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Domain Names & WHOIS: What Every Business Owner Should Actually Know

Your domain is your digital real estate. Here's how to verify who really owns it, what WHOIS reveals, and how to avoid getting locked out.

WPAgency.xyz · 11 min read

Domain Names & WHOIS: What Every Business Owner Should Know

Your domain is worth more than your office lease.

Lose access to your office? Find a new space.

Lose access to your domain? Your entire online presence disappears.

Yet most business owners have no idea who actually owns their domain or how to verify it.

What WHOIS Actually Is

WHOIS = “Who is responsible for this domain?”

It’s a public database showing:

  • Registrant: Who owns the domain
  • Registrar: Company managing the domain
  • Registration date: When domain was first registered
  • Expiration date: When it needs renewal
  • Name servers: Where DNS is hosted
  • Contact information: How to reach the owner

Think of it as: The deed to your digital property.

Why This Matters to Your Business

Story 1: The Locked Out Founder

Company: 5-year-old SaaS business Problem: Founder left, took domain with him Result: Entire website offline. Email stopped working. $80K/month revenue vanished.

The cause: Domain registered in ex-founder’s personal name with his personal email.

Recovery cost:

  • Legal fees: $15,000
  • Business disruption: $240,000
  • Brand damage: Immeasurable

Prevention cost: Understanding WHOIS.

Story 2: The Agency Hostage

Company: E-commerce store Problem: Agency registered domain in their name Ransom: “Transfer fee” of $5,000 to get domain back

The cause: Client didn’t verify domain ownership.

Why it works: Client business depends on that domain. Agency knows it.

Story 3: The Expired Domain

Company: 15-year-old law firm Problem: Domain expired, immediately bought by competitor Cause: Wrong renewal email address

Recovery: Impossible. 15 years of SEO and branding gone.

These happen daily.

How to Check Who Owns Your Domain

Method 1: WHOIS Lookup (Easiest)

Go to: who.is or whois.net

Enter: yourdomain.com

What you see:

Domain Name: YOURBUSINESS.COM
Registrant Organization: Your Business LLC
Registrant Email: admin@yourbusiness.com (GOOD)
or
Registrant Email: webguy@agencyname.com (BAD)

Created: 2015-03-12
Expires: 2025-03-12
Updated: 2024-03-10

Registrar: GoDaddy (or Namecheap, etc.)
Name Servers: ns1.cloudflare.com

Method 2: Command Line (For Technical Teams)

Windows PowerShell / Mac Terminal:

whois yourdomain.com

Returns raw WHOIS data.

What You’re Looking For

Green flags:

  • Registrant organization is your business
  • Contact email you control
  • Expiration date is 1+ year away
  • Registrar is reputable (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare)

Red flags:

  • Registrant is someone else’s name
  • Contact email you don’t recognize
  • Expiration date is soon (<90 days)
  • Registrar you’ve never heard of
  • “Privacy protection” hiding ownership (on your own domain)

Domain Privacy Protection: Good or Bad?

Domain privacy hides personal information from public WHOIS.

Without privacy:

Registrant: John Smith
Email: john@business.com
Phone: 555-123-4567
Address: 123 Main St, City, State

With privacy:

Registrant: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY
Email: proxy@privacyservice.com

When Privacy is Good

Personal websites:

  • You’re an individual, not a company
  • Don’t want home address published
  • Avoid spam calls

Small side projects:

  • Not your main business
  • Reduces spam

When Privacy is Bad

Business domains:

  • Looks unprofessional
  • Harder to verify ownership
  • Complicates transfers
  • Trust issue (what are you hiding?)

Our recommendation:

  • Use business address (not home)
  • Use business phone
  • Use business email
  • NO privacy shield on main domain

Understanding Domain Registrars

Registrar = Company you buy domains from.

