Your domain is the address customers type: yourbusiness.com. It is rented from a registrar, renewed yearly, and it should always be registered in your name, never the designer's.
Domains are cheap and simple, but they are also the single most common thing businesses lose access to. Here is the whole picture.
What a domain actually costs
Registrars charge roughly 10 to 20 dollars per year for a standard .com. Premium or resold names cost more, and there is no reason a local business needs one.
Watch the add-ons at checkout: privacy protection is free at the good registrars, and you do not need five upsells.
Who should own it
You. The registrant email should be one you check, and the account should be yours with the designer added as a helper if needed.
If your web person registered it for you years ago, ask whose name it is in. If it is theirs, fix that this week.
Renewals and expirations
Domains renew yearly. Set auto-renew and keep a card on file: an expired domain takes your email and your site down the same day.
There is a grace period after expiration, but redemption fees run 80 dollars or more. Auto-renew is the whole trick.
Connecting it to your site
DNS is the phone book that points your domain at your host. It lives at your registrar or Cloudflare, and pointing it at a new site takes minutes.
When we launch, we handle the records and verify the padlock, the www version, and email routing all still work.
Quick answers.
How much does a domain cost per year?
About 10 to 20 dollars for a standard .com at a reputable registrar.
Can my designer own my domain?
They can manage it, but it should be registered to you. If it is not, transfer it.
What happens if my domain expires?
Your site and email go down. A grace period follows, then redemption fees of 80 dollars or more.
Do I need more than one domain?
Usually not. One good .com beats a drawer of unused names.
Related notes.
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