Choosing a domain name

You may already have a business name and the icing on the cake would be to get a domain of the same name. With millions of domains registered that is becoming a lot harder to do now.

Prepare to be a little creative when choosing a name and try to keep it as short as possible as it will also form the part after the @ of your email address. Getting a domain of your choice may be quite hard now if you expect or wish to have .com as the extension of your name. The good news is that there are now quite a lot of extensions to choose from e.g. .net, .shop, .biz, co.uk.

Domain names are made up of two parts (visually). The name e.g. cuffe is the part before the dot and the extension is the part after the dot e.g. .net You can have any extension you like although some extensions like .org and .gov are used to represent organisations and governments.

Buying a domain name

Bear in mind that a domain name is a stand-alone item. Many hosting providers will offer a discount in the first year or provide a free domain name as part of a hosting package. Domain names are normally renewed yearly for a relatively low cost with your registrar if you are purchasing hosting with a domain name thrown in for free you should avoid any term longer than a year in case you are not satisfied with the future service you receive. You should also check that there is no restriction to transfer your name away for little or no cost should you wish in the future.