddy‘s prices are good for domain names at $9.99 for a .com but I hate paying full price for anything. A quick search turned up a coupon code good for a 15% discount on your order.

GoDaddy Coupon Code: gdm1236c
Discount: 15% off
Expiration: January 15, 2008

The one thing about GoDaddy coupon codes is they are always changing, but if you can’t find a good deal with a quick search try SAVETEN and get 10% off your order. I have used it for a while and have never had a problem with it. Never pay full price at GoDaddy again.

The Domain Registry of Canada sounds like such an official name doesn’t it? It sounds like they have some authority over website domains in Canada. That could not be further from the truth. The truth is they are a company that sends out domain name expiration notice letters to domain name holders to transfer their domains away for their current registrar to them.

Now I know what they are doing is probably quite legal since they talk about transferring the name etc, but there is something about it that stinks. The first is the fact that they make themselves sound so official, and the talk about transferring the name is in the copy, and face it people don’t read very well. The second is that many people that have websites and domains don’t know who their registrar is. They hired a company to make them a website and got a domain with it. They might not know that the company that did the website for them is also their registrar, so this company. Third, and this is the most important one, their prices STINK! $40.00/year for a domain name! Maybe back in the 90′s! Heck, for what they charge per year you could register four domains at GoDaddy. Even I out price them at $20.00/year and I will manage it for you!

Well that is my word of warning to all of my clients out there and here is my advice of what you should do if you get a letter from the Domain Registry of Canada. Don’t even bother opening it and just through it straight into the paper recycle bin!

Want to know what the letter looks like? Here is the one I got recently. Looks so official doesn’t it?

One of the services I provide to my clients is domain name registration. When I register a domain for a client I make sure that I return to the client a user name and password that will allow them to edit their domain name settings, including transferring it to another registrar, changing name servers and all of the other settings that can be done at other domain registrars such as GoDaddy.

The reason I provide that information to clients is because I believe that they have a right to have that information. Not all web developers will do this, some will register the domain name for you but will list themselves as the administrative contact which means that if you decide you want to move to a new developer, or a new server, you might not be able to take the domain with you, or you might have to deal with a huge headache with your former developer or hosting company.

I am always running into instances where new clients want me to do some work for them on their website, including transferring their website to a new server and they are then held captive by the company that registered the domain name for them. If you are new to the Internet and are getting a domain name registered make sure that the company that does it for you does it properly, listing you as the owner and administrative contact and they give you a web address and user name and password so you can edit the settings. If you are not new to the Internet register your own domains, this gives you the flexibility to move your website or blog to a new host if you find a package that suits you better.

I don’t have a lot of domain names that I am not doing something with, but I have a few. I had most of them parked over at Sedo, I thought I might be able to make a few cents off of them if people, for some reason, typed in the name. Well in about two years I think I made $1.00. I was not planning on making money off of them but that is an average of $.50/year. I came across another domain parking service the other day thanks to DigitalPoint Forums called NameDrive and I thought I would try them out. Well within 48 hours of parking one of my newly acquired domains there I was pleasantly surprised to have an offer from someone to buy the domain.

I have since moved the majority of my parked domains over to NameDrive and have been very happy with the service and what they do with the domains. The service is easy to use and you can choose from several themes for your parking pages, as well as choosing an appropriate category. The parking pages themselves are like simple one page websites. Certainly a lot faster to park a domain there than to quickly put up a simple parking page myself. If you have domains that you are not doing anything with and are just parked give NameDrive (affiliate link) a try. I have been very happy so far.

Here are a couple of the domains I have parked over there if you want a sample of what they look like:

• televisionbargains.com
• thewebhostingforum.com