If I were to lookup your domain right now, would I be able to access your full name, address, phone number, and email address? Not sure? Feeling a bit uncomfortable knowing that your private info might be out there?
Luckily there’s a little thing called private domain registration that keeps your info private. Here’s everything you need to know about privately registering your domain..
How can I tell whether or not my contact information is public?
You can check using a site such as Who.is. You can also check with your domain registrar. Your most recent invoice should say whether or not you paid for private registration.
Help! My contact info is public! What do I do?
First, calm down. It’s honestly not the end of the world. You’ve survived this long with your contact info public. Now that you know, you can do something about it. You’ll want to purchase domain privacy, which goes by different names depending on where you registered your domain (see below for more info).
What exactly does privately registering a domain do?
When you register a domain, your contact info is entered into the Whois database, which is publicly accessible. Privately registering your domain replaces your contact info with the contact info of a proxy.
When someone looks up the Whois info of a domain that has been privately registered, they only see the contact info of the proxy. Should they wish to contact the owner, they use the contact info of the proxy and correspondence is forwarded to you.
Why should I privately register my domain?
Well besides the obvious privacy issue, privately registering your domain cuts back on spam and protects you against data mining.
What should I look for?
The name companies use for private registration varies. For example, Namecheap uses WhoisGuard and GoDaddy calls it domain privacy, but for the majority, you’ll see some variation of domain, private, and registration.
How much does private registration cost?
Prices vary, but it shouldn’t set you back more than $15. Namecheap, my favorite domain registrar, charges $2.88 a year for private registration. If you’re registering a new domain with Namecheap, it’s even free for the first year!
Homework: Go to Who.is and enter your domain(s). If your contact info is visible, contact your domain registrar to purchase private registration. If you don’t see your contact info, then you’re good!
Note: This post contains affiliate links. Clicking and purchasing through those links will yield a commission for me. Rest assured that I would honestly recommend them regardless if I were getting paid or not.
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