How to buy a domain name

With so many companies offering to sell you domain names, it is difficult to know who you should buy from. A domain name is a valuable investment, even though it is inexpensive. So it's important to buy wisely. Here's some guidance..

Just how you buy, and who you buy from depends very much on how you are going to use your domain name. Here's the alternatives..

Using it with existing web space and / or email facilities
If you have an account with an Internet Service Provider ("ISP"), and you are going to link your new domain name to your web site and / or your email addresses, it is probably easier to get your ISP to register your domain name for you.

They are likely to be more expensive than a specialist domain name registration company, but the process will be simple if you buy from your ISP.

If you do buy from a registration company, you will then have the hassle of getting the technical control of your domain name transferred from the registration company to your ISP. Your ISP might charge you for this, the registration company might charge you, and there will certainly be a delay (a week or more is not unusual) with the transfer process.

Buying additional domain names for your company
If you already have a web site with a domain name (e.g. www.joe-bloggs.com), and you have decided to buy additional generic domain names (e.g. plastic-mouldings.com) to point at your web space, then it is probably OK to buy from a domain name registration company.

But make sure that the registration company provides you with facilities (usually free) for you to have control over your domain name so that you can:

• Point it at your existing web site. What this means is that anyone typing in (to use the above example) "www.plastic-mouldings.com" into their browser will automatically be transferred to "www.joe-bloggs.com".
• Forward email to your existing email account. So, when someone sends an email to "info@plastic-mouldings.com", it will automatically be forwarded to "sales@joe-bloggs.com".

Further help on this topic...

You'll find further help on this topic, or closely related issues, in the side columns on this page..

Reliable registration companies will let you do this via a password-protected online control panel, so that you can use your browser to change the routing of web and email addresses whenever you like.

Which registration companies?
With so many people offering domain registration services, it can be confusing to know who to buy from. You might think that the service is identical from everyone, but that is not so.

Some of the apparently very cheap offerings have hidden costs - such as charging you a large amount if you want to move the domain name away from them.

And then there's the small print:

- i.e. another £2.50 per year!

Then there's the risk of the company going bust. There was a big shake-out in the industry in 2001, and a lot of people had many problems getting control of their domain names after their registration company went belly-up.

Now, there's many good registration companies out there, but we can only speak from our personal experience. Here's the two that we recommend:

For .com , .net , .org , .biz and .info:
Network Solutions

For all .uk domains ( .co.uk , .org.uk , .net.uk)
Easily.co.uk

If you have had good experience with another company, then stay with them. But if you are uncertain as to who to go with, then follow our recommendations!

OK, we're nearly at the end of this workshop. On the final page, you'll find a number of useful tips that will make your domain name buying and using experience all the more fruitful and hassle-free. Read on...

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