I have owned a web hosting company for a few years, and have always included domain registration with the company. Lately, I have been thinking about spinning off the domain registrar into a different company.

Does anyone think this is a good idea or should I just keep the domain registrar included with my current hosting company?

I would say that you should keep it all one company.

My reason being that it will be easier to market one company name and people generally feel more comfortable working with one company. If you split it up you might also create confusion as people are used to seeing and dealing with one company for hosting and domains.

I would say that you should keep it all one company.

My reason being that it will be easier to market one company name and people generally feel more comfortable working with one company. If you split it up you might also create confusion as people are used to seeing and dealing with one company for hosting and domains.
I agree. Advertising under one name and offering all of your services under one name is not only easier on you fund and convience wise, but its also easier on the customer (not having to remember 15 different names).

That's a good point. I'm thinking about just keeping my hosting company exactly how it is, and possibly launching a separate domain company.

Thanks for the great insight.

That's a good point. I'm thinking about just keeping my hosting company exactly how it is, and possibly launching a separate domain company.

Thanks for the great insight. Not a problem at all! You also have to take into consideration there is also one "main" advantage to having several seperate companies. Now, I'm not trying to say or by any means say that you provide a bad service - let's just say you obtain a client that is not happy with your service. He/she cancels with your company and decides to search for another provider. If he was to come across another web hosting company that you own (just under a different name/domain name), you would have yourself another client! Of course, assuming each company offers a bit of a different service.

I've discovered that many retailers do that as well. I know right here in town, there are two furniture companies both in the exact same parking lot/complex, both owned by the same person, just with a different name. The only major difference is one store is slightly cheaper than the other.

But mainly, my advice would be to keep everything under one name, for the same reason as I posted earlier. It is just easier for prospective clients to remember - and is also easier for you to manage.

It makes alot more sense to have one company that offer all the services a client needs splitting these into seperate companies even though referrer to each other will most probably have your potential client looking for a company that offers all the services they need in one place.

Haha! This scenario is quite interesting.

I've discovered that many retailers do that as well. I know right here in town, there are two furniture companies both in the exact same parking lot/complex, both owned by the same person, just with a different name. The only major difference is one store is slightly cheaper than the other.

Anyway, going back to the original concern, I would advise keeping both under the same company. On our end, we host local clients here and since we don't have a domain name company, we simply include in our service free domain name registration and we register the domain name to any of the known registrars (mostly godaddy, namecheap, stargate). Most of our clients usually have "fear" on doing things on their own like registering a domain name. They don't have time to worry about these things. Most of our local clients don't have ready access to credit cards too. Therefore, it is good for them that we register the domain on their behalf.

We wish you well.

Happy New Year everyone!

Keep it in same company. It will be more convient that way for customers to shop; rather then having to go to other website to buy another service. You might be to your disadvantage for seperating, because after customers purchase hosting, they might go some place else to get their domain, but if you have hosting and domain in same company, you will get people who want to get both service from you. This is my opinon, its up to you to decide.

I used to do both under one brand. Margins were so tight in domains it was not worth the effort to spinout.

We have a webhosting website that also offers domain registration. (mostly as a convenience to existing customers)

We also have a "domain only" website, which has a totally different brand.

There are many people who want to register a domain name, but do not want web hosting. If these people "find" our web hosting website.. they may not realize that it is possible to just purchase a domain name... because we "target" that website to web hosting sales/service specifically.

In that case, the customer is directed to our "domain sales only" website where they find the entire website is dedicated just to domain name registration and management.

The problem with having one website that does "everything" is that it can quickly be too cluttered, and too difficult for potential customers to find what they are looking for, or feel secure that you specialize in the service/product they want.

When you want to buy [insert product here], would you prefer to go to a store that specializes in that product? Or would you go to your local "general" store and purchase it?

I think one should keep it seperate. Sure no matter if the service is good and trustworthy, but there are some which are just not.

I recommended several new clients in the past year to buy a new domain for their site, just because their old hosts were unresponsive, not co-operating with transfers of domains. All of these clients either got the domain free with hosting, or just bought them together.

As a result, I always generally advise my clients to keep them seperate.