If you are the owner of multiple domain names you are probably familiar with the headache of tracking where each domain name is registered, the business or personal names provided for the registrant, the associated contact information and when they are going to expire. If this sounds familiar, then domain consolidation can help solve your problems.
A Domain Portfolio Audit can give you valuable insights into the efficiencies and risks in your corporate domain holdings and can help you assess whether your business will benefit from consolidation.
Here are 5 key benefits to consolidating multiple domain names under a single account at a reputable corporate domain registrar like Webnames Corporate.
Benefit One – Simplify Domain Administration
Managing domain names under different accounts makes life harder.
You probably have a spreadsheet or (don’t admit to this) an email folder that contains information about the different domain names under your management, which accounts they’re registered under and the various login credentials you use.
Consolidating all of your domains under a single account reduces confusion and provides give you a birds-eye view of your domain portfolio, including renewal dates, DNS settings, contact details and more. You’ll also benefit from built-in tools that allow you to make bulk changes to your domains, increasing efficiency. If you need to share information with colleagues or provide reports, we have powerful features to help get those tasks accomplished. And of course, you’ll save time having to go from registrar to registrar every time you need to renew or change a domain setting.
Benefit Two – Improved Oversight of your Domain Portfolio
Having a centralized account also makes it much easier to keep registrant and contact information up-to-date. This helps ensure that you will not miss important renewal reminders or ICANN verification emails that could put your domain names at risk to expire.
If you happen to be a larger company with multiple business units, each managing their own domain registrations and renewals, you’ll be able to provide your teams with unique login details while restricting access to things like pricing, billing and account permissions. These advanced management tools will give your teams the ability to self manage while you retain control.
Benefit Three – Domain Consolidation Enhances Security
If you are concerned about security, not only does a consolidated domain portfolio decrease the risk of interference by bad actors by providing increased oversight, as described above, it also allows you to take advantage of services that can further safeguard your account from unauthorized changes.
One inexpensive and powerful tool for domain name security is Account Lock. Account Lock restricts access to an account to a certain IP Address or a range of IP Addresses. This stops unauthorized changes from being made to any account, locking down your domain name settings and more. With domain consolidation, you have fewer threat surfaces to manage and by protecting your primary domain registrar account you can be sure that your portfolio is secured.
For those who want to take additional precautions to protect their domains and brands, Registrar Lock can be turned-on for any individual domain in your account, securing it from transfer, deletion or updates by preventing any changes to your name-server information. You can layer on additional protection by also using Registry Lock for .CA, .COM and .NET domains. Registry Lock secures your domain at “ground zero,” the Registry operator, and requires an authorized individual at your domain registrar to submit a request to the Registry to unlock the domain name. The registrar is then contacted via phone and required to provide an individual security phrase in order for the name to be unlocked.
Benefit Four – Get Better Pricing with Larger Portfolios
Consolidating domain names under a single portfolio also provides the benefit of cheaper pricing. Having as few as 5 domain names with Webnames automatically qualifies small businesses for better pricing. In turn, this provides more flexibility to secure additional domain names as a proactive, brand protection measure or to use for online campaigns.
Benefit Five – Enjoy Improved Customer Service
A less obvious benefit of domain consolidation is developing a relationship with your domain management provider.
We have a lot of customers who are capable and happy to self serve, which is great – more power to you folks! But for many others, technical stuff isn’t their cup of tea. If you fall into this latter category, consolidating your domains with a single registrar will, over time, allow them to better understand your business needs. As your history service requests, interactions and purchases develops, a knowledgeable customer support representative will be able optimize your account and recommend relevant features or services that make sense for your unique needs.
While every Webnames customer can count on reliable, experienced and efficient customer support, whether they contact us one or one-hundred times a year, having your entire portfolio with us gives us an opportunity to be proactive, identify areas of opportunity to serve you better, and recognize if something is amiss or irregular in your account. Plus, we love getting to know our customers … and after 17 years in business, many of them have become friends.
Domain Consolidation is Easier Than you Think
Most people assume that transferring a domain name is a headache; why wouldn’t they? Mobile providers make you jump through different hoops to cancel your plan or cable providers make it difficult to cancel your plan, all in the hopes of dissuading you from cancelling your subscription.
When it comes to transferring your domain names, it is fairly easy and simply involves four steps.
- Make sure your domain is unlocked
- Acquire the authorization code. Sometimes this is called an EPP code.
- Ensure the administrative contact is up-to-date
- Start the transfer to consolidate your domain names
Be sure to confirm that the administrative email address that is listed is current and valid, and that you access to this account because a transfer confirmation email will be sent to this address later in the transfer process.
Another option is to have us manage the transfer process for you. We’re happy to do the work and free you up to focus on your business – you just need to give us a call to get started.
Whether your pain point is updating a multiple domain names or keeping track of multiple renewal dates, consolidating domain names into a single account saves a lot of time and effort in managing a portfolio online.
