HOUSTON DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION
Domain Name Registration and Renewal in Houston
Register, renew, transfer and recover domains with a Houston team that has worked with Tucows for more than 20 years. Real people, plain prices and help even when your old reseller has disappeared.
Galleria 713-703-3030 | Kingwood 281-852-8253
WHAT WE DO
Domain registration through a registrar you can call
Your domain name is the address every customer, search engine and email server uses to find your business. It is also one of the few things online that you truly own, as long as you renew it. Vertical Web offers domain name registration and management through our partnership with Tucows.
Unlike a typical reseller account, our arrangement lets us work directly with clients and give the same level of service you get on our hosting and web design work. Because of our long relationship with Tucows, Vertical Web was selected to help with domain issues for Tucows domains, including owners whose original reseller has gone out of business or stopped responding.
We offer all extensions. For a business, we still recommend a .com or .net whenever possible, because those are the addresses people type from memory. If you already know what you need, you can manage an existing domain from our domain management page.
FOUR CORE SERVICES
What does domain management include?
Beyond registering new domains, our domain department handles four jobs every week.
PRICING
How much does domain renewal cost?
Standard domain renewal rates
Domain Registration Only: $29.00, annual
Domain Registration w/DNS: $34.00, annual
Domain Registration with Annual Hosting: Free, annual
Domain Registration for ACTWD Hosting Customers: $15, annual
ACTWD Legacy Customers have lower rates: see your invoice.
Standard renewals apply when the domain is renewed before its expiration or within 15 days immediately after it.
If you are new to Vertical Web, renewal is as simple as an email to info@verticalweb.com or a call to our Kingwood office at 281-852-8253, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central. We set up billing and verify your authority to renew the domain. Existing customers can check their invoice or contact our billing department.
Why is registration free with annual hosting? Because the domain and the host have to work together. Keeping them in one place means one renewal date to watch, one team that can fix DNS, and no finger pointing when email stops working. Compare plans on our web hosting plans page.
EXPIRED DOMAINS
What happens when a domain expires?
Expiration is not instant loss, but the clock moves fast and the price climbs at each step.
Days 1 to 15 after expiration. You can still renew at the standard rate. The website and email may already be down, so renew the same day you notice.
Up to day 40. The domain is still held at the registrar level, and recovery is usually still possible through us.
After day 40. Domain redemptions occur at the end of day 40 after a domain has expired. The domain stops being held by Tucows directly and moves to the registry level. Redemption at that point usually costs $199, and not every domain is eligible. Read the full process in what is the process for domain redemptions.
The fix is boring and reliable: turn on auto renew, keep a current card on file and make sure the renewal notices go to an inbox someone reads.
THE CASE FOR VERTICAL WEB ON DOMAINS
A domain team that picks up the phone
OWNERSHIP
Who really owns your domain name?
Beth Guide raises this in almost every class she teaches, because she sees the problem so often. A business hires a web designer, the designer registers the domain in the designer’s own name, and years later the owner cannot renew, transfer or even log in. The domain is like a piece of property. If the deed is in someone else’s name, you do not control it.
Check your domain today. Look up the registrant and admin contact. If the name or email is not yours, fix it now while everyone is still friendly. Our step by step guide on how to update domain contact info, get an EPP code and unlock a domain covers every situation we see, including a contact who has left the company, a business that has changed hands and an owner who has passed away.
The good news: domains are portable. Changing your hosting company does not mean losing your domain. As long as you pay the renewal, the domain is yours and it can move with you.
TRANSFERS AND VERIFICATION
How do you transfer a domain or fix a suspended one?
To transfer a domain away from Tucows, log in to the domain manager, remove the lock and request the Auth or EPP code. Give the code to the new registrar and approve the transfer email. Domain issues can be complicated, so many requests are reviewed by a supervisor before they are completed.
To fix a domain suspended for verification, update the contact email in the domain manager. You will receive an email with a link to follow. Once you click it, the suspension lifts. The verification rules date back to the years after 9/11/2001, but they only became strictly enforced across all registrars in recent years. If you no longer have the username and password, our account update guide explains how to prove ownership.
DOMAIN STRATEGY
Should a business buy more than one domain?
Often, yes. Beth has bought more domains for clients in recent years than ever before, because an aged, relevant domain can carry real value for a brand. She tells owners there are three ways to pick a domain: name it after the business, buy an aftermarket domain that already has history, or let a strong available domain shape the business name. She has advised all three, depending on the business.
