After reading recent blogs and articles on how to choose the best custom domain name that fits your business, you decide to go ahead and take one more step forward. You started looking for an assurance that the domain name/s you’d been rooting for hasn’t been taken yet because availability is one of the most important factors to consider before you settle on a domain name. But the question is, “How will you check if the domain name that you want is still available?”
There is a public database that holds all the information of all registered domain names and that database is called “WHOIS” (pronounced as who is). WHOIS got your back, buddy!
Here are some advantages or benefits of Whois for online business owners:
- Tracks down illegal activities
It is probably one of the best features of WHOIS system. Its ability to track spams, phishing scams and fraud. WHOIS verification feature can track down whenever there is an illegal content being posted by a registrant. This will be highly imperative to you because the content might be posted on your behalf, either through hacking or accidental posting. Since WHOIS Lookup is capable of sharing information about the domain owner, you might be worried about where people might use the contact information for. Glad to let you know that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) makes sure that won’t happen. For lawful purposes, information can be retrieved from the WHOIS Lookup.
- Helps resolve domain name ownership issues
This will be very helpful for those who have domain backorders, because the WHOIS Lookup would tell you when a domain will expire and to whom it is being registered. For an instance, you found out that the domain name you want is already owned by someone, what you can do is perform a quick WHOIS search and see if it will expire soon. If it is nearing its expiration, you are given a time window to purchase or bid for the domain that you want.
- Ensuring domain’s uniqueness
Part of branding is making sure that the domain name that you’ll use is unique and easy to remember. Some business owners would use their company name as their domain name and this is completely fine. But if your company name is difficult to understand and remember or has too many complicated elements like hyphens, numbers or code, that might cause you a problem. What if there is another website which uses the same word or phrase? Just imagine how damaging it would be to your company’s brand and product to be compromised by another website with the same name? Assuming that you used it first, the WHOIS Lookup will allow you to keep your domain’s uniqueness by giving you the list of websites that use the same domain you’re using. It will then give you the registrant and technical information so you can contact the domain registrar.
- Business Networking Issues
The importance of networking in Internet marketing is already given. It is not a stretch for business people to use WHOIS for real-world identity lookups, searches for the business contact information and location of online entrepreneurs that have an internet presence.
- Administrative Issues
WHOIS data contains the administrative contacts of a domain name since there are instances when network administrators need to be alerted to resolve specific issues like routing protocols, denial of service and other network attacks. WHOIS is used to contact web administrators resolve technical matters related to a domain name.
Business owners today have a lot of things on their plate from company product to product design, manufacturing, website creation, online marketing strategies and maintenance. Not to mention the issues that they’ll face if they won’t take control of the parameters that will help lead their business to success. So if you’re a business owner trying to pursue business online, take charge of your domain access and domain name information that surrounds you. Use WHOIS efficiently and effectively to your advantage.