Registering a domain name

By Clare Lawrence 29th September 2003
Clare is the CEO of Discount Domains Ltd a leading UK Domain name registration service.

If your planning your own website, then your really need to consider getting your own domain name.

They aren't free but if your serious about building your own corporate or on line presence the a domain name is one of the best investments you can make.

The Domain Name System or DNS allows for computers to translate a series of numerical numbers in human friendly names. Names are easy to remember and therefore help to locate your website.

A domain name is part of the address of a website and is known by the technical term URL or Uniform Resource Locator.

Domain names are limited by international conventions and can not exceed 63 characters, certain characters are also not allowed.

What are the steps to register a domain name?

First - Select your domain name, ideally this needs to be either your company or websites name.

Secondly - Check if its free. Most domain name registrars including www.discountdomainsuk.com offer a WHOIS service. Consider registering the other Top Level Domain extensions, e.g .com and .co.uk if your UK based.

Thirdly - Register your domain name. As you register your domain name or names it is always worth giving thought to where your website will be hosted, some registrars and hosting companies expect you to purchase both services.
It can be more expensive to change your mind later on.

Lastly maintain your domain name. If you change your e-mail address etc, do not forget to update your account with the registrar, otherwise when renewal comes around you could overlook your domain names expiry.

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Clare Lawrence is CEO of Discount Domains Ltd – A leading UK provider of Domain name registration and Web Hosting services. Please feel free to re-publish this article provided this reference box remains together with a hyperlink to http://www.discountdomainsuk.com Clare can also be contacted on clare@discountdomainsuk.com.
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