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Frequently asked questions

  • I am looking for a domain name registrant. Where can I look it up?

    The Whois is an easy-to-use tool for checking the availability of a .nl domain name. If the domain name is already taken, you can see who has registered it.

    On the page looking up a domain name you will find more information about what a domain name is, how the Whois works and how the privacy of personal data is protected. Alternatively, you can go straight to look for a domain name via the Whois.

  • I would like to transfer my domain name to another registrar. What is the procedure?

    To get your domain name transferred, you need the token (unique ID number) for your domain name. Your existing registrar has the token and is obliged to give it to you within five days, if you ask for it. The procedure for changing your registrar is described on the page transferring your domain name.

  • The details registered about me/my company are incorrect or out of date. How can I get them updated?

    To update the contact details associated with your domain name, you need to contact your registrar. Read more about updating contact details.

  • Why is my domain name in quarantine?

    When a domain name is cancelled, we aren't told the reason, so we can't tell you. You'll need to ask your registrar. The advantage of quarantine is that, if a name's cancelled by mistake, you can always get it back.

    One common reason is that the contract between you and your registrar says you've got to renew the registration every year. If you haven't set up automatic renewal and you don't renew manually, the registration will expire.

  • Ik heb een klacht over mijn provider/registrar. Kan ik daarvoor bij SIDN terecht?

    Wanneer je een klacht hebt over of een geschil met je registrar dan zijn er verschillende mogelijkheden om tot een oplossing te komen. Hierover lees je meer op pagina klacht over registrar. SIDN heeft geen formele klachtenprocedure voor het behandelen van een klacht over jouw registrar.

  • What conditions do I have to meet as a registrar?

    Would you like to be able to register domain names for customers or for your own organisation by dealing directly with SIDN? If so, you can become a .nl registrar. Read more about the conditions and how to apply for registrar status on the page becoming a registrar.

More frequently asked questions

WordPress easily the most popular website management tool

SIDN Panel not convinced by alternatives, but AI is on the rise

The apps 'Wix Owner' and 'WordPress' on the screen of an iPhone.

Domain names are most commonly used for websites, with e-mail the second most popular application. Around the world, online website builders – most notably Wix, with 220 million users – are gaining popularity. As well as easy-to-use site development and management tools, such online platforms often offer hosting, domain names and e-commerce facilities. So, to find out more, we recently asked the SIDN Panel about their preferred tools for building and managing websites. Analysis of the 147 responses suggests that WordPress probably has little to fear from online website builders. Its dominance may yet be threatened by the rise of AI, however.

WordPress is the undisputed market leader

From our survey, it's clear that WordPress continues to dominate: 72 per cent of respondents use the open-source content management system (CMS) for their websites. Free availability and a wide choice of providers ensure a very strong appeal. That's not to say that our panellists see WordPress as perfect. The platform's default Gutenberg editor was criticised by a number of respondents for not being very easy to use. Yet user-friendliness came out of the survey as the most important criterion that a management tool should meet.

Factors important when choosing a website management tool EN

Ease of use is the selling point that online website builders aim to use to their advantage. Wix.com is the main platform whose popularity has been growing. In 2019, Wix had 160 million users, and by 2023 the number had risen to more than 220 million. It's estimated that there are several hundred thousand Wix users in the Netherlands. How exactly that compares with the number of people using WordPress is hard to say, because no centralised record of WordPress users is maintained. Nevertheless, multiple studies have concluded that WordPress is the market leader. Amongst our survey respondents, at least, online website builders are not very popular: only 3 per cent reported using the Wix platform. However, 6 per cent said that they would consider using a website builder like Wix for a new site.

Portability motivates many to stick with WordPress

One of the main reasons why respondents were cautious about using online website builders was the risk of 'vendor lock-in': being tied to one particular service provider. Wix is user-friendly and largely free to use, but two thirds of our respondents didn't like the idea of losing the freedom to switch vendors – even if extra cost was involved. For many respondents, access to an open-source tool which could be used to build a portable site lowered the threshold to buying additional services from a provider. The main services they were ready to consider were hosting (61 per cent), web design (56 per cent) and payment services (39 per cent). They were less willing to be flexible regarding their domain name preferences: only 20 per cent of respondents were happy for their choice of domain name extension to depend on what was available from their service provider.

The future: AI to take the lead?

Another trend picked up by the survey was the rise of AI-based website management. Only 10 per cent of respondents were actually using such technology, but the answers given to the open questions suggest that AI may be the future:

"... creating and maintaining websites [using AI] is a piece of cake. I no longer need any staff, yet I look after a wide range of websites, and it takes me less than an hour a day."

"After a week of tweaking here and there, the AI tools now do everything independently. The total monthly cost of maintaining the content and keeping it up to date is the cost of my ChatGPT subscription."

Lesson for hosting service providers

Our survey confirms that WordPress still dominates the market. However, it's worth bearing in mind that the SIDN Panel includes a lot of people with experience of professional website creation. Such people may well regard flexibility and control as more important than ease of use. For hosting service providers, platforms like Wix may represent more of a threat to their ability to win and retain the patronage of relatively inexperienced users. It could therefore be worthwhile for a provider to continue investing in their own user-friendly management tools, as well as offering WordPress support and integration. From our survey results, it's hard to say how the rise of AI will impact the demand for hosting services. However, it's unquestionably a trend to keep a close eye on.

Article by:

Michiel Henneke

Michiel Henneke

Marketing Manager