About Domain Names

The domain name is also, but technically not correctly, known as the website address.

There is a concern that using an ISP’s domain name looks amateurish in e-mail addresses, and this is much more so the case with websites, giving the impression of hanging on another’s coat tails. There is an exception to this, when a firm wants to reinforce an affiliation be it local or professional, by appearing to be part of an existing site that is dedicated to a region or association. Even in these cases autonomy and continuity are better assured by having a separately owned domain and using a page on a third party’s site to direct the users towards it.

A domain is classified by it’s suffix. As a commercial organisation most companies will almost probably want a domain ending in .com or .co.uk due to other endings such as .biz and .ltd.uk are currently unfamiliar to users, and making the domain harder to remember. Of the two more desirable suffixes, .com is prefered by businesses with international activities, perhaps giving the impression of a bigger organisation, whilst .co.uk is more reassuring for UK based customers on an often US dominated web.

The part of the Domain Name before the suffix is usually the firms trading name, unless of course that domain name has already been registered, (which is increasingly likely these days). If the name is long an abbreviation may used as an alternative. The Domain names are not case sensitive.

Registering a domain name is a straightforward process which can be done online, through your ISP or better through a dedicated registration service company. Typically Renewal Fees are paid every two years.Likewise checking if a domain name is available is also straightforward as domain registration services generally provide a WHOIS service which checks the ownership details of a domain. However, such services normally run 48 hours behind actual registrations.

Money can be saved by moving ISP’s, however it may also take time and incur extra charges. Prices in the domain registration industry have fallen considerably in recent years and you will now typically pay costs from $15 for two years registration.

Once you have a domain name registered, you can either leave the domain name awaiting future use, or point it at a website, which can be achieved by changing the Domain Name Server, or DNS settings on the domain to point at the hosting company for your website. Most registration services offer a free user control allowing these settings to be changed.