I received a letter from a competing website provider saying that Batesville registers my website's address in the name of Batesville instead of my firm. Is that true, and why would Batesville do that?

Yes! Batesville registers all WebLink website addresses under the Batesville name as a courtesy so that we can maintain your website's annual domain name registration on your behalf. 

Every year the registration for your website address, or domain name, must be renewed.  If we did not do this, then you would be responsible for renewing your own domain name independently.  If someone at your funeral home misunderstands this task or fails to renew your domain name, then your funeral home runs the risk of having someone else swoop in, take over your website address and put up another website.  To illustrate, click here to read about a situation where this actually occurred with a Police Department in Tennessee.

Batesville also takes care of transferring the registration of your domain name to your new provider should you choose to make a switch. Maintaining your website address registration is a task that you should expect your website provider to do on your behalf. It's just one fewer thing that you need to worry about.