Remember that Web site hosting is different than Domain name hosting, even though both have the word “hosting” in them. A Web site host stores and serves up the files that make up your Web site. A domain name host’s sole purpose is to maintain your domain name, and is where you go to point your domain name to your Web site host (for www.yourcompany.com) and your e-mail provider (for yourname@yourcompany.com).
There is no reason that you would need to use one company for both, other than the convenience of getting one bill in one place.
A company like GoDaddy charges double what a company like NameSilo charges to host your domain name (remember that hosting a domain name is completely separate from hosting a Web site). That’s why I prefer to keep my domain names at NameSilo, even if I have my hosting at GoDaddy. Worse, while GoDaddy is getting better at this, many other domain name companies will try to sell you extra services that a company like NameSilo gives you for free.
If you have domains hosted at GoDaddy (especially if you’ve gotten them “for free” with purchase of a Web hosting package) you’ll want to move them over to NameSilo, PorkBun, or another domain name provider.
- Go to NameSilo. In their main menu, under Domains, click Transfer a Domain. Or, click on this link so I can get a $1.47 commission :P
Type the domain name you want to transfer into the box and click Search.
The cost to transfer your domain will vary depending on what domain name extension you use, but a .com domain will typically cost anywhere from $10-15. - What’s cool is that they’ll add a year to your domain expiration date, so you’re not really losing anything (in fact, because GoDaddy charges $20-25/year for a renewal you’re saving money off the bat).
- You’ll see a second screen called Transfer Search Results asking you to enter an authorization code.
This is going to be the most annoying part of the process, but I’ll walk you through it. It’s not difficult.
Basically, in order to ensure that you can’t steal someone else’s domain and no one can steal yours, the owner of the domain needs to authorize the current domain name registrar (in this case, GoDaddy) to release the domain name.
Keep this window open, and then open a new browser window. Open GoDaddy.com, where we’ll go to get the auth code.
- Sign into your GoDaddy account and under your name in the upper right-hand corner select My Products. You’ll see a list of the domains you have with them.
Find the domain you want to transfer and click the Manage button.
- On this page, you’ll need to find the part of the page that says “Transfer” in the lower left hand corner.
Make sure that the toggle next to Domain Lock is switched OFF. This will permit your domain to be moved away from GoDaddy.
Click the Transfer to Another Registrar link.
- On the next screen, GoDaddy will try to convince you not to move—after all, they don’t want to see their $25/year gravy train come to an end. In fairness to GoDaddy, they’ve gotten a lot less manipulative at this step than they’ve been in the past. A lot of their competitors still use all kinds of scare tactics, or deliberately obfuscate the steps here to try to get you to stay with them. I’m happy to see that GoDaddy is a lot more transparent and helpful these days.
There are a few situations that might be a little tricky with GoDaddy, but nothing that can’t be solved with a little time.- You can’t transfer a domain that you purchased as part of a bundle until 120 days after your purchase. This includes the free domain.
- In general, domains can’t be transferred within 60 days of a new registration, a transfer from another registrar, or any change to the registrant’s contact information.
- If you previously purchased e-mail with GoDaddy and have been using their e-mail service, you’ll need to wean yourself off of their service before you switch registrars.
- You’ll see a screen where you can view your authorization code. Click the Click here to see Authorization Code button to reveal it. Copy it to your clipboard.
- Go back to the window you left open at NameSilo. If you closed it, just go back to NameSilo.com and start the process again.
- When you get to the Transfer Search Results screen, paste the Authorization Code you copied from GoDaddy and click the Transfer Domains button.
- Create a NameSilo account if you haven’t already, or sign in if you have. You’ll then be taken to your shopping cart page.
NameSilo used to be hands down the cheapest domain name provider around, but in recent years their prices have been creeping up as they’ve become more popular.
I’m still recommending them, as I’ve been pretty happy with their service over the years. And their prices for renewal are much lower than other competitors like GoDaddy and NameCheap.
If you use their “Discount Program” (where you pre-load money into your account) the prices are still competitive with the lowest cost companies, just just not the lowest anymore.
There is a company called Cloudflare that I’m starting to really, really like. If you purchase their service (which provides a layer of performance and security on top of your Web host) they’ll let you purchase domain names at wholesale prices with no markup. I’ll dedicate a whole post to Cloudflare later. - Click Pay and you should see a Payment Successful window.
You may see a questionnaire titled Congrats on registering your name domains, which you can skip.
Finally, you’ll get to your Order Details page. Double-check that everything looks right.
- We’re not done yet. Basically, what’ll happen is the following:
1) NameSilo will submit the request to GoDaddy. You’ll get one or two emails from NameSilo titled Yourdomain Transfer Status Update.
2) GoDaddy will acknowledge the request. You’ll get an e-mail from GoDaddy titled We’ve received your domain transfer request.
If you don’t take any action, the transfer will complete in a few days. You do have the option of approving it right away, which I’ll detail in Step 15.
Before you do that, you’ll want to make sure that the DNS settings at NameSilo are set up correctly if you have a live Web site or e-mail service on your domain to ensure that there’s no disruption (if you don’t have e-mail or a Web site on the domain name yet, you can skip the rest of these instructions). - To make sure the DNS settings at NameSilo matches the settings at GoDaddy, you’ll want to log into your NameSilo account and click on My Account. In the right rail you’ll see a link for Transfer Manager. Click it.
On the Transfer Manager screen you’ll see a Pending Transfers section on the bottom. Click on the icon that looks like a gear, under CONFIGURE.
- The next screen will be the Transfer Configuration screen. You’re going to want to choose Setup Custom DNS Records. This will take the existing DNS records from GoDaddy’s DNS server and copy them onto NameSilo’s DNS server.
You can also opt in to WHOIS Privacy at no additional cost. By default WHOIS records reveal your name, address, phone, and email to the public.
Double-check your Domain Contacts. It is important that these be accurate and up-to-date; even though the public won’t be able to see it,
- If you like, you can take this opportunity to double-check the entries that NameSilo pulled from GoDaddy’s nameservers. In my case, everything looks correct. My MX records (which control e-mail) properly point to Google, while my A and CNAME records point to my GoDaddy hosting account. I also have various TXT records for when I verified my site with Google, Bing, and Yandex.
- If you’re happy with how everything looks and don’t feel like waiting, you go straight to your GoDaddy Transfers Page and click on Transfers Out. You’ll see your pending transfer.
Click the checkbox and select Approve Transfer.
If all goes well, your domain name is now hosted on NameSilo but pointing to your current Web site and e-mail.
