Register your domain name

27 Dec 201227
Dec
2012

If you’re running a business or even thinking of starting one, one of the first things you should do is to choose a domain name. Starting from as little as around £3 a year for a .co.uk address or £8 for a .com address there really is no reason for you not to have one.

Even if you have no immediate plans for a website (which you should have, by the way!) you can use it for professional looking email addresses, but the very least you should be doing is securing your brand.

I’ve had a number of clients who have approached me in the past who hadn’t thought about their domain name before deciding to build a website. The unfortunate consequence of this has often been that their preferred domain name has already been snapped up. Whilst not being a complete distaster - there are always alternatives - it is not the ideal scenario.

Do it yourself

However, I’ve also had clients who thought they had avoided this situation and registered and secured their domain name who wanted a new website or had an existing website which they wanted redesigned. "Great", I thought, that is until I needed access to the domain name to configure the DNS Zone settings at which point I found out that a third party had registered the domain on their behalf - either a member of staff or another web designer. Whilst this shouldn't be a problem the reality is I have seen far too many instances where a disgruntled member of staff has left or a web designer decides to be awkward and they refuse to respond to requests to release the domain name.

The costs of court action or arbitration for small businesses is far too excessive to warrant these actions to recover a domain name lost in this way so more often than not the client is left to select a new domain name.

This is why it is imperative that as a business owner YOU are responsible for the registering of your own domain name. Do not, if at all possible, delegate it to a third party. If you need advice or guidance as to where and how to order or what to choose as your domain name get in touch.