Defensive domains matter too. Misspellings, other extensions and names a critic might use are worth owning before someone else does. We cover that thinking in why buying negative domains puts your brand on offense, and the value of an established domain in the value of a domain: to redeem, to sell, to the brand.
Whatever you buy, point it somewhere useful. Extra domains should redirect cleanly to your main site, not sit parked on a page full of ads. Our web hosting and domains team sets that up as part of the job.
Before you register
How to search for and choose a new domain name for your business
A domain name search takes a few seconds. Choosing the right domain name takes longer, and it is worth the time, because your web address goes on every sign, card, truck and email for years. Start with the name customers already use for you. Short beats clever. If people have to ask how to spell it, keep looking.
The domain extension, or TLD, matters more than most owners expect. A .com is the first choice for almost every business, because it is what people type from memory. A .net is a fair second. A .org fits nonprofits and associations. Extensions like .biz or newer options can work for a campaign or a side project, but customers often type .com anyway and land on someone else’s site.
If the domain name you want is taken, you have three options. Add a word, such as your city or your service. Pick a different extension and buy the .com later if it comes up. Or look at the aftermarket, where an aged domain can carry real value for a brand. We explain that last choice in the value of a domain to redeem, sell or brand. Once you decide, domain registration is quick: we check availability, take payment and register the new domain in your name.
After the domain registration
WHOIS, nameservers and DNS: how domain registration works behind the scenes
Every domain name sits in two places. The registry runs the extension itself, such as .com or .org, and keeps the master list. The domain registrar, Tucows in our case, is the company that sells and manages the registration for you and sends your information to the registry. A reseller like us works with the registrar on your behalf, so you get a person to call instead of a help desk.
The WHOIS record holds the registrant and contact information for the domain. Many registrars offer WHOIS privacy protection to hide personal details from public lookups, which is useful for individuals. For a business, the important part is that the registrant name and email are yours and are current, because that is what ICANN uses to verify ownership and what a transfer approval email is sent to.
Nameservers tell the internet where your DNS lives. DNS then points your domain name to the IP address of your web server and tells mail servers where to deliver your email. A wrong nameserver change can take a site and its email offline, which is why we handle it with the hosting. You can make updates in the domain management area, and our web hosting definitions page explains the rest of the terms.
QUESTIONS
Domain registration questions we hear
We register and manage domains through our partnership with Tucows, one of the largest domain registrars in the world. We have worked with Tucows for more than 20 years, and we help Tucows domain owners whose original reseller has gone out of business or stopped answering.
Standard renewals are $29.00 a year for domain registration only, $34.00 a year for registration with DNS, and free with annual hosting. ACTWD hosting customers pay $15 a year, and ACTWD legacy customers should check their invoice for their rate.
A standard renewal applies if you renew before the expiration date or within 15 days after it. At the end of day 40 after expiration, the domain moves to the registry level and enters redemption, where recovery usually costs $199. Some domains cannot be redeemed at all, so do not wait.
Log in to the domain manager, unlock the domain and request the Auth or EPP code. Give that code to the new registrar. If you cannot get into the account, call us and we will help verify your authority over the domain first.
ICANN requires valid contact information on every domain. If the contact email on file bounces or goes unverified, the domain can be suspended. Log in to the domain manager, update the email address and click the verification link that arrives.
You should. Your business name belongs in the registrant field, with an email address you control. We see owners whose web designer registered the domain in the designer’s own name, and getting it back can be slow and painful.
We offer all extensions, but we still recommend a .com or .net for a business whenever possible. They are the extensions customers type from memory.
The registry runs an extension, such as .com, and keeps the master list of every domain name in it. The registrar sells and manages registrations for the public and sends your details to the registry. We register domains through Tucows, a registrar we have worked with for more than 20 years.
The best place is one that registers the domain in your name, shows the renewal price up front, and has people who can help when something goes wrong. Keeping the domain with your host also means one team can fix DNS and email in one call.
It is optional. Privacy can hide personal contact details, but the registrant name and email must still be yours and current, because that is how ownership is verified and transfers are approved.
Need help with a domain right now?
Call 281-852-8253, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central, or request a free website audit and we will check your domain, DNS and hosting together.
Galleria 713-703-3030 | Kingwood 281-852-8253 | info@verticalweb.com