When you've selected your domain registrar, there are a few things you should keep in mind about domain name registration.

A Domain For Life?

The shortest time for which you can register a domain name is one year. Some top-level domains require that you register for a minimum of two years. The maximum period for which you can register any domain name at once is ten years; after that, you will need to renew it, or it will eventually end up back on the market and anyone will be able to purchase it. Again, not all TLDs support ten-year registration.

Generally speaking, it's best to register your Domain Name for as long as possible. This is for several reasons. Firstly, many domain registrars, including Domainmonster.com, offer discounts when you buy more years at a time, so it can save you money. What is more, if you register for ten years, that's ten years before you need to worry about renewing your domain, which means that your chances of losing it by accident are dramatically decreased.

Perhaps most importantly, search engines take into account the length of time for which a domain is registered when calculating its page ranking. They favour domains which are registered for longer, because this implies that the company intends to hang around for longer and has some credibility.

Your Personal Details

It may seem tempting to use false details when you register a domain name, or simply to leave fields with "n/a" in them. The desire is understandable; the Whois database to which these details are submitted is a public one, and many people don't want to expose their personal details to public scrutiny for a variety of reasons, some more honourable than others. However, if you don't enter a valid email address, your registrar will not be able to send you renewal notices or confirmations, which could cause you to lose your domain name in future years or to be billed when you did not intend to renew a domain. What is more, some registries will ask registrars to delete domain name accounts if they provide obviously false information.

If you are concerned about revealing your personal details on the Whois database, because of concerns about spam or privacy, you could use a PO Box or business address, or use a proxy service (although this latter should be done with extreme caution, as you need to make sure that you will retain ownership of your domain). But you must use a real email address so that you can be contacted by your registrar or by registries, and you must use an address that actually exists, or you will risk losing your domain.

Illegal Registration

Be careful not to infringe copyright or trademark laws when you register your domain name. Domains which are trademarks, or which look like trademarks (such as "mircosoft.com"), are not wise choices, as you could well be sued for trademark infringement if you cannot prove that you did not intend to profit from the trademark holder's traffic. You can easily check online whether or not a name is trademarked.

Renewing and Protecting Your Domain

Make sure that you renew your domains in good time. Many registrars, including DomainMonster.com, can automatically renew your domain for you whenever the time comes (after sending you an email to remind you that you will be billed); you can usually tick a box somewhere on your control panel to enable or disable this feature.

Watch out for notices in your inbox or post which look like simple requests for domain renewal, but will also result in your domain being transferred to a different registrar, who will almost certainly charge you more for their services. These scams are easily avoided. Only renew your domain directly through your registrar's website rather than through paper forms or links clicked on emails, and if you receive any letters or emails regarding renewal about which you are suspicious, check with your registrar before responding.

Most registrars offer a "lock status" option which protects against scams like this. When a domain is "locked", all transfer requests will be automatically denied.

By Natalie Catchpole