All About the Domain Industry, Part 5: The Customer
The Domain Industry is complex and is made up of many different entities, from regulatory bodies to registrars to the end customer. The following is part five of a multi-post series on the domain industry and its structure – intended to give a broad overview and some basic insights into the industry.
Posts: Part 1: ICANN, Part 2: Registries, Part 3: Registrars , Part 4: The Domain Aftermarket , Part 5: Customers & End Users
The first four parts of this series have focused on different entities in the domain industry and the roles they play. If you haven’t read the other posts in this series, I’d encourage you to use the links above and do so. If you’re new to the domain industry and owning a domain name, it can be rather confusing. Hopefully these posts have helped shed at least a little light on the subject.
So what is your role in the industry as a customer and domain owner? Several things:
First, I’d suggest following some industry news to stay on top of what industry organizations such as ICANN are up to, including interesting topics such as the creation of new top-level domains expected to begin taking place in the near future. Most notably in current news, the joint project agreement between ICANN and the US Government is about to expire, giving ICANN more independent control of its actions than it has ever had before. ICANN has policies that focus on encouraging public comment and feedback, so if you have strong feelings about ICANN’s actions and the way IP addresses and domain names are managed, share them.
Next, make sure you renew your domain names in a timely manner to avoid having to potentially go through the process of redemption or losing your domain entirely. As we’ve mentioned, the domain aftermarket for expiring domains can be a tricky place to wade into, and you’re best of renewing domains with time to spare to avoid any potential hassles of trying to get an expired domain back.
Finally, understand how to effectively use your domains. Learn about DNS management and other domain tools to help you get the most out of your domain. If you are already an experienced domain owner, be sure to help friends who might be less experienced than you are online. You’d be surprised how many people think that buying a domain name is all you need to do to create a website, even after we work to make our messaging clear that websites require some sort of hosting.
If you’ve got other questions about the industry you think we could answer, be sure to leave them in the comments. We’ll respond, and perhaps even write up a new blog post if the subject is big enough to warrant.
