This page has advice about how to go about registering a domain name with me as your agent. If you don’t know where to start, you can learn what a domain name is and how to go about choosing one.
My service
Email me with a definite choice if you have one, or a list of keywords. I can perform some checks and supply you with a list of the available patterns.
Standard Agent Service
Domain Name Registration & Renewal
My main service is to register a domain name on your behalf under my account with UK Reg. I register you as the Owner Contact and myself as all others (Admin, Technical and Billing Contacts). This means that you trust me completely to represent your interests: under this service you don’t have direct access to a control panel for it. I will keep it in registration (pay invoices for it on your behalf) and bill you annually as part of a hosting package. You are free to transfer your domain to another agent at anytime, so long as any outstanding invoices have been settled.
Domain Name Forwarding
You might want to register multiple domain names following the same pattern (satyadarshin.com and satyadarshin.co.uk for example). This is often to secure a business identity, brand, or preserve against malicious counter-registration. Ibn cases like this you could have the second, redundant domain set to forward all visitors immediately on to the primary, active one. This is also useful if you’re migrating activities from an old website to a new one.
Non-standard Agent Service
If you prefer I can create an account with UK Reg in your name, do all that’s necessary to register your domain name and establish a connection to a working website. After that you’ll have sole responsibility for management; any intervention on my part will be charged on a per-issue basis, starting at £30.
It’s not necessary for you to have a website with me: you can use me as your domain name agent, but someone else as your website host. In this case I can act on your behalf: investigate problems, correspond with or call technical support and attempt to resolve an issue if possible. Charges for this will depend upon the problem, starting at £30.
| Service | Charge | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain names | Standard Agent Service | £12 each | Per annum |
| Domain Name forwarding | £15 each | Per annum | |
| Non-standard Agent Service | Minimum £30 | Per issue | |
See the price list page for more information.
What’s a domain name?
A domain name is the phrase that is used to identify your website on the internet. It features at least two components, a top level and a second level.
Top Level Domain (TLD) names come in two types, generic (gTLD) ones like .com, .org and .net, and country code (ccTLD) patterns like .uk. In the UK we can’t choose something.uk, we’re compelled to pick from one of the set second level domains (SLD: .co.uk, .org.uk etc) and devise our own, third level.
I can register the following on your behalf:.co.uk .org.uk .me.uk .com .org .net at £12pa each; if you’re interested in .info .biz .co .tv .eu .name .mobi ask for prices.
There is no clear rule about which pattern of gTLD or ccTLd is the ‘right’ or ‘best’ one. There is no obvious advantage to choosing one over the other, although ccTLDs’ may see some preference in Google for searches to do with a UK activity (many other factors will influence this though!).
Whilst .com is far and away the most common TLD, it was both designed for and is popularly associated with big business. When choosing your domain consider what you’re activities will be and what impression you want to give with your TLD. If you’re a UK business you may want to choose .co.uk. If you’re representing an international charity or public interest group, you may want to chose .org. If you’re simply writing a blog or writing about a topic of general interest you might want to choose .net.
Every complete domain name identifies a distinct website. Thus satyadarshin.com and satyadarshin.co.uk are separate domain names and can have their own websites. The latter can be set to forward all requests to former, but there is nothing to stop another Satyadarshin registering satyadarshin.co.uk (.org.uk and so forth) and setting up his own website in competition with mine. If you’re at all concerned about future competition for your choice, then you can register as many parallel domain names as you like. That could be quite costly, so to keep it within sensible bounds if, say, you register a .com, you might like to register the corresponding .co.uk
When choosing the distinctive component of your domain name, consider that it must be in simple alphanumeric characters (letters and numbers), contain no spaces and no punctuation other than a hyphen. I could for example register satyadarshin.com, satya-darshin.com or satyadarshin1.com.
Domain Names and Search Engines
If you’re concerned about your website being easily discoverable in search engine queries, then think carefully about the terms you want to include in your domain name.
Ask yourself what words you might use to search for a website like yours. If you’re a Web designer based in Totnes, you might like to think about web-design-totnes.co.uk, totneswebdesign.co.uk or devonwbesites.co.uk. Try searching for your keywords to see what sites the search engine returns.
What to do next
You can contact me with instructions to register a domain name