Red Shift Plus Web Services

Domain Name

A domain name is a unique name that identifies you or your business on the internet. It doesn’t identify where you or your web site are actually physically located, but it allows other people to find you by searching for your name.

Protecting a Domain Name

It is essential for a modern business to register its name – domain names are being registered at an ever increasing rate, making it ever more difficult to select and register a memorable name associated with your company.

Names can be critical to a business – customers are more likely to remember simple, memorable (and generally short) names, and hence more likely to search for, and find, your company.  

Even if you don’t want a web site right now, it could be worth considering registering a domain and ‘parking’ it with a simple ‘contact us’ page. If you register it, then non-one else can.

Check our packages for this cost-effective service.

Some examples of domain names would be

• http://www.mybusiness.com/
or
• http://www.mybusiness.co.uk/

As you can see, a domain name is made up of three parts :- 

The ‘domain’ is the ‘.com’ or
‘.co.uk’ part at the end of the name, and was originally intended to identify a country and type of organisation.

A few examples: ‘.co.uk’ identifies a UK based company, ‘.edu’ a US educational organisation, ‘.mil’ a US military site, ‘.cn’ a Chinese based company or organisation.

The original domains ( .com / .net / .org ) which do not have a specific country, were intended to mean US based, but are often used by other organisations.

To a certain extent some of these domains have become more widely used than expected. For example many UK companies are in the ‘.com’ domain rather than ‘.co.uk’ as it is seen as more global. 

Recently, the available domains have been expanded to provide more variety, and of course to provide more possibilities as domain name registrations increase. For example, you can now register ‘.info ‘ and ‘.name ‘.

However, businesses will typically try to use ‘.com’ domains, as these are the ‘de facto’ business standard for international domains.  

Be aware that the two names http://www.mybusiness.com/, and http://www.mybusiness.co.uk/ are completely separate and independent names, and could be owned by two different organisations. To avoid confusion, and again to safeguard their interests, businesses will often register multiple names – for example the .com .co.uk variants – thus ensuring that they are found by customers. This also ensures a rival business does not register a related domain name.

'Well Known' Domain Names 

In the past there have been legal cases where individuals have registered the domain names of large multinationals, in an effort to make money by selling them the domain at a vast profit. Legal changes have meant that there is some protection from this, but of course for a small business that may not be an option.

Selecting a Name 

Domain names need to be relevant if you want your customers to remember them easily, a few guidelines are :- 

 

Names are ‘registered’ in central locations for each domain, for example ‘Internic’ in the USA handles registration of ‘.com’ domains.

Registration can be managed by individuals, but it can become technically challenging for the unwary as it also involves directing the domain towards the web hosting itself.

The tools for this vary between the various companies handling the registration as do the prices they charge.

We have experience in registering using reliable and cost-effective organisations and ensure that the process is simple and done at a fair price.