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What is a domain name? |
A Web Address (Domain Name) is the Internet equivalent of your house address -
except it is online. On the Internet, your Web Address is how people get to your
web site or send you e-mail.
Here are some examples of how a domain name is used.
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| Alkazar.co.uk |
The Alkazar domain name |
| http://www.alkazar.co.uk |
The Alkazar web site |
| enquiries@alkazar.co.uk |
One of our e-mail addresses |
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Why do I need a domain name? |
Have you ever tried to remember the email address of someone you know? It's a
little like trying to remember a telephone number - unless you write it down, it's
almost impossible to remember until you've used it a few times.
Wouldn't it be easier for your friends and family to contact you if your email address
was something easy to remember?
When you sign up with Alkazar Internet, we will give you a free e-mail address at
Alkazar, i.e., jbloggs@alkazar.co.uk. When you register a domain name, you can choose any
name you want providing someone else hasn't already registered it so you can pick something
easy to remember, such as joebloggs.co.uk.
You could even just register your sirname and have an email address for every member at the family,
for example, if you registered 'bloggs.co.uk', your email addresses could be joe@bloggs.co.uk, sue@bloggs.co.uk
etc.
Even more importantly, if you decide to move to a different ISP, you
can take your domain name with you and avoid having to let everyone know your change of address.
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How do I choose my domain name? |
Let's say your name is "Joe Bloggs". What you could register is:
- J-Bloggs.co.uk
- Joe-Bloggs.co.uk
- JoeBloggs.co.uk
- JBloggs.co.uk
- Bloggs.co.uk
- Anything else that you think your friends and family would be able to remember
easily.
But ONLY if no-one else has registered the same name
It should be short and easy to remember. It would defeat the object if your friends
have to write your email address down when you pass it on. Perhaps you could use a nickname
or a word that people associate with you instead of your name.
Remember, you are only allowed to use the letters a-z, the numbers 0-9 and the
character '-'. No other characters are allowed. Your domain name must also be
two or more characters in length.
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What's the difference between a .co.uk and a .com? |
There are several different types of Domain Name you can choose, for example:
- .co.uk
- .com
- .net
- .ltd.uk
- .org
- .org.uk
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.org and .org.uk are usually reserved for government bodies, organisations
and charities. .net was originally set
up for Internet Service Providers, but is now more widely used.
The two most popular (and therefore the easiest to remember) are
.co.uk and .com. Anyone who knows a little about domain names and is looking for you
will try it with these two extentions first, so it's best to stick to
these unless you have a specific reason for wanting to try any of the others.
.com is a very popular extention, meaning commercial. This originally was more
associated with American companies, but can now be registered by anyone.
.co.uk was originally set up to represent a company (co) in the UK, but can be
registered by anyone. It's the most commonly used of all by
British companies and individuals, and is also considerably cheaper than .com.
This is because the organisation that controls the registration of .co.uk domain
names (Nominet) is a non-profit organisation, whereas their American counterparts are
commercial organisations.
Other extensions include .ltd.uk, which is reserved for limited companies and .plc.uk,
reserved for public limited companies. There are very specific rules about how these
domains can be used, and because of this, they are rarely used. There is also a host of
new extensions created for a wider usage, such as .tv, or .shop. For more information on
registering UK based domain,
read through
Nominet rules and regulations.
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What if someone else has registered the domain I want? |
Let's say your name is "Joe Bloggs".
Supposing there is a Joe Bloggs in York and you are in
London? They could have already registered JBloggs.co.uk for their
company. As a general rule, the naming authority,
Nominet work on a first come first serve basis.
So how do you overcome that problem?
Firstly, you could register a variation of your company,
for example, Joebloggs.co.uk, if this were available.
If you feel that you have a genuine greivance against the person who has registered your
domain, for example, you feel that they have registered it specifically to sell to you at
an extortionate price, you can take
your dispute to Nominet themselves. On the Nominet site, you will find
the disputes procedure
which explains the rules and regulations concerning this problem.
You may receive a letter telling you that your domain name has been registered and
you can buy it from the company who registered it. Be very careful about taking up
this offer. If the company concerned have already registered the domain on your behalf
and then tried to sell it for more than a reasonable amount, you could have grounds to
dispute their ownership.
If you feel that anyone has registered your domain name with the express intention
of gaining money for it, you may be able to take your case to court, as some cases
of this nature have already been fought and won in America.
If you think you have a case like this, check
this page on the Nominet site.
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How do I register my domain name? |
When you have decided on a domain name, simply fill in the form on our
order form and we will check the availability of it and register it on your behalf. We will invoice
you for the total amount and you will need to pay for the domain within 14 days.
This cost covers registration of your domain for two years. At the end of this
period, you will be asked to renew your name. This renewal cost will be similar
to the original cost (allowing for inflation). If you don't renew your domain
name, you could lose it.
Once your domain name is paid for it will normally be available
for use within 48 hours. It will be 'parked' on our server until you are ready to
use it at no additional charge.
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