Tag Archives: investing

What Is Domain Name Privacy?

Posted on April 15, 2019 by Hosting

The post What Is Domain Name Privacy? appeared first on HostGator Blog . Maintaining your privacy is harder today than it’s ever been. Keeping your personal information safe from strangers is a constant challenge, one you have to be vigilant about. If you own a website though, there’s a good chance your information is out there where anyone can find it – unless you’ve chosen to invest in domain name privacy .   What is Domain Name Privacy? Once you’ve finally found the right domain name and verified that the domain name is available , you’ll quickly see that registering it requires providing your contact information to the company you buy it from. They’re then required to pass that information along to the ICANN WHOIS directory, which publishes it for all the world to see. Domain privacy is an add-on service offered by many domain registration companies that keeps your personal information private, while keeping you in compliance with the law. What is the ICANN WHOIS Directory? ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is the nonprofit organization tasked with managing the domain name system of the larger internet. That includes generating new top-level domains and operating root name servers. But the task they’re most known for is running the WHOIS directory. The WHOIS directory keeps a record of every active website domain and who runs it. ICANN doesn’t manage it entirely on their own, they work with a number of registrants that earn ICANN accreditation in order to offer domain registration services. When you register a domain , you don’t go directly through ICANN, you do so with one of these services. They then provide the required information to ICANN, which adds it to the directory. Each domain name entry in the WHOIS directory includes a: Mailing address Phone number Email address This is the contact information for the website’s owner, or whoever runs the site. For a big company like Amazon that has a company headquarters and can provide email addresses that don’t reveal anyone’s personal information, supplying this information is no big deal. But if you’re an individual starting a website for yourself or run a small business without a physical location, providing personal details like this can be risky.    Why The Directory is Required The WHOIS directory exists to make sure there’s a clear record of who owns each website on the web. That’s important for cases where a website owner veers into illegal or abusive territory. Without a record of how to find offenders, authorities would have no way to hold them accountable and minimize harm. Specifically, the WHOIS directory comes into play when: Law enforcement agencies need help tracking down suspects in crimes committed online, or where key evidence is found online. Businesses or lawyers seek to identify people guilty of stealing or misusing intellectual property, such as plagiarists or people who use images they don’t have the rights for. Internet companies want to limit the power of people guilty of spam or other nuisances or malicious behavior online. While those are good and practical reasons for a directory like this to exist, a number of people and businesses turn to it for other, less useful purposes. Reasons People Use the Directory When your contact information is widely available on the web, it inevitably gets into the hands a few types of people: Those looking to buy your domain name. If you want a domain name that’s not available, the WHOIS database is one of the first places to try to find the person who owns the domain. . This is a pretty harmless use of the directory. Even if you’re not interested in selling your domain name, it’s not that obnoxious to hear from people asking. Those looking to sell you something. Individuals and businesses that sell various online services often play a numbers game when cold contacting possible prospects. When they can find your information in the directory, they know you have a website and may potentially need what they offer. With the info available in WHOIS, they can call, text, and email. Even if their offers are legitimate, getting a barrage of contact from service providers is something most people wouldn’t welcome. Those looking to scam you. Scammers need a way to contact you before they can convince you to wire over that money you don’t actually owe or provide your credit card information for the product they’ll never send. The WHOIS directory is as good a place as any for them to find that information. And it’s easy to scrape for information, so they can get a lot of contact info all at once without much effort. Whenever contact information becomes accessible, it opens you up to spammers looking for any way to get their foot in the door to start selling to or scamming you. While it may also put you within reach for some legitimate business contacts, the ratio of good contacts to unnecessary or bad ones isn’t usually in your favor. How to Keep Your Information Out of the Public Directory While you’re required to provide your information when you buy the domain, it’s not required that the information be easily accessible on the wide web. And before you think you can just provide fake contact information to solve the problem, that’s not actually a workable solution. For one thing, you need your domain registration company to be able to contact you for all domain name management issues, such as renewal reminders. For another, you’ll be on the wrong side of the law, and if there’s an issue or dispute down the line, ICANN can cancel your domain name or hand it over to someone else. Technically, you do have the option to create a new email address and invest in a P.O. box to provide legitimate information that isn’t your primary personal contact information. The issue there is you risk missing out on important communication about your domain name if you forget to check it regularly. But you have a better option. You can remove your contact information from the WHOIS directory without running afoul of the law by using a domain name privacy service. Instead of seeing your contact information when they search for you, people will see a record where most of the information is redacted for privacy reasons. Although they’ll still see an email address they can contact about any issues. You won’t be hidden from the law or able to plagiarize with impunity. People will be able to contact the email address provided here—usually one associated with your domain registration company—who can then contact you about any important information that arises. 