| What is a domain name and why is it important to you ? A domain name is the name by which an organisation's presence is identified on the internet. For example the BBC uses bbc.co.uk (they couldn't get bbc.com - they were too late!). We are known as netsecrets.co.uk. Your choice of domain name can have a big impact on the image and prestige of your company and also has an influence on the success of your activities on the world wide web. At present there is not a great deal of regulation controlling who can have what domain name. This is good in one sense since it gives a company freedom to choose the most appropriate name. However it also means that the name or names you want can easily be registered by someone else, even if those names have less relevance to them than to you. If you are too late with your registration the chance to choose the name you want may possibly be lost forever! So even if you are taking your time in assessing how, or even whether, you should be present on the internet you would be well advised to take steps now to protect those names which will be of importance to you in the future. Fortunately this is easy to do and doesn't cost a fortune, just use the search facilities on our search page to see if the name you want is available. This will open in a seperate window so you can easily refer back to this page. How does it work ? The Domain Name System (DNS) converts the letters in the domain name into unique numbers, rather like a telephone number, that are used to communicate with that organisation's systems on the internet. Consequently users do not need to understand these cryptic numbers themselves, they only need to use the domain names. Ideally an organisation will want to be identified by one or more domain names which have relevance to its own company name, brand names or trademarks. Then that company will be able to have email and website addresses that mean something to its clients, contacts and customers. For example, you could have an email address <you@companyname.co.uk> or a website address of <www.yourbrandname.com>. This is preferable to the common practice of adding your name to that of your service provider as in the email address <yourcompanyname@yourserviceprovider.com> which will inevitably make you look less important and make it harder to guess at your email address. There is a certain snobbery in domain names and even if you don't feel that way yourself you should still put yourself on the right side of the divide! Why register now? Registering suitable domain names on the internet will provide you with unique identifiers for your company, brand, products, etc. Once registered, no-one else can use that name. As there are many companies with similar names, it is important to register a suitable domain name for your company as soon as possible. The most popular domains in the internet community are the UK (.co.uk) and the US/International (.com) domain names. The rules of registration for both of these used to allow an individual, or company, to buy any domain name regardless of any relevance to their name or trademarks outside the internet medium. That is less true nowadays as large corporations try to protect their expensively marketed image and brand names but it is still relatively a free-for-all environment. As part of our service we help you to select possible names and check out if the names that interest you are available. And if the names you want are already taken we will help to identify suitable alternatives for you. After registration When the name has been registered it will not always be immediately apparent to you as there are frequently delays in updating the publicly accessible databases of domain names. However you will normally see that the name has become unavailable within 24 hours of placing your order. So to check that things are moving use our domain search facility, enter the name you have ordered and when it is shown as unavailable selec the option to view ownership details. That should confirm that all is well, but if not contact us asap. As soon as the domain name has been cleared by the UK registry NOMINET, or the US registry INTERNIC, it is ‘delegated’ to a DNS server. This is a technical procedure which transfers control of the name to the server. We offer this DNS service at no extra cost so that you can set up further facilities in your own time. You can also transfer the name to another DNS server at any time, at no further cost. Once we have received confirmation that the name has been successfully registered you will receive a payment invoice and receipt to cover the registration. There is no longer any certificate of ownership issued for .com and other intenational domains and the certificate of registration you receive from Nominet for a .uk domain can take up to two years to arrive! Annual fees To ensure continued use of a domain name, you must maintain payment of registry fees to the Central Registries. The first two years’ fees are payable in advance and are included in our charges. Subsequent fees will be billed to you in advance of expiry and we will send a single reminder about 2 weeks prior to expiry. If you fail to act on these reminders you risk losing the name so please ensure you notify the registrar of you names of any change of contact details. fees will be billed to you directly from the relevant registry unless you make other arrangements. | 