Popular registrars:

  • GoDaddy (largest, expensive renewals)
  • Namecheap (good value, solid)
  • Cloudflare (cheapest, best)
  • Google Domains (now Squarespace)
  • Hover (simple, premium)

What Registrars Do

  1. Register your domain with root registry (.com, .net, etc.)
  2. Manage renewals and auto-renewal
  3. Provide DNS management (where your domain points)
  4. Handle transfers between accounts

What They Don’t Do

  • Host your website (that’s separate)
  • Create your email (that’s separate)
  • Build your site (that’s developers)

Common confusion: “My domain is with GoDaddy” could mean:

  • Domain registered there (yes)
  • Website hosted there (maybe)
  • Email hosted there (maybe)

These are separate services.

The Domain Locking Problem

What Domain Lock Means

Status codes in WHOIS:

ClientTransferProhibited = Domain locked, can’t be transferred OK = Domain unlocked, can be transferred

Locked domain:

  • Can’t be stolen easily
  • CAN’T be transferred without unlocking

Unlocked domain:

  • Can be transferred
  • More vulnerable to hijacking

The Agency Lock Pattern

How it works:

  1. Agency registers domain for client
  2. Locks the domain
  3. Client wants to leave
  4. Agency: “Transfer fee is $2,500”
  5. Client trapped

How to avoid:

  1. Check WHOIS before paying
  2. Demand transfer codes upfront
  3. Move domain immediately after project
  4. Never let agency “manage” your domain

Domain Ownership Best Practices

1. Register in Company Name

Right:

Registrant Organization: Acme Corporation
Registrant Name: John Smith (CEO)
Registrant Email: admin@acmecorp.com

Wrong:

Registrant Organization: [Your Agency Name]
Registrant Name: Web Developer Guy
Registrant Email: dev@someagency.com

2. Use Company Email

Not:

  • founder’s personal Gmail
  • Developer’s email
  • Agency contact

Use:

This email needs to be permanent and monitored.

3. Document Domain Credentials

Create a “Domain Access” document:

Domain: yourbusiness.com
Registrar: Cloudflare
Login: domains@yourbusiness.com
Password: [In password manager]
Auth Code: [For transfers]
Auto-Renew: Enabled
Credit Card: Company Amex ending 1234

Store in:

  • Password manager (1Password, Bitwarden)
  • Company safe
  • With lawyer (for succession)

Not in:

  • CEO’s head
  • Developer’s laptop
  • Email you’ll lose access to

4. Enable Auto-Renewal

Horror story: Domain expires Friday. Weekend passes. Monday morning, your site is down. Domain grabbed by squatter.

Prevention: Auto-renewal ON. Always.

5. Set Renewal Reminders

Even with auto-renewal:

  • Calendar alert 90 days before expiration
  • Verify payment method works
  • Confirm contact email is monitored

Why: Credit card expires, auto-renewal fails, domain still expires.

Name Servers vs. Domain vs. Hosting

The most confusing part. Let’s clarify:

Domain Registration

What it is: Right to use “yourbusiness.com” Where: Registrar (Cloudflare, Namecheap, etc.) Cost: $10-$15/year

Name Servers (DNS)

What it is: Phone book that says where yourbusiness.com points Where: Could be registrar, could be Cloudflare, could be hosting company Cost: Usually free

Web Hosting

What it is: Server where your website files live Where: Netlify, Vercel, AWS, traditional web host Cost: $0-$500+/month

All three are separate.

Example setup:

  • Domain registered at: Namecheap
  • DNS managed by: Cloudflare
  • Website hosted on: Netlify

This is normal. Each layer does one thing well.

How to Take Control of Your Domain

Step 1: Find Your Registrar

Run WHOIS lookup. Under “Registrar” it shows who manages it.

Step 2: Recover Access

If you don’t have login:

  1. Contact registrar support
  2. Verify identity (business docs, credit card, etc.)
  3. Reset password
  4. Update email to yourcompany@email.com

If agency has it:

  1. Request transfer politely
  2. If refused, get lawyer involved (you own it legally)
  3. File UDRP complaint if necessary

Step 3: Verify Ownership

WHOIS shows your business name? Good.

Still shows agency or individual? Fix it:

  1. Update registrant info
  2. Change to business name
  3. Use business contact details

Step 4: Secure It

Enable:

  • Two-factor authentication
  • Registrar lock
  • Auto-renewal
  • WHOIS alerts (notifications on changes)

Document:

  • Login credentials
  • Auth codes
  • Recovery contacts

Domain Transfer Process

Moving from one registrar to another.