3 Reasons Domain Privacy is Worth It If you go through life trying to be careful who you provide your personal information to, you don’t want the simple act of starting a website to mean that all your personal contact information is out there for anyone to see. For many website owners, domain name privacy is worth it for three main reasons. 1. Protect your personal information. How comfortable are you with the idea of random strangers knowing your address and phone number? Even if it’s a business address and phone number, rather than a personal one, that’s still probably where you spend a lot of your time each day. The possibility that anybody could figure out where to find you with a simple internet search is disconcerting for many people. In addition to the general discomfort you might feel, there’s the very real risk of identity theft. Every piece of information about you that becomes easily accessible to thieves puts you a little more at risk of identity theft. With high-level businesses showing up in the news for data breaches with increasing frequency, there’s only so much you can do to fully protect yourself, but every little step you can take to make your personal information harder to find reduces your risk. 2. Reduce spam. We are all inundated with spam in so many areas of life. Phone calls from strange numbers. Emails from unknown sources shilling products you’d never buy. You’re probably going to deal with some spam no matter what, but when your email address and phone number are easily accessible in a directory, you’re just making it easier for them. Domain privacy offers you protection from spammers having one more place to find you. 3. Avoid scammers. If there’s anything worse than spammers it’s scammers. Internet and phone scams are common and it’s another area where the more people know about you, the more likely you are to be targeted. And the more information scammers have, the more convincing they can be. If they see your domain registration is about to expire, they can pose as your domain registration company and try to get you to pay them rather than your actual company. Or they could go the other way and attempt domain hijacking by posing as you to your domain registration company to try to convince them to hand over the keys to your domain. That last part is hard to pull off, since companies have put procedures into place to make it domain hijacking very difficult, but having access to your personal information along with details about your domain registration makes pulling off these kinds of scams that much easier. 3 Downsides to Investing in Domain Name Privacy The reasons to invest in domain name privacy are pretty compelling, but it’s always good to consider all sides of a decision. There are a few downsides to going with domain name privacy as well. 1. It costs money. Domain name privacy typically means paying an additional fee on top of your domain registration. And it’s not something you pay for once and you’re done, you’ll be paying each year again at renewal time. For some website owners, the cost may be a big enough sticking point to opt not to invest in domain name privacy. 2. It may not offer full protection. Unfortunately, not all domain registrars are reputable and there have been cases of companies selling the information that customers paid them to keep private. Shielding the information from the WHOIS directory is one thing, but if you want to keep your contact information really safe, then you still need to be careful who you buy domain name privacy from. Make sure it’s a well respected company with a solid reputation for taking care of their customers.   3. It means less transparency. When potential customers want to confirm the legitimacy of your business, the ability to confirm who you are and where you’re located tells them you’re real. Most customers aren’t going straight to the WHOIS directory for that information, and you can probably provide good information on your website and in your marketing to demonstrate your legitimacy. But allowing the directory to publish your information is one more way to exhibit transparency to your customers. For most businesses, the benefits of domain name privacy will outweigh the downsides, but there may be some cases where keeping your information public in the directory is worth it.   What Does Domain Privacy Cost? The cost of adding domain name privacy to your plan varies for different providers, in most cases, it’s pretty affordable. Typically private WHOIS registration costs fall somewhere in the range of $10 to $40 a year. HostGator customers can get it for $14.95 a year. The good news is that paying for domain privacy is usually simple, as long as you go with the same company you use for domain registration and web hosting. You can automate the process and pay for it all once a year through the same account. How to Get Domain Name Privacy with HostGator If you’re ready to add one more level of privacy to your life and website, then investing in domain privacy is pretty simple. Check with your web hosting company to see if they offer it as an add-on service. If you use HostGator, all you have to do is use launchpad to enable WHOIS privacy. Follow the instructions below: Log into your Customer Portal. Click on the domain name you want to enable privacy for in order to open the Domain Overview section of the portal. Look for the word “Privacy.” You’ll see a red X next to it, indicating you haven’t bought it yet. Click on the word “Change” next to the X. Click on the option to select Private on the next page that comes up, and click “Save.” You’ll probably still get the occasional spam phone calls or emails—we all do—but by investing in domain name privacy, you won’t get as many and you’ll keep you private information safe from strangers. For more information on how to manage domains or transfer domain names , please contact HostGator today. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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How to Find an Affordable Website Builder

Posted on April 9, 2019 by Hosting

