Yay, so you bought a domain name. Good job!
Then they try to sell you all these upgrades that seem like they aren’t really essential and just a way of them getting that price higher on you.
For most of the upgrades, I agree. Skip them!!!
But there is one that you absolutely should not skip, and that’s the privacy add on.
If you don’t set up a proxy for yourself, any one on the internet can know your name, home address and phone number.
Not good.
If you already have a domain and you’re not really sure if you have this service, there’s an easy way to find out. Go to Whois.com and type your URL in the little box there. It will then show you ALL this information about the owner of the site. You can see where the blog is hosted, when the domain was purchased as well as owners address, phone number and email.
Use mine as an example… if you search Beauty Through Imperfection on whois you’ll see the email is @domainsbyproxy and the address is somewhere in Arizona (Also a proxy). My personal info is hidden so creepers can’t come find me.
Some people don’t mind having their address public…but I do! A LOT of bloggers don’t realize this information is so easily accessible for free to any one who as a computer. Which is why I thought I’d dedicate a whole post to it!
If you search whois and find your personal information is public…go log in to the account where you purchased your domain and go to your domain management page. You should find a spot there that will allow you to set up privacy (I believe it’s usually around $12 a year).
Did you know this safety trick? Is all your info private?
I am thinking about buying my domain name, can you recommend a few sites where I could purchase the name. I am new this part of blogging. I don’t want to purchase from the wrong site. Thanks
Hi, Thank you for sharing this. I was not aware that my information could potentially be public. Luckily enough my hosting company already took care of protecting my identity. Keep sharing your tips! I am new to blogging and love any and all advice.
I did do that, because I remembered that you mentioned it previously, Paula! I did a WhoIs on it anyway to see and my proxy is a different state from mine, whew! Good info though!
Thank you so much, I’m finding so much helpful information on this site. I’ve been looking for something like this website to help really get started blogging properly, and I’m so thankful that I found you through another blogging friend.
Thank you I did not know about this – and it is really important!
Thank you so much – I checked this out and it is true!! I will update my privacy setting asap!