What is a domain name and why is it important to you ? A domain name is the name by which an organisation's presence is identified on the internet. For example the BBC uses bbc.co.uk (It couldn't get bbc.com - it was too late !). We are known as domain-names-2-buy.co.uk. Your choice of domain name can have a big impact on the image and prestige of your company and also has an influence on the success of your activities on the world wide web. At present there is not a great deal of regulation controlling who can have what domain name. This is good in one sense since it gives a company freedom to choose the most appropriate name. However it also means that the name or names you want can easily be registered by someone else, even if those names have less relevance to them than to you. If you are too late with your registration the chance to choose the name you want will almost certainly be lost forever ! So even if you are taking your time in assessing how, or even whether, you should be present on the internet you would be well advised to take steps now to protect those names which will be of importance to you in the future. Fortunately this is cheap and easy to do, just use the search facilities on our home page. How does it work ? The Domain Name System (DNS) converts the letters in the domain name into unique numbers, rather like a telephone number, that are used to communicate with that organisation's systems on the internet. Consequently users do not need to understand these cryptic numbers themselves, they only need to use the domain names. Ideally an organisation will want to be identified by one or more domain names which have relevance to its own company name, brand names or trademarks. Then that company will be able to have email and website addresses that mean something to its clients, contacts and customers. For example, you could have an email address <you@companyname.co.uk> or a website address of <www.yourbrandname.com>. This is preferable to the common practice of adding your name to that of your service provider as in the email address <yourcompanyname@yourserviceprovider.com> which will inevitably make you look less important and make it harder to guess at your email address. There is a certain snobbery in domain names and even if you don't feel that way yourself you should still put yourself on the right side of the divide ! Why register now ? Registering suitable domain names on the internet will provide you with unique identifiers for your company, brand, products, etc. Once registered, no-one else can use that name. As there are many companies with similar names, it is important to register a suitable domain name for your company as soon as possible. The most popular domains in the internet community are the UK (.co.uk) and the US (.com) domain names. The rules of registration for both of these allow an individual, or company, to buy any domain name regardless of any relevance to their name or trademarks outside the internet medium. As part of our service we help you to select possible names and check out if the names that interest you are available. And if the names you want are already taken we will help to identify suitable alternatives for you. After registration As soon as the domain name has been cleared by the UK registry NOMINET, or the US registry INTERNIC, it is ‘delegated’ to a DNS server. This is a technical procedure which transfers control of the name to the server. We offer this DNS service at no extra cost so that you can set up further facilities in your own time. You can also transfer the name to another DNS server at any time, at no further cost. The process of registering a UK domain name takes only a few hours (subject to the name being available), the process of registering a US domain can take up to three weeks, but is usually completed within six hours. Once you have received confirmation of delegation you will receive a payment invoice and receipt to cover the registration and a certificate of registration for the name. -
Annual fees To ensure continued use of a domain name, you must maintain payment of annual fees to the Central Registries. The first two years’ fees are payable in advance and are included in our charges. Subsequent fees will be billed to you directly from the relevant registry unless you make other arrangements. Types of Domain Name -
To find out why you should buy BOTH .com and .co.uk versions of a domain click here. -
If you want to know how domain names with keywords boost site traffic click here. |
| Style | Who is it for ? | Rules | | .co.uk | A commercial business. | -
Any person may own any number of names with the .co.uk suffix as long as they continue to pay for the administration of the name. -
Names can have a minimum of three characters. -
Two authoritative name servers (DNS servers) must be working such that a zone transfer be possible from each within 24 hours of the request reaching the SOA. -
First come, first served subject to above. | | .org.uk | Organisations which do not satisfactorily ‘fit’ into any of the other sub-divisions of UK. Includes: charities, trade unions, political parties, community groups, education councils, professional institutions, etc. | - Any person may own any number of names with the .org.uk suffix as long as they continue to pay for the administration of the name.
- Names can have a minimum of three characters.
- Two authoritative name servers (DNS servers) must be working such that a zone transfer be possible from each within 24 hours of the request reaching the SOA.
- First come, first served subject to above.
| | .ltd.uk or .plc.uk | A limited or a public limited company in the UK. The .ltd.uk and .plc.uk domains are intended to allow a unique mapping of company names registered under the Companies Act with Companies House and a DNS name. | Within these rules all references to .ltd.uk should be taken to apply equally to .plc.uk: - One name per company name registered at Companies House.
- The name shall correspond exactly to the registration name save for characters not in the ‘allowable’ set which shall be interpreted as below and the ‘reserved’ words.
- White space between words shall either be ignored or replaced with a single hyphen ‘-’ (see below for how the interpretation is made).
- All other characters should be removed.
- Company names written in a non English character set are not allowed in this version. The only characters allowed are the letters A to Z, a to z, the numbers 0 to 9 and hyphen. These will be known as the ‘allowable’ set. There is the possibility that applications will contain characters that are treated as significant and are not in the ‘allowable’ set. This version of rules will not allow these applicants to be allocated a name.
- Unlimited companies registered under the Companies Act, unincorporated bodies, partnerships and bodies incorporated under other legislation are not eligible for an entry in .ltd.uk or .plc.uk.
- Certain words will be removed from the registered company name before the DNS name is generated - ‘reserved’ words. They are ‘Limited’, ‘Public Limited Company’ and the Welsh language versions along with the abbreviations of these words e.g ltd, plc, ccc. There are believed to be other reserved words such as ‘international’.
Note: It is believed that these rules represent the way that Companies House interpret names in order to produce a unique match. In the event that they do not and/or that Companies House rules change in the future, the first successful applicant for a name will be assigned the name. | | .com & .org | Commercial (.com) and non-commercial organisations (.org) administered by the US. Viewed as the more international higher domain - many firms whose business is international prefer to be registered at the US registry. | - Any person may own any number of names with the .com suffix as long as they continue to pay for the administration of the name.
- Names can have a minimum of three characters.
- Two authoritative name servers (DNS servers) must be working such that a zone transfer be possible from each within 24 hours of the request reaching the SOA.
- First come, first served subject to above.
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if your .tv domain is still available ! | | | |  | To learn how to identify which keywords your web site should target click on the WordTracker Logo | -
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