Domain Management: Why Investing in Domains Still Matters

Your domain is more than just a web address – it’s the foundation of your online presence and a critical part of your brand identity. Losing control of it could have devastating consequences for your business. In this article, we explore why domain management is essential, looking at everything from security to the benefits of investing in domains.

The need for domain management

Domain management is a critical process that ensures your domain names remain active, functional, and secure. Beyond the initial registration, it involves essential tasks such as renewing registration, configuring DNS settings correctly, and implementing security measures to prevent unauthorised access to your domains. Effective domain management can also mean investing in similar domain names to avoid revenue loss, reputational damage and customer exploitation.

Failing to manage domains properly can lead to disastrous consequences. Letting your registration expire allows others to legitimately purchase your domain. This means your website traffic could be redirected to their site, and they would inherit your domain’s search engine rankings and reputation.

Another serious consequence of renewal failure is cybersquatting, where individuals or groups deliberately purchase expired domains to extort money from the original owners. Similar to using ransomware, this practice exploits businesses desperate to reclaim their web address.

Domain management also involves taking steps to prevent issues like business impersonation. For instance, if your business owns the domain mybusiness.com, a bad actor could acquire variations like mybusiness.co.uk or mybusinesss.com to deceive customers, sell counterfeit goods or steal sensitive data.

Managing domains effectively

There are several tasks involved in effective domain management. These are :

• Domain registration and renewalWhen you purchase a domain, you actually buy a one or two-year registration. If the registration expires, it becomes available for others to buy. To prevent this from happening you should enable auto-renewal in your control panel.

  For more information, read: Domain Registration – A Beginners’ Guide

• DNS configurationDNS (Domain Name System) settings are used to connect your domain name to your website’s server. This is essential to ensure users can access your site. While these settings are often configured automatically, any errors can prevent your website from loading. It is vital, therefore, to check that your DNS settings are correct.

  If a cybercriminal gains access to your hosting account, they could alter your DNS records to redirect your traffic to a malicious website. Robust hosting account security is therefore essential, and we recommend implementing strong passwords and multi-factor authentication.

• DNS security measuresAnother security issue is DNS spoofing, a form of cyberattack where users are redirected to malicious websites without them knowing. To protect against DNS spoofing you should implement DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extensions). DNSSEC adds an encryption layer to DNS requests, preventing them from being tampered with during transit. DNSSEC is like an SSL certificate for DNS and can be activated in your control panel.
• Maintaining Whois recordsThe final element of DNS management is maintaining your Whois records. The Whois database contains information about the registrant of every domain, and ICANN, the organisation that oversees domains, requires owners to keep these details up to date. While Whois records include personal data, GDPR now allows you to privacy-protect this information, so it is hidden from public view. You can enable privacy protection through your control panel for each of your domains.

  Get up to speed with DNS, read: How DNS Records Work

Domain investment

Purchasing other domains can be a shrewd way to secure your business’s online presence and protect your brand reputation. Here are some of the main reasons to invest in domains:

• Preventing impersonation: By purchasing different TLD variations of your domain name, such as .co.uk or .net, you can stop others from buying them and using them for malicious purposes.
• Futureproofing for international expansion: By registering international domain extensions (e.g., .fr or .de) you can protect your brand from fraudsters using your name overseas and ensure your domain is secured if you decide to begin trading in foreign markets.
• Using new TLDs: With over 1,500 TLDs now available, you can start taking advantage of some of the more creative domain names that might be suitable for your brand or location, such as .london, .cafe, or .training.
• Selling domains: Some businesses invest in domain names that other brands might want to buy in the future. Registered domains can be sold for a profit through dedicated marketplaces and those with high search engine rankings or traffic often generate the highest prices.Looking for the right domain? Read: Domain Name Extensions You Never Knew Existed

The importance of control panels

When managing your domains, a good control panel, like cPanel or Plesk, offers easy-to-navigate dashboards and wizard assistance that make it much simpler to carry out tasks like:

• Enabling auto-renewals.
• Configuring DNS and DNSSEC settings.
• Activating Whois privacy protection.
• Monitoring domain security and performance.

At Webhosting UK, many of our hosting plans come with these intuitive control panels included.

Conclusion

A domain is an extremely valuable business asset, and this makes it vital to renew its registration, maintain its functionality and keep it secure. At the same time, owners need to defend their brand identity and reputation from those willing to use similar domains for fraudulent purposes. Through effective domain management, investment in domains and the use of a reliable control panel, website owners are better placed to protect their domains and their brands.

Webhosting UK makes domain management easy. You can register a new domain directly from our website and take advantage of web hosting plans that come with cPanel or Plesk included. Visit our homepage to learn more about our services and start protecting your business today.