Domain Info |
| Domain Names demistified |
A domain name is the web address that people will use to find your site. You probably will have seen many domain names advertised in the press and and on television in the form of www.ourcompany.co.uk.
First a quick explanation of how the domain system works.
Your web site (pages and pictures etc) resides on a computer with a PERMANENT connection to the internet. This computer is accessed on the net with a number eg 123.456.789.10, as you can imagine this is very hard to remember.
To get around this a list of domain names (www.ourcompany.co.uk) are kept. When you type the domain name into your browser it is checked in the list and the corresponding number is returned. Your browser then goes to the computer that uses that number.
The names themselves take at least three parts, separated by full stops:-
For most companies your site would and should start with www.
Choosing the rest of your domain may be one of the hardest parts of the web design process and one that could significantly effect how well your site works for you and your company.
For the ourcompany part there are two main schools of thought. One of these is that you should always try and use your company name. The other is that you should always use a 'generic' name that describes what your company does.
So if your company is called acme trading but you make and sell square ball bearings you have basically two choices here:-
www.acmetrading.co.uk or www.squarebearings.co.uk
If acme trading is very well know in it's field (imagine a top brand of cola drink here or a well known software company) you might want to get www.acmetrading.co.uk as everyone knows that acme trading makes square ball bearings. If this is the case; go for it, but just ask yourself if all your potential world wide clients will know what you do.
However, if acme trading makes great square ball bearings but is not as well known as it would like, go for the www.squarebearings.co.uk option.
Of course if possible get both.
Remember the point about the .co.uk part? This final part conveys information about your site and there are quite a few to choose from. As you have probably guessed .co.uk really 'stands for' COmpany in the UK. Some of the other options are detailed below, along with tips about them.
For FULL rules about .uk domains see www.nominet.org.uk/rules
| .co.uk | This would commonly be
used for a UK commercial enterprise. There is no requirement to be a 'registered company'. |
| .org.uk | The original idea was
for .org to represent organisations such as charitable ones. This does not now seem to be a requirement. |
| .net.uk | Similar to above, this was originally used for entities that ran/provided network services, such as an internet service provider (ISP) |
| .ltd.uk | There is a requirement for these domains to match the owners entry at companies house - so ONLY Ltd companies allowed. |
| .plc.uk | Also a requirement for the name to match PLC registred company information. |
For full rules and information about US / International domains see www.networksolutions.com
| .com | Originally used to denote a US company or corporation, now widely accepted for any large (or small) business worldwide. |
| .net | As with the UK version, used to be for 'networks' now pretty much anything goes - worldwide. |
| .org | Yet again, now open for use worldwide, pretty much as you please. |
This is not the end of it, there are more combinations of letters that can be used to denote things and several countries allow the registration of country specific domains to persons outside that country, eg:- .tv.
For more information just contact info@web-design-works.co.uk.
Ok. So now you have some basic information about domain names, the next question is:-
The first step is to see if your choice is available and not already taken. We have a special program that will let you search for the most popular domains simply click here to search.
Now for the bad news - maybe the name you want has already been taken. there are a few things we can do to help find the perfect name for you. If you can't find the name you want, get in touch and we'll do all we can to help.
Don't forget that once you have found a name, you will need to get it registered and hosted (attached to a server) before it is of any use.
There are several parts to this. First there are fees for the registration of the domain with the Naming Authority. These fees do not go to your web designer or to the company hosting your site. The amount of these fees is fixed by the Naming Authority and is usually for one or two years. This means that, in order to keep your name, you will have to pay AGAIN every one or two years.
The next part is the fee to your hosting company. They (as we do) will usually charge a setup fee for setting up the connection between your domain ( www.ourcompany.co.uk ) and their IP numbers ( 123.456.789.10 ).
Lastly, don't forget that you will have to pay a hosting charge.
In our experience this is quite complicated for most businessmen and they want to know one thing; what's the bottom line.
We offer complete packages that include the registration and setup fees, along with the hosting and design fees.
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