Transferring Domains

Increased awareness of the value, and advantages, of personal branding has led many to create their own Web sites. It is easiest to use MySpace or Facebook but I'm a little more old school and decided to have my own domain and to create my own Web pages. Once that choice is out of the way, the question becomes, "how do I my manage my domain?"

I originally created a domain for a friend using Yahoo's Business services. However, I quickly discovered that the Yahoo Web site is a labyrinth that requires a good memory or strategic use of bookmarks. Heaven help you if you lose the bookmark. While I give credit to Yahoo for being a leader with such types of offerings, their Web site is horribly outdated and is not prone to revisions or improvements once deployed to the public.

I next created my own domain using old, yet trustworthy, Network Solutions. I hearken from the old days when NS didn't offer hosted Web sites or e-commerce solutions so one can imagine my surprise when I discovered that I can not only manage multiple domains using NS but that they satisfy *most* of my Internet needs. I created an e-commerce solution for another friend and became familiar with their interface and shopping cart tools. While the NS administrative site could use some polish, it's organized and easy to navigate. Kudos.

Transferring my domain managed by Yahoo to Network Solutions was a piece of cake. In the NS Web site, in a menu off the home page, is Transfer Domain Names. You enter one or more names and provide an "authorization code". To get that code, open your Yahoo Domain Control Panel and click on "View your authorization code". The resulting page includes instructions for transferring the domain as well as the authorization code you'll need. You pay $19 for the honor but when all is said and done, your domain will be in NS's much-easier-to-use domain management interface.