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In the past several years doing web development I often times needed to buy new domain names. I changed registrars a lot also so over the years I have multiple domain names scattered over different registrars all over the world.

Now I want to bring a little structure into my business, and I am at the point that I want to be able to have easy control over my domain names in a convenient way.

Does anyone have an idea on what the best way is to give structure on this. I have made some suggestions maybe you can comment on them for me.

1) Just leave it as it is

I can leave everything as it is. To make adjustments I have to log into different panels, and for some registrars I have to email the changes.

2) Transfer all the domains to one registar

This will cost a lot, about 10 usd per domain name. But if I can find a registar where I have full control over DNS this is worth looking at.

Can you give me some comments on how you are doing things now. Maybe also which registrar you prefer on doing things.

Saif Bechan
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4 Answers4

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Are these domains yours or are they for your client(s)? I register all my customers domains using No-IP.com: it's relatively inexpensive: $29/95 year per domain for No-IP Plus, which allows you to have full control over your DNS records; domain registration is $10/yr, but when you transfer, they'll add another year of registration from the transfer date forward, so it's not really that big of a deal, although some clients prefer to wait until the expiry date. You can collect affiliate dollars from referrals which gets you some free registrations, renewals, etc. down the road (you just have to put your email address in the Referral field in the order page).

I create a separate account for each client and make sure to make them the administrative contact on the domain, adding myself as the technical contact. I loath it when I take over a site from some other service provider/developer and they registered everything under their own account -- it's bad etiquette and annoying to do it this way.

gravyface
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  • Thank you for this solution. The domain names are a mix from personal and client domains. Although I think 29,95 usd per domain name is quite expensive in my opinion. Using the account per client is a good idea +1 for mentioning that. – Saif Bechan Apr 17 '10 at 19:49
  • $29.95 is annually; I've never had a client balk at that price before, but if you want free, you could always do zoneedit.com. – gravyface Apr 17 '10 at 20:09
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Personally, I use GoDaddy: http://www.godaddy.com/default.aspx only for my domain registration/management. At work we use BulkRegister: http://www.bulkregister.com/

I would recommend consolidating all your domains into one registrar, but don't then opt for hosting with them as you'll effectively be putting all your eggs into one basket.

Lazlow
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There is no reason to leave the DNS at the registrar, especially if that registrar has less than satisfactory DNS management facilities available to you. Separate the registration from the DNS. Either set up your own DNS servers or use one of the many DNS services already available on the Internet. I have no recommendations, as I run my own, but this aspect has been discussed several times on this site and answers have included suggestions.

John Gardeniers
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I put small domains into freedns.ws but it seem to be not too stable nowadays. For a bigger projects that need to be always online I'm just using two own DNS servers in different locations.

Been trying to find a good cheap DNS hosting but failed at that, decided that own servers could be cheaper.

Good, useful thread!

edk
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