Your domain is the core component of your online presence. It’s the address to a piece of online real estate that belongs only to you or your business. That means choosing the right domain name and registering it are essential steps for securing your company’s online home. But, they aren’t the only steps you should be taking.
To stay updated and secure in the new world, a domain name needs ongoing management, whether it’s a single domain owned by an entrepreneur or part of a large portfolio of domains owned by a corporation. Every domain name owner needs to practice some form of management. Thankfully, a wide range of domain management services and tools are available to help users with different tasks ranging from keeping domains updated and secure, to tracking performance with sophisticated analytics.
What is domain management?
Domain name management refers to the ongoing tasks of keeping a personal (or corporate) domain stable, secure and able to support related websites. The domain not only establishes its owner’s presence on the internet, it also serves as a portal to a business or personal website designed to serve that owner’s unique needs. Site owners might be tempted to focus all of their attention on setting up and maintaining their website itself, but managing the domain is a key factor in keeping the website online and accessible.
Individuals and small businesses may find that a single domain name is all that’s needed to establish an online presence or develop a unique brand. Larger corporations (and those with a number of different business interests) may need multiple domains. In fact, some business owners recommend buying as many related domains as possible to keep them from being used by competitors and to capture all possible variants that might be typed in during a search — including misspellings. That can result in a large portfolio of domain names, some of which may never be used. Whether a user buys one domain or many, though, ongoing management keeps them updated and working to support the websites they serve.
How does domain management work?
Domain management can take various forms, depending on the owner’s individual goals and needs. In general, a domain owner needs to be able to perform essential tasks like renewals, determining nameservers, and making other changes to the domain as needed. Owners also need to manage their domain to track analytics and see how it performs in search engines like Bing and Google.
Domain management tools and options
Essential domain management tools are available either through the registrar directly, or they can be integrated into the control panel by a web hosting provider. These tools will offer a graphical, non-technical way to manage settings related to maintaining all the domains under your account. These simple do-it-yourself management tools allow users to handle several key tasks such as renewing a domain, terminating a domain, validating IP addresses, and configuring name servers. A variety of paid and free domain management tools online can also handle important tasks such as registering and renewing domains, managing multi-domain portfolios, and tracking a domains performance. Some may also include domain name generators and other tools for keeping your domains secure.
Maintain your domain to keep your brand safe
Domain names secure a user’s “realm of authority” on the internet and makes it possible for individuals or businesses to create an online presence. Whether you’re an individual, small business, or large corporation, managing your domain (or domain portfolio) is just as important as managing your website. Domain management tools (like those offered by your domain registrar or web hosting provider) can help to keep all of your names safe and secure, long after they’re purchased and registered.
