Lay My Hat

I literally have my domain names in my basket with 123 reg and am being asked whether to buy whois protection- have just done a quick google, and still just dont know whether to go for it or not. Is it a good idea, and would it complicate setting up a pmp website at all? Any prompt replies would be gret- dont want to lose my domain names that ae literally in my shopping basket! Thank you

All it does is hide your personal details when people look to see who has registered that domain name. This would include your name, address and email. Without it, you may get the odd spam email trying to trick you into paying for something related to the domain.

Whether it's worth it is up to you. I've had several domains for many years without any such protection but not had a problem apart the those emails, which are only about once or twice a year.

One positive aspect of not hiding yourself is that savvy clients can look you up to see if you're genuine.

Makes no difference to setting up a website.

kevsboredagain wrote: One positive aspect of not hiding yourself is that savvy clients can look you up to see if you're genuine.

I was thinking that, so useful to hear it from you kev; in fact I was taking the negative view, ie if someone checks and your details are hidden, would that make them suspicious?

Thank you so much for the reply- I have decided not to buy it. Will be vigilant for spam emails. Now to decide whether to buy a domain email address for £35/ year, or just use my current personal one which I feel would be easier admin wise, but wouldnt look as professional....

I have it on most of my domains but not my holiday let one as I want to be seen as genuine should anyone bother to look it up and I have no reason to hide my true identity. I haven't had any unwanted contact either.

I hide my name and address on the rest. I simply don't want to be so easily traceable from my personal email addresses and in this age of phishing and scams I don't want to make it any easier than it is already for fraudsters to gather info on me.

ClareW wrote:Thank you so much for the reply- I have decided not to buy it. Will be vigilant for spam emails. Now to decide whether to buy a domain email address for £35/ year, or just use my current personal one which I feel would be easier admin wise, but wouldnt look as professional....

Ouch - do they charge extra for that? I get 5 free email addresses as part of my registration and renewal charge for each domain and with the help of my email client I actually have unlimited ones.

But yes it looks much better to have a domain specific one rather than gmail/hotmail/etc

Cymraes wrote:But yes it looks much better to have a domain specific one rather than gmail/hotmail/etc

+1 to that, though it's a good idea to have a gmail that reflects your property name as a backup, just in case of the odd website down-age.

Cassis wrote:

Cymraes wrote:But yes it looks much better to have a domain specific one rather than gmail/hotmail/etc

+1 to that, though it's a good idea to have a gmail that reflects your property name as a backup, just in case of the odd website down-age.

+1 to own domain email and +1 to gmail for property too. The gmail is not just for backup but you should be on Google maps and if possible Youtube and Google+ too. For these you would use your property gmail address to manage the accounts.

Thanks again for your helpful replies. As you can probably tell, I am pretty ignorant about all this and on a steep learning curve. When I come to set up my PMP website, I will be pointing my recently acquired domain names (holywellcottagemalvern.co.uk and .com) to my website. Does this mean that if I purchase the domain email address it will only be linked to enquiries from my PMP website, or will I be able to use it and access it elsewhere? For example could I use it on advertising and access it other than from the website? I presume the website will have a 'contact me' form in which the email address wouldnt even show anyway, in which case nobody would see whether I had a domain email or a personal one, so if it couldn't be used other than through the website, is there any point?? I currently have a personal btinternet email (yahoo), so would I be able to access emails to my domain email through my yahoo account also? And I haven't even started to ask about the suggested gmail one aswell! (which sounds like a really good idea for google maps etc).... arggghhh- am sure this will all become clear in time!

Hello... I'm new too and purchased our domain name through 123 reg and had 5 free email addresses. I also chose PMP for setting up our website and it's really easy - well, their support dept is great! - to design it, publish it, then link it to your domain name... On our website, the contact details are shown, but I've also set up my ipad and laptop so I get any emails direct to there, just like my gmail... As you can see, I'm not the tiniest bit technical, but managed all these things so don't worry! Look at my website if you want to see what I mean... It's very new and only 90% finished!

Thank you so much Emmy! Maybe I should get in touch with 123 reg about the 5 free emails- seems like a big difference to 1 email for £35.... you have made me feel much better- your website looks great too.

kevsboredagain wrote: +1 to own domain email and +1 to gmail for property too. The gmail is not just for backup but you should be on Google maps and if possible Youtube and Google+ too. For these you would use your property gmail address to manage the accounts.

Thanks Kev, Do you mean I should have an ordinary gmail address eg ******cottagemalvern@gmail.com or a paid google apps one with domain name eg contact@*****cottagemalvern.com to be able to be on google maps?
I have realised that I can have a free forwarding email service with 123 reg using my domain emailing address instead of the £35/yr mailbox option.

ClareW wrote:

kevsboredagain wrote: +1 to own domain email and +1 to gmail for property too. The gmail is not just for backup but you should be on Google maps and if possible Youtube and Google+ too. For these you would use your property gmail address to manage the accounts.

Thanks Kev, Do you mean I should have an ordinary gmail address eg ******cottagemalvern@gmail.com or a paid google apps one with domain name eg contact@*****cottagemalvern.com to be able to be on google maps?
I have realised that I can have a free forwarding email service with 123 reg using my domain emailing address instead of the £35/yr mailbox option.

It doesn't matter what your Google email address is as far as managing your Place on Google maps, your Youtube account or your Google+ page goes, you can use an existing gmail address if you like. However, you may as well make it relevant to your business if you're going to do as we suggest and get a new gmail address.

Here's where to create a Google account using an existing gmail address or a new one: https://accounts.google.com/signup

I read somewhere that Google will penalise you for hiding your details - you have a higher trustworthiness rating if they are accessible, so better credibility and higher search ranking. I've always viewed it as just another add on service the domain registration companies are trying to sell you.