Don’t be held hostage by your website domain! Your domain name is your “address” on the internet. Redcarsoft.com is my domain (or one of them anyway). The “www” is added to them just for convention. A handful of companies have been authorized to manage the administration of these domain names. GoDaddy, Network Solutions and Yahoo are some of the big ones along with countless smaller companies. You or your small business pays these companies solely to let the rest of the world know that you own the rights to whatever your domain name happens to be.
As a matter of convenience to you, the same company MAY also provide hosting services for your website. From your point of view, your hosting service provides you with an empty box on a web server connected to the internet. You will then build a website yourself (or contract out with someone to do it for you) and place the contents (text, pictures, graphics, logos, videos, hyperlinks, etc.) of your website into that empty box. Finally, when anyone enters “your domain name” in their browser, the internet “knows” how to find the contents of your website box and deliver it to that person’s web browser!
Voila! It’s pretty cool! Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that you are totally FREE to shift your website hosting company at any time you see fit! You should always be shopping around for better prices. Now, if you have pre-paid for 5 years (Why???) then you might want to stay with that company even if the service turns crappy or the introductory price has expired. You will have to pay for service at your new provider.
Anyway, I hope this post has been helpful because I detect frustration when I talk with small business owners. Good luck out there!
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