Domain Name Registration

A domain name is your online address - your identity on the World Wide Web. Domain name registration is the process of registering and securing your chosen name for your website (e.g. www.pslweb.co.uk).

Having your own domain name is important for many reasons, including:

  • Establishing your online identity – because your domain name is owned by you.
  • Credibility – having your own domain name demonstrates a professional and serious approach.
  • Portability – your domain is independent of where your website is actually hosted, giving you the freedom to find the best hosting package for you.
  • Control – owning your own domain name means you control your website, its content and where it's hosted.

Looking for a domain name?

PSLWeb can advise you on choosing a domain name and, once chosen, can register it for you for a nominal annual fee (all domain names require an annual payment to their respective regulatory body). Clients are always free to arrange their own domain name registration should they prefer.

Already own your own domain name?

No problem. We would advise you, however, to make sure you're listed as the owner (legal registrant) of your domain name. This is because too many unscrupulous companies, who register domain names on behalf of their clients, list themselves as the domain owner. You should also have access to the account where the domain name was registered in case you need to change any settings. To check who owns a domain name, see below.

“I have a website, so I must own the domain name, right?”

Unfortunately there are thousands of website owners who have a website but don't own their domain name. This means that you are at the mercy of the person or organization which does actually own your domain name. You will continually have to pay their fees (no matter how expensive they are or become) or risk losing your website entirely. In fact, your website could disappear tomorrow and there would be nothing you could do about it.

Your domain name is your online identity, it's probably on all your stationery, known to all your customers and indexed throughout the web in search engines and directories. Losing it means going right back to square one. This is why it's absolutely critical that you, the business owner, also own the rights to your domain name.

If your website is provided by a website renting service, you may not own your domain name. Furthermore, you may not even own the content of your own website (check the copyright notice on your website – this is often found at the bottom of the page). If you don't own your domain name you are effectively renting your own website.

How do I check who owns my domain name?

For domain names ending in .co.uk or .org.uk visit: http://www.nominet.org.uk/other/whois/

For domain names ending in .com or .org go visit: http://www.internic.net/whois.html

Enter your domain name in the search box and check for the 'Registrant' entry in the results page.

If you're concerned about this issue, please contact us immediately.

Web address - "Your online identity"

“Your online identity”

Common top-level domains:

Call: 01508 491622
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