Choosing your domain name is very important, it should be;
- easy to remember,
- easy to spell,
- easy to write,
- easy to say (have you tried saying out loud my hypen website dot co dot uk exactly!)
- and also mean something about your business. (don’t be so obscure only you get it!)
Domain names come as various TLD – or extensions, mostly commonly are .co.uk and .com. We generally suggest .co.uk for UK based companies only and .com for people that are worldwide. For safety sake though we always suggest that you purchase both the .co.uk and .com domains – why? because that stops anyone else buying it!
Do I own the domain name?
Its a popular misconception that once you “buy” the domain you own it – in fact you only ever rent your domains. Most .co.uk domains are purchased in two years intervals and .com’s in one year. But don’t worry you do own your domain and no one else can take it from you – unless – you stop paying for your domain.
Web Squared purchases domain names on behalf of their clients – but you can also purchase your own domains – there are many companies reselling domains – a good company that I use is YAY but there are many companies will be able to do the same thing.
Why use Web Squared to buy your domain names?
As said you can purchase your own domains BUT sometimes it easier for us to do that for you – because when you want to use that domain name for emails or a website – we (or any other Web Design company) will need access to where you purchased that name – if they already know then its one less password for you to remember. Plus domain names need renewing every one or two years – this way we can ensure your domains are renewed without any hassle.
So what name do I want?
Check our your competitors, check in Google to see what you need to search to find your competitors (ie a keyphrase) and then see if those words are a good idea for your business? If you already have a business name – then you should use that as a domain name. If your company name is not available then by adding another word like “photo” or a location to the end can sometimes give you the perfect domain name (obviously you would use a word relevant to your business).
If someone else is using your domain name then you can offer to buy it off them, there are various websites out that that can facilitate this. Sadly since the introduction of GDPR we are no longer able to determine WHO owns a domain name any more. There are also websites that can be set up to check when a domain name might expire and grab it automatically for if it is not renewed (YAY offers this).
Be warned that buying a domain name from someone can cost you more than buying a new domain name, as by contacting them via their website you have basically told them its valuable to you!
I have a domain name – now what?
A domain names on its own doesn’t do much – but it does give you the ability to receive emails (info@yourdomainname.com) as well as setting up a website (www.yourdomainname.com). To do this you need to purchase hosting… read onto our next section to find out more about Hosting.
If, for example, you have a website but your email address is AOL, hotmail or yahoo – or anything other than your domain name – then you need to speak to us – corporate branding is essential!
Domain names can be purchased through us for around £18-£26 for .co.uk/.com per two years.
