Domain names - your 'Front Cover Title Page' on the web .

One of the first things to do when when establishing a website is to register a domain and this will be your identity on the web.  There are many to choose from but the important thing to note is that it should reflect the nature of your website content and possibly your geographical location amongst other things so don't skimp on this.  The suffix you use doesn't really matter but the following guidelines should help.

• If you run a business that is largely aimed at the UK market, you should consider a domain with the .co.uk suffix. 

• If your business is international or has different branches over a wide area, you might consider having .com as your suffix. 

• A charity, private club, community website or other organisation that isn't strictly a business might use a suffix .org or .org.uk to indicate that it is an organisation other than a business. 

• A personal website could have the suffix .me.uk to show that it is a personal or family domain although there's no reason why a 'sole trader' couldn't use this. 

• Others such as .gov or .gov.uk are reserved so you won't be able to register them.

There are lots of options but whichever you choose, make it relevant and choose a name that reflects what you do, what you sell, or who you are.  One of the best I've seen recently is www.speckyfoureyes.com which is as you might expect, a company selling spectacles and contact lenses online.

The next obstacle is likely to be availability.  It's likely that someone has previously registered it so you need to check.  To do this you need to consult the "who is" database.  You can do this from the link below .

Some domains. although registered, might be available so if you think of a name and it shows as being registered, try to visit the website to see if it's in use.  If not, consult the database where you check availability and see if there's a contact.  They might be prepared to transfer it to you although there will inevitably be something to pay.  An example of a 'floating' or 'parked' domain is www.knowyourights.org.uk which was originally a community support website but is no longer in use.   It is available for transfer until the registration expires at which point it will be freely available.

Having decided on a suitable domain name, you should check if it's available and if so, register it as soon as possible.  If you plan to have a website in the near future, you could do worse than select a hosting package and in the case of 4UHosting the domain usually comes free as part of the package.  Either way it isn't expensive and you don't have to use it immediately.  Once registered it's yours until you let it lapse.  The important thing is that you have the domain you want and plan to use it for a website in due course.  This is effectively your identity on the web so choose it advisedly and make it work for you.

CHECK YOUR DOMAIN AVAILABILITY

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Last Updated 06/08/2008