The post How to Find an Affordable Website Builder appeared first on HostGator Blog . You’ve had a great idea for a website for a while and you’re finally ready to take the first steps to getting it built. Congratulations! But you’re a little worried about figuring out how to get started and, even more importantly, how to pay for building a new website. The good news is that you no longer have to choose between spending a lot of money on a professional website designer or learning how to code to do it yourself. You can build a website all on your own with limited to no web design skills by using a website builder. Even if your budget is especially limited, you can still find an inexpensive website builder that’s within your price range. Should I Use a Free Website Builder? Before we get into how to find a good affordable website builder, you may notice in your early research that there are actually some free website builders on the market. Even better than cheap ones, right? Not necessarily. Any company that offers a website builder has to make money in some way, so free website builders usually have trade offs or limitations that make them less useful than paying for an affordable website builder. There are a few common forms this takes: Ads – If they’re not making money from you directly, a website builder company may make their money by serving ads on your site. That could make your site look more cluttered and tacky, and distract your visitors from the messaging you want them paying attention to. Shared branding – In addition to serving ads, some website builders treat your website as a way to promote their brand. That could mean their logo somewhere on your page, or even right there in your URL, which would look something like yourname.theirname.com. This sets your own branding back by making it hard for visitors to differentiate you from the website builder’s brand and see your website as having a memorable, unique identity. Limited pages – This is a common limitation with free plans. In some cases, the most you can build on a free plan is a one-page website. That doesn’t give you much room to work with. Limited bandwidth – This is another big one. The amount of bandwidth you have affects how long your site takes to load and is especially an issue on sites that have media elements like audio, video, social media displays, or animation, which require more bandwidth to load. Visitors won’t wait around for a slow site to load, so if your website builder doesn’t offer enough or unlimited bandwidth, you’ll lose visitors because of it. Important features require a paid upgrade – For a lot of the companies that offer a free website builder plan, it’s a way to get your foot through the door so they can, eventually, convince you to upgrade to one of their paid plans. They do this by limiting the features in the free plan so that you’re likely to realize over time that actually you do need one of the paid plans. If none of that sounds like an issue for you, keep in mind that there’s still a catch: for most of these free website builders, if you create a website and decide down the line you want to switch to a different website builder, you can’t take what you’ve already built with you. You’ll have to start from scratch. If your website’s URL is a subdomain of the website builder’s URL (e.g. the yoursite.theirsite.com situation we described earlier), any visibility you’ve built for your initial website will be lost as well in the move to a new URL. In other words, if your website is a personal passion project and you’re sure you won’t ever care about personal branding, ecommerce website options, or other brands’ ads on your site, then a free website builder could make sense. For everyone else, you’ll be better off starting with the right affordable website builder so you can stick with it as you grow.   How Much Do Affordable Website Builders Actually Cost? Paying for a good website builder doesn’t have to break your budget. The most affordable website builders cost in the range of $4-$25 a month . Most companies offer several web builder packages , so pay attention to how the costs and features compare for the different plans. If there are any features you’re okay without now, but you may want in coming years, be aware now what the cost of an upgrade will be. You don’t want to pick the option that seems the cheapest now, only to pay more over the long-term when you need to upgrade to a business website and switch out your basic plan. Also pay attention to the deals you sign. In many cases, a lower cost comes with a longer-term commitment. That could be fine if you do enough research going in to be sure of your choice, but you don’t want to feel stuck with a website builder you don’t like because you agreed to a three-year commitment to save a couple of bucks a month. What Features Should I Look for in an Inexpensive Website Builder? When you’re weighing your options, be sure to consider the features each website builder has to offer, not just the cost. The cheapest plans may be missing key features you need, especially if you run a business website, and paying just a little bit more could get a website builder with all the functional benefits you need both now and in the long term. While there are many benefits of using a simple website builder, it’s still important that you outline your future site goals so you choose the best website builder plan for your future. Here are some of the top features to consider when browsing different website builders. Necessary Features To start, there are a few features you definitely don’t want to skimp on. Consider these a necessity when perusing your options. A website builder that doesn’t offer them won’t provide what you need for a successful website. Ease of use – If you have to spend hours learning how to use a new website builder, then it’s not providing a great value—even if it didn’t cost much. Your time is worth something too. Look for a website builder that boasts drag-and-drop functionality and intuitive editing tools. Ideally, you should be able to jump right in and start building your website the same day you purchase. Educational resources – While a good website builder shouldn’t require you to spend much time learning the ropes, a good library of educational resources (tutorials and articles) will ensure that you know all the different features available, are able to make the most of them, and have access to easy answers whenever you have a question. Customer Support – Just as importantly, any time you run into confusion and need assistance from an actual human being, you should be able to trust someone will be available and helpful at the moment you need them. Check that your website builder offers customer service and has a good reputation for it. Website Templates – Building a website with a website builder usually starts with design templates. By having a well designed starting point, all the other changes you make come much easier. And having a good looking template to start with really makes a difference in the quality of the end result. Look for a website builder that offers multiple