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EmailIt seems like I run into this problem at least once every couple of months. I’m asked to help someone with their website, perhaps something went wrong on the site…maybe someone got fed up with their web host and the want me to help move them to a new host. “Okay” I’ll say, “Great! What’s your hosting account information?”
“Uh….I don’t know. Do we need it?”

“Um…yeah.”

If you’ve registered a domain name or if you’ve opened up a hosting account for your website, soon after your account is set up, you’ll get several emails from your hosting company or registrar. DON’T THROW THESE AWAY! These emails contains important info that you need in order to help maintain your website.

If you’ve registered a new domain name, you’ll get an email that contains the following:

  • The username and password for your account
  • Your account number

If you ever need to transfer your domain name from one registrar to another, or if you ever change hosting companies, or if you change email addresses, you’ll need the user name and password to your domain registrar account in order to make these changes. (In case you don’t know, a registrar is a company where you can get a domain name; popular registrars include Godaddy and Network Solutions)

Domain registrars have gotten very strict about making sure that you’re the owner of the domain name before they allow you to make any changes. There have been a number of cases of fraud in which people essentially steals a domain by pretending to be the owner. So if you lose your account information, be prepared to spend some time on the telephone with tech support trying to prove who you are.

When you sign up for hosting, you’ll be emailed some important email as well. This info includes:

  • The username and password for your account
  • DNS information (so you can point your domain name to your hosting account)
  • Instructions on how to set up your hosting account

Again, expect to spend some time on the phone with tech support if you lose track of this info.

When you get these emails, save them in a separate folder and you might want to print them out and file them with your other important records so you don’t have to go digging through your emails to find this information.

Also, if you happen to change the email you used to open the domain or hosting account, be sure to update this information with your hosting company or registrar. Sending emails to the email account on file is one way these companies verify your identity. If you happen to close the email account that’s tied to your domain or hosting…you could be in a world of trouble.