Have you ever felt lost when managing your website’s domain? You’re not alone. Some tech professionals keep these concepts vague to maintain control over their clients. Let’s break down what you need to know and document to stay in control of your digital property. Remember, your domain for your company is YOURS. Do not let an outside contractor register a domain for you, even if they are trying to save time, money, etc. You need to create this login and invite them in to manage it. You never want to lose control of your domains.

Domain Ownership: Your Digital Real Estate

Think of your domain like digital real estate – you need to keep your paperwork in order. Here’s what matters:

The Critical Email Address – the OWNER of the domain.

Your domain registrar (companies like GoDaddy or Namecheap) will send important notices to your email. These aren’t just annoying spam—they include renewal notices and security alerts. Missing these could mean losing your domain.

A NOTE OF CAUTION: GoDaddy is notorious for sending renewals out months before renewals. And, beware of add-ons: “Would you like fries with that burger?” Just do the renewal, unless you are adding domain privacy. See notes below.

Action Steps:

1. Log into your domain registrar account
2. Find “Account Settings” or “Domain Settings” (different companies use different names)
3. Check which email address is listed
4. Make sure it’s one you actually check regularly
5. Write down, make a note in a spreadsheet of both the email address used AND how to change it.
6. Is there a backup email and phone? Verify those, too, so you can avoid a domain lapse that can bring your business and mail down.

Privacy Protection: Your Digital Shield

When you register a domain, your contact information becomes publicly available – unless you add privacy protection. Some tech providers don’t mention this, leaving your personal information exposed.

What It Does:

• Hides your personal contact details from public view and the bulk of data scrapers.
• Prevents spam and unwanted solicitations including those pieces of mail where you are prompted to renew your domain (it looks super official but it’s a scam).
• Costs about $10 per year per domain – so it can add up. If you can only do a few of these, choose the domains you use the most.

Worth Knowing about Domain Privacy:

• Essential for your main business domain
• Optional for temporary marketing domains
• Document whether it’s enabled and when it renews
• Also, it makes changing domain records more complicated. There will be another login for the privacy host, and you will most likely need at least one set of 2FA (factor authentication) where you’ll need codes to make even the most minor changes to the domain. If you frequently make these changes, you may need to coordinate with whoever requests the changes or is in charge of the domain registration account.
• We are HUGE fans of Cloudflare to manage all of this. Yes, they have free accounts, but their add-ons are reasonably priced and are INSTANTANEOUS. 

Smart Renewal Strategies

Don’t just set everything to auto-renew. Be strategic:

Main Business Domain:

• Always enable auto-renewal
• Document renewal dates
• Keep payment information updated

Property-Specific Domains:

• Turn OFF auto-renewal for temporary listing domains
• Only enable auto-renewal for long-term properties (>12 months)
• Set calendar reminders 30 days before expiration to verify you still need it and to review if there are any additional products tied to that domain.
• Keeping a note of the domain’s purpose will help when you review it so you don’t miss logic or break a campaign using that specific domain.

Technical Settings: Your Domain’s Instruction Manual

This is where many people feel intimidated. Let’s fix that.

DNS Records: Your Domain’s Address Book

Think of DNS records as your domain’s contact list. Here’s what to document:

Create a Spreadsheet with These Columns:

1. Record Type
2. Host/Name
3. Points To/Value
4. Purpose
5. Date Last Updated
6. Who Made the Change
7. And make a note if you have domain privacy set up.
8. What is the renewal date?

Types of Records in Plain English:

• A Records: Direct connections
  • Like your physical address
  • Points visitors to your website’s location
  • Example: yourdomain.com → 192.0.2.1 (this is an IP address)
• CNAME Records: Shortcuts
  • Like when mail addressed to your nickname reaches you
  • Lets different web addresses lead to the same place
  • Example: www.yourdomain.com → yourdomain.com, or shop.yourdomain.com may go to a shopping cart site.
• MX Records: Mail Instructions
  • Tells emails where to go
  • Critical for your business email
  • Document these carefully – email problems are painful
• TXT Records: Special Notes
  • Proves you own the domain
  • Required for some security features including ways to have your mail validated so it will end up in the inbox and not the spam tab.
  • Keep copies of these – they’re hard to remember. We have our clients set something up in whatever system they use for their document depot – Google Drive, Monday, ClickUp, and all of the rest of the collaborative tools.

Why Document Everything?

1. Switching Providers: Having your records means you’re not locked in with one company
2. Troubleshooting: When something breaks, you’ll know what it should look like
3. Security: You’ll notice if something changes that shouldn’t
4. Peace of Mind: No more mystery about how your domain works

Your Documentation Checklist

Keep records of:

• Domain registrar login details (where to log in, not the password)
• Email address associated with the domain
• Privacy protection status and renewal date
• Auto-renewal settings for each domain
• Complete DNS records
• Who has access to make changes
• When and why changes were made

Remember: This information is YOUR property. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s too complicated to understand. Keep these records updated, and you’ll stay in control of your digital presence.