The TH Design Blog!

Awhile back I tweeted the following (roughly): “no matter how inconvenient it may seem at the time, always register your domain yourself.” Today, a client emailed she’d seen that tweet and agreed with my advice (having just gone through a hassle with her domain).

I want to elaborate a bit. For those who aren’t clear on this, your domain is your www.nameofwebsite.com or .net or .biz, etc. Your domain has to be available and registered through an official registrar in order to work. Once your domain has been registered it may take a few minutes to a few days for it to “propagate throughout the internet,” but once that process is complete, people will be able to type your domain into their browser and will be taken to your website homepage.

The domain can be registered for and paid for by you, by your web developer or by your hosting company. (Those are the typical scenarios we most frequently run into). It is in your interest to register your domain and pay the registration fee yourself. Then, and this is important, you need to keep a record somewhere of where you registered the domain and what login and password you entered to set-up your account.

With the domain under your control you can then change hosts and/or developers when the need arises—e.g., when a developer or hosting provider goes out of business—without losing your domain.

Many times people will register their domain before they’ve hired a developer or know where they’re going to host their website. That’s not a problem. You can register your domain through one company and host your site with a different company. Often it’s cheaper to register and host through the same company—many hosting packages come with a free domain registration. In the best scenario you will have found a developer to work with and they will be able to recommend a good hosting company. Many developers will offer to register your domain for you, just say “thanks, but no thanks.” Hosting companies will sometimes offer to register your domain as well. Once again, “thanks but no thanks.” If a developer or hosting company requires you make them the official registrar, seek another developer or host.

The point is to stay in the driver’s seat. A good functioning website should become a true asset to your business or organization. Furthermore, your website should accrue value over time in terms of search engine rankings, incoming links, general visibility, etc.. All of those things hinge on your domain. So, if—for whatever reason—you need to change hosts or web developers down the road, you won’t be forced to change domains too. Having to change your domain would, in effect, be akin to starting over from scratch in terms of building web visibility. (In addition, a new domain might create a need to change business cards and other print materials etc.)

Now, chances are you wouldn’t be forced to change domains if you choose to change your web hosting or use a different developer. However,  you would have to get your host or developer to transfer the domain to you. If you’ve registered the domain yourself  you can avoid having to try to get cooperation from people or companies that may not feel motivated to be helpful or available to honor your request to transfer the domain. Others may seek compensation—sometimes exorbitant—before they will relinquish control. Hence, it’s always best to be on top of the game when it comes to the control of your domain.

SEO + Visual Design

There has been a great deal of discussion in SEO circles recently concerning Google’s experimentation with technology that would provide a preview feature on its SERPs (search engine result pages) and how this feature may impact SEO strategies. In essence, the implementation of such a feature would not re-order where sites are ranked in the organic listings for their strong suit of keywords or keyword phrases. However, by providing a pop-up preview of a site served in response to a search query, Google may drastically alter the number of click-throughs (and hence, traffic to a given site) generated by a high page ranking if (presumably) users reject the visual design of the site (or page) previewed. (Note: The preview technology isn’t new. Ask.com did some experimenting with a preview function several years ago and some sites, Facebook for instance, have started showing pop-up previews when you pass your cursor over a link.)

While there’s been no official announcement by Google confirming it’s desire to incorporate a preview function, it seems to me such a feature will not drastically alter the SEO landscape unless data—gathered several months down the road—clearly demonstrates users weigh visual appeal to a greater extent than the many variables otherwise motivating a search.

Some have speculated Google may be looking at the preview function as a way of allowing users to immediately identify and avoid links to fraudulent sites. This explanation does seem like a plausible motivation on Google’s part. From my designer perspective (should Google implement a preview function), it would be interesting to see if a data set could be gathered a few months or years hence that would provide empirical evidence for claims made about the effectiveness of visual design and/or branding strategies when it comes to customer response. (Do I drink Starbuck’s Coffee because I like the taste or because I think they’ve effectively branded their product?)

For now, we’ll have to wait and see if the speculation about Google is on the money.