templates for you to choose from, and you’ll have no problem creating a beautiful site . Mobile-friendly compatibility – People now do more of their browsing on mobile devices than on their computers, which is exactly why you need a mobile responsive website. If your website does not have a responsive design, you’ll lose visitors. Plain and simple. For a website that all your visitors can interact with, go with a website builder that makes it easy to make your website mobile friendly. Nice-to-Have Features Along with the essentials, there’s a good chance you’ll want your website builder to offer some useful additional options. These won’t necessarily be required for all websites, but they’ll be important for some to have and useful for others. Multiple pages – Before you choose a website builder, consider how many pages you’ll want your website to have. And not just right now, will you need room for it to grow in the months and years to come? Some of the most affordable website builder plans put a limit on the number of pages you can create. That will be fine for some sites, but become a big problem for others. Custom domain – Most website builders that you pay for will offer the option of having a custom domain. With many, you’ll need to pay separately for the domain name, but some will include it in the cost. Confirm if you’ll be able to use a custom domain at all, and whether or not you should anticipate it costing extra. SEO (search engine optimization) features – Creating a website is one thing, getting people to see and interact with it is another. If you care about people finding your website, then you should start thinking about SEO now. Check for helpful SEO features that make it easy to perform on-site optimization for your pages (customizing the fields that matter to Google, such as your URL, title, and image tags). Media features – Will your website ever include media like audio or video? If so, make sure the website builder you choose is set up for the bandwidth those feature require and make it easy to load them to your site. Security features – Hackers abound, which is why you must protect your website from hackers at all costs. If your website isn’t secure, you risk hackers taking it over or stealing sensitive information your customers provide you. Security features like an SSL certificate or compatibility with security hardware are crucial if you’ll be accepting payment information through your ecommerce store, and are still useful to have if you’re not. E-commerce functionality – Will you be using your website to sell items on an online store? If so, a website builder that allows you to add a shopping cart and secure checkout process is a must.   Your costs when investing in a website builder will have a lot to do with which of these features you need, and which you can easily live without. Even if you need some advanced features though, you can still save money when looking for an inexpensive website builder. 4 Ways to Save Money When Investing in a Website Builder If looking at your options still has you worried about the costs of getting the website builder you need, there are some potential ways to make the money you spend go further. 1. Only pay for what you need. If your website will be fairly simple and you don’t expect much traffic from day one (most people won’t get a lot of traffic right away), then you don’t need to invest in a high-level website builder plan with lots of different features. Figure out what features you actually need now, and find the most affordable website builder that offers those. But do also consider the features you anticipate needing in the coming years as you grow, and consider the cost of future upgrades when making your decision. The most affordable option for the long term may be different than the one that’s cheapest for right now, and you may be better off spending a little more now to save later. 2. Look for bundles or packages. Some website builders include other services you’ll need in the price. For example, HostGator’s website builder comes with free web hosting —something every website requires to go live on the web. Web hosting is another monthly cost, so saving that money pays off for you in the long term. Similarly, if a website builder package allows you to register a domain name for free or includes free ecommerce features, that could save you money on services you’d be paying extra for anyways. Pay attention to what’s included in the website builder packages you consider before making a final decision. 3. Wait for specials. Like any other type of business, the companies that provide website builders often offer specials and sales. Making your purchase at the right time could earn you a discount. Often these fall at the times of year that sales are common for other companies, like Black Friday, Labor Day, or  Memorial Day. If you have your eye on a particular website builder, or a few, sign up for the company’s email list so you’ll be alerted if the company’s plans go on sale. Many website builders offer referral or affiliate programs , so you may be able to score a discount at any time of year if you have a friend that’s a current customer or you learn about the website builder from an affiliate who provides a discount code. And you can save money on your renewals over time by taking advantage of those programs yourself and sharing your discount code with others. 4. Pay for a couple of years upfront. Many website builders offer a different monthly price to customers that sign up for a long-term commitment. If you’re not entirely sure about the website builder you choose, this option could be risky. But if you’re confident you’ll be sticking with your website builder for years to come, then agreeing to be a customer for one, two, or three years and paying upfront can save you a considerable percentage versus paying month to month and reserving the right to cancel at any time. Get Started with an Affordable Website Builder You could easily spend weeks studying up on all the different features and options available in different website builders. Or you can cut the process short by checking out HostGator’s website builder to see if it matches everything you need. If you have any questions about how it all works and what’s included, our support team is available 24/7 to provide answers. And you won’t have to worry about finding and buying web hosting separately, as it comes included (and from one of the most well respected web hosting companies out there). Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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