Domain names are relatively straightforward! Or at least that’s the theory!!
The domain name is also, but technically not quiet correct, known as
the website address.
Using an ISP’s domain name can look amateurish in an
e-mail addresses, it is much more so with websites, giving the impression
of hanging on another’s coat tails. The only exception being when a firm
wants to re-inforce a local or professional affiliation by appearing as
part of an existing site dedicated to a region or association. Even in
such cases autonomy and continuity are better assured by having one’s
own domain and merely using a page on the third party’s site to point
users toward it.
Domains are classified according to their endings or
“suffixes”. As a commercial organisation a company will almost certainly
want a domain ending in .com or .co.uk. Other endings such as .biz and
.ltd.uk are at least to date, insufficiently familiar to users, meaning
the name can be too readily misremembered. Of the two desirable suffixes,
.com is preferable for business with international activities, and arguably
gives the impression of a bigger organisation, whilst .co.uk helps reassure
users on the largely American-dominated web that they are indeed dealing
with a UK firm.
The part of the domain name before the suffix will usually
by the firms trading name, provided of course that the domain name has
not already been registered, (which is increasingly likely these days).
If the name is very long an abbreviation may be considered. Domain names
are not case sensitive.
The actual registration of a domain name is a straightforward process
that can be done online, either through your ISP or better still through
a dedicated registration service company such as Discount Domains Ltd
(http://www.discountdomainsuk.com).
Renewal fees must be paid, typically every two years.
Checking if a domain name is freely available is very
straightforward as most domain registration services provide a WHOIS service,
as the name suggest, this checks the ownership details of a domain, note
however that such services normally run 48 hours behind actual registrations.
