Domain Names

by David on Wednesday 3rd December, 2008 at 16:12 COMMENTS (0)

One of the most important parts of your online presence is your domain name, this is crucial to all activity, here are some guidelines on how to choose a name and how to register it.

Selecting a name
First thing to consider is what to include in your name; do you need hyphens? should your complete name be used or just part of it? is it a good idea to include keywords?

Consider your visitors first
Are they going to be able to remember your domain?
Try to find a domain that is easy to remember and not confusing such as containing words that end with the same letter the next word begins with.
Try not to use hyphens as people forget to type them.
Come up with one or two words to start with then try three or four or longer word domains, the shorter the domain the more likely people are going to remember you, although sometimes longer domains can be easy and also obvious such as www.FirstAidforComputers.com


Consider the Search Engines
The search engines do consider the domain name when categorising your site, so if your domain contains a vital keyword then it can be beneficial.
Search engines like hyphens as it separates words and is easier to identify keywords.

If you can find a domain name that covers both these criteria then you may be on to a winner.

Now you need to register the domain.

Registering the domain
Use a reputable management company to register domains on your behalf or register it yourself using one of the many registration companies such as www.123-reg.co.uk or www.uk2.net

.uk domains cost around £8 for two years and .com's cost around £20, some companies charge a small fee to register domains for you.

When registering ensure that the domain is your property and not held in the name of the company or person registering it. When Dr Adept registers domains for our clients the domains are the property of the client and can be transferred or sold on at no extra cost.

Beware some companies register domains in their own name and then charge a lot more for you to use the domains but they retain ownership, this is like leasing domains and in our opinion is wrong.

Setting up the email
Once you have registered your domain you need to use it either for email or point to your website or both.

You should be able to set up email accounts, forwarding accounts and web forwarding although some of these features may cost little extra.

Forwarding email is the most common setup which allows email addresses to be forwarded to other accounts such as to a Hotmail or Googlemail account.

Actual email accounts are boxes where emails are stored until you retrieve them using an email client such as Outlook or using webmail services if available.

Catchall accounts can be set up to send all emails no matter what the address @yourdomain.co.uk to be forwarded to another account, or the catchall can be set to delete or bounce emails, we at DR Adept prefer to delete catchall accounts as this reduces a lot of spam.

DR Adept can register your domain and setup basic email services for as little as £60.00 a year which includes webmail accounts for you to retrieve and send emails from any Internet based computer. Spam filterring options are available at an extra cost of £30.00 a year.

Setting up the website
Pointing your domain at a website can be done in two methods;

Changing your DNS or name-servers to point to a web server so www points directly to your website.

Forwarding the domain to your website can be done either using frames or a jump.
Frames show your actual domain inside a frame that keeps your domain showing in the address bar of your visitors browser whereas jumping to your website is like your domain retyping your actual web address in the browser address bar. These methods are good if you have free ISP webspace that you are using but not so good for the search engines listing your site.

DR Adept host websites from as little as £180.00 per year which includes all management and minor alterations to designs.


If you need any advice on registering a domain or setting up a website then please Contact us. We like to talk.

Filed under: domains websites COMMENTS (0) Wednesday 3rd December, 2008