Own Your Domain and Email: The Accounts Every Owner Should Control

Here is a common story. A business owner hired a web designer years ago, who registered the domain name and set up email on the owner’s behalf. The designer moves on, the renewal notice goes to an old address, and one day the website and email simply stop working. Nobody did anything wrong on purpose, but the owner never held the keys. This post helps you make sure you do.

The accounts that matter most

Several accounts quietly hold your business together. The owner, or a company account the owner controls, should be the named holder of each one:

• Domain registration. This is the record that says your company name.com belongs to you. If it lapses or moves, your website and email can disappear.
• DNS settings. These tell the internet where your website and email live. They are often managed at the registrar or at your host.
• Email administrator account. The admin can create and remove mailboxes, reset passwords and see settings for everyone.
• Website hosting and the site’s admin login. Without these you cannot update, move or restore your site.
• Key business accounts. Think of your bank, accounting software, payroll, social media pages and online business listings.

Why the owner should hold them

Vendors, designers and employees come and go. If one of them is the account holder, they can lock you out, intentionally or by accident, and you may have little power to prove the business is yours. When the owner controls the accounts, you can hand out the access people need without handing over the ownership.

Giving a trusted vendor permission to manage something is fine and often smart. The point is that you remain the owner and can take that permission back.

How to check that you own your domain

Set aside an hour and go through this list:

1. Look up your domain using a public registration lookup tool and see which registrar holds it and what contact details are listed.
2. Find the registrar login. Can you actually sign in? Is the contact email one you still read?
3. Confirm the renewal date and whether automatic renewal is on and the payment card is current.
4. Sign in to your email admin area. If you cannot, find out who can, and ask them to add you as an administrator.
5. Ask whoever built your website where it is hosted and whose name is on that account.
6. Check that each account recovers to a phone number and email address that belong to the business or to you.

What to write down

Create a simple, private record for the owner and one trusted backup person. Include the name of each service, the account holder, the login address, where the password is stored, which email address receives alerts, and the renewal date. Store it in a password manager or a locked place, not in an unprotected file on your desktop.

Use unique passwords and turn on multi-factor authentication for these accounts. They are high-value targets, since controlling your domain and email lets someone impersonate your business.

If you are already locked out

Do not panic, and do not pay anyone who contacts you out of the blue offering to fix it. Start with the basics:

• Use the service’s own account recovery option with the email or phone number on file.
• Contact the vendor or designer politely and ask them to transfer or share the account. Keep the request in writing.
• Contact the registrar or provider’s support team and be ready to prove the business is yours with your company name, address and payment records.

Recovery can take time, so it is much easier to fix this before there is a problem. Rules for transferring domains vary by registrar and by domain type, so check the provider’s current requirements.

Where to start

This week, find out who holds your domain registration and your email admin login. If either is not you, start the transfer or add yourself as an owner. Then build the one-page record and set a calendar reminder a few weeks before each renewal date.

Zippie IT is a veteran-owned small business in Meridian, Idaho, and our managed IT services include help with users, email and the accounts behind your business, so ownership stays where it belongs. Call (208) 810-1795 or email info@zippieit.com.