The Quick Guide to Transferring Domain Names

By Tim Priebe If you ever get a new webmaster or switch web hosting companies, you might also transfer control of your domain name (that's just the www.whatever.com) to someone else. This process varies from simple to extremely difficult, depending largely on the companies you're dealing with. Since I have done this several times with various clients, I thought I would provide some insight. First, some concepts. A registrar a company you register a domain through. They almost always have some sort of control panel on their site you can log into. Ideally, they also have a phone number you can call if you lose all your login information. Generally, transferring your domain name involves transferring from one registrar to another. Also, don't forget that a domain name is different from your web host. A web host (or web server) is like a house, and a domain name is kind of like a phone number. You can move houses and still keep the same phone number. Also, you can stay in the same house, but change phone numbers. It's the same way with domain names and web hosting. Okay, on to what happens when you try to transfer a domain. Most registrars have their own method of requesting a domain be transferred to them. First, the person who currently owns the domain needs to go into their registrar's control panel and make sure the domain is not locked. Then, the person who is going to receive the domain goes to their control panel and follows their registrar's method of requesting the domain be transferred to them. At this point, the procedure can vary. Several emails will likely be sent by both registrars to both the requestor and the old owner. Both the new and old owners need to follow any instructions given in the email in a timely manner. The instructions differ greatly from one domain registrar to another. The other situation you might run into is if you're transferring owners, but both owners use the same registrar. In that case, there is likely some method in the control panel of transferring ownership. This will probably be a completely different option from the first situation, where the parties have different registrars. If in doubt, call your registrar and ask what the procedure is. Tim is the owner and senior web designer at T&S Web Design. His company has developed and maintained website for dozens of small businesses and organizations. Tim also maintains a blog with free website advice for small business owners, GetASiteOnline.com Article Source: >http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_Priebe