When to transfer:

  • Better pricing elsewhere
  • Better DNS management
  • Consolidating domains
  • Leaving an agency

How to transfer:

  1. Unlock domain at current registrar
  2. Get auth code (EPP code, transfer code)
  3. Start transfer at new registrar
  4. Approve transfer via email
  5. Wait 5-7 days for completion

Cost: Usually 1 year added to registration as part of transfer.

What moves:

  • Domain registration
  • Expiration date (plus 1 year)

What doesn’t move:

  • DNS settings (need to recreate)
  • Email forwarding

Best practice: Set up DNS at new registrar BEFORE transferring.

Red Flags in Domain Ownership

1. Can’t Answer “Who Owns Your Domain?”

If you don’t know, find out TODAY.

2. Domain Registered to Individual

Risk: Person leaves, domain goes with them.

Fix: Transfer to company name.

3. Auto-Renewal Disabled

Risk: Domain expires, business offline.

Fix: Enable it immediately.

4. Expiring Soon (<90 days)

Risk: Renewal fails, domain grabbed.

Fix: Renew now for multiple years.

5. Contact Email You Can’t Access

Risk: Can’t recover domain or approve changes.

Fix: Update contact email to current address.

6. Agency/Developer is Admin Contact

Risk: They control it, not you.

Fix: Demand transfer or change admin contact.

Domain Valuation

Domains have value beyond registration cost.

Premium domains:

  • Insurance.com (sold for $35.6M)
  • VacationRentals.com (sold for $35M)
  • PrivateJet.com (sold for $30.1M)

Your business domain value:

  • Brand equity: Years of marketing
  • SEO value: Rankings and backlinks
  • Email addresses: Customer communications
  • Customer trust: Your digital identity

Losing your domain = starting from zero.

The Domain Checklist

Run this audit quarterly:

  • WHOIS shows our business as registrant
  • Contact email is actively monitored
  • Auto-renewal is enabled
  • Payment method is current
  • Domain doesn’t expire within 12 months
  • Login credentials documented securely
  • Auth code is accessible
  • Registrar lock is enabled
  • Two-factor authentication is on
  • Team knows who manages domains

If any box is unchecked, fix it this week.

Real-World Domain Disasters

Nike.com Hijack (2020)

What happened: Social engineering attack Result: Domain briefly stolen Impact: Millions in potential damage Prevention: Better registrar security

GoDaddy Breach (2022)

What happened: Hosting & domain data exposed Affected: 1.2 million customers Lesson: Security matters at registrar level

.io Domain Crisis (2024)

What happened: British Indian Ocean Territory sovereign status questioned Risk: .io domains might become invalid Lesson: Infrastructure dependencies matter

Your domain is critical infrastructure. Treat it that way.

For Most Businesses: Cloudflare Domains

  • Cost: At-cost pricing ($9/year for .com)
  • Security: Best-in-class DDoS protection
  • DNS: Fastest globally
  • Cons: No phone support

For Enterprise: AWS Route 53

  • Cost: $12/year + DNS queries
  • Integration: AWS ecosystem
  • Reliability: 100% SLA
  • Cons: Technical complexity

For Simplicity: Hover

  • Cost: $15/year
  • Interface: Clean and simple
  • Support: Excellent human support
  • Cons: Pricier than alternatives

Avoid (in 2024)

  • GoDaddy (expensive renewals, pushy upsells)
  • Network Solutions (extremely expensive)
  • Wix/Squarespace domains (locked ecosystem)

The Bottom Line

Your domain is not “just a technical detail.”

It’s your:

  • Business name
  • Brand identity
  • Customer trust
  • Email system
  • Revenue platform

Verify ownership TODAY:

  1. Run WHOIS lookup
  2. Confirm it’s in your business name
  3. Ensure you control the contact email
  4. Enable auto-renewal
  5. Document access

15 minutes now prevents a $100,000 disaster later.

Need a domain audit or help transferring from an agency? We’ll verify ownership and secure it properly so you never lose control of your digital property.