Choosing a Domain Name

So you wish to build an online web site, but wherever do you start and how do you choose a domain name?

The first issue you’re bound to encounter would be choosing a domain name for the web site or websites, one factor like www.mycoolidea.com

The domain name is that the address of your website and it will be used for guiding traffic (people) to your web site. Care should be taken when choosing a domain name.

Normally the name is created in three parts, but you only take a pair of of the three parts.

part1.part2.part3 = subdomain.domainname.com

But, before you go rushing off to shop for a site like www.iwanttobethenextfacebook.com you'd wish to take into account, what is the information processing system regarding and to be used for,  is it you / your company / your passion / your auntie Mavis?

It’s possible that the name chosen are going to be in use for a protracted time (we hope), so you want to take into consideration some things before selecting the name.

1) Choosing a domain name to be easy and straightforward to remember, generally short names are better and easier to remember than long and awkward names.

2) Make certain the domain name cannot be used in many ways. For an example were.co.uk could even be where.co.uk or wear.co.uk. Also, is it a numbers mixtures similar to the 411.co.uk could even be fouroneone.co.uk. Place confidence within the visitors returning to your information website, you don’t want to correct them or inform them that four11 is that the numbers 4, 1, 1.

3) If your domain name is not permanent like your business name, you may want to take into consideration the keywords in it when choosing a domain name. As an example if you own a beer store in Belfast, you may use www.beerstorebelfast.co.uk

4) Usually distinctive domain names might be to your advantage, names like Google, Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace. However, confine mind that these names solely become modern through advertising and public awareness.

5) You can’t use special characters in your name like #@~$, but you'll use hyphens – that act form of a word spacer. Search engines can browse separate words though they don't seem to be separated by hyphens www.thenextbigthing.co.uk is okay so is www.the-next-big-thing.co.uk. Note that hyphens could be a little bit of a factor of the past and may be seen as spammy.

6) Once you have found an acceptable web site name, you must make sure that another person has not already registered it.

Now that you have just have decided on choosing a domain name you'd wish to decide on for your designer website, the TLD (top level domain) for it, the is that the last part of the online web site address, the (.com | .org | .co.uk) bit. I regularly advocate registering a .com in conjunction with alternative names that maybe acceptable. If you were registering a domain name for a charity, it would be a good plan to register www.yourcharity.com & www.yourcharity.org. If you can afford it, you may register all the offered TLD’s as this might facilitate in being protective of your name for the long run.

Note that when choosing a domain name, the TLD’s have some restrictions on who can register what it's to be registered for. they'll be only registered for a minimum fastened term of 1 year and some TLD’s such at .co.uk can only be registered for a minimum of two years.

For web sites with their primary target audience being in Northern Ireland, I would recommend using the .co.uk TLD when choosing a domain name. I would also recommend using NI at the end of the domain. For example, a website for camping in Northern Ireland, I would recommend campingni.co.uk as the domain name of choice as the niche is camping and located in NI. The same business could have a shop, forum and classified adverts section, so each of those could have sub domains on the same domain name: shop.campingni.co.uk, forum.campingni.co.uk, classifieds.campingni.co.uk. Therefore, the chosen main domain and sub domains on the URL bar of a web browser would be:

• http://www.campingni.co.uk
• http://shop.campingni.co.uk
• http://forum.campingni.co.uk
• http://classifieds.campingni.co.uk

Go to the Camping NI website to see the use of sub domains in action.

Choosing a Top Level Domain

 In the United Kingdom the main top level domain is UK, there are different sub parts to UK like .co.uk, .org.uk and .me.uk, all of which are considered Top Level Domains in their own right. Nominet is the registration authority for all .uk domains. Until very recently, domains could not be purchased directly under .uk

.uk TLD

The new shorter sharper top level domain of choice. Preference is given to owners of .co.uk domains for the new .uk domains. You are at the forefront of the contemporary online landscape with .uk, the domain for online pioneers.

.co.uk

The number one top level domain for businesses in Britain and the rest of the United Kingdom is .co.uk. Prosperous, trusted, and populated with brilliant businesses, you’re in good company at .co.uk!

.org.uk

Like the main .org, but for organisations in the UK. With a .org.uk address, you’ll instantly distinguish your site as non-commercial, and champion your cause or community.

.me.uk

For personal websites in the United Kingdom. Whatever you want to make of it, .me.uk is the place for you (me).

For search engines in the United Kingdom and Ireland, domains ending in .uk will show higher in results than other obscure TLD's as the website residing will obviously belong in the United Kingdom and be for that target. The .com TLD will also show well, but is worldwide, and mainly for companies in the USA. Take your target audience into consideration when choosing a domain name.