There are numerous companies out there that sell domain names. It is important, however, that you find one that can be trusted, one which has a good reputation, one which gives you control over your domain name.

A domain name can have many different settings, for example where emails are routed, where the website is called up from etc. So it is important that the company you choose gives you control over your domain name. When registering a domain name, you should be given a username and password so you or your web designer can access the domain name.

A company which gives you full access to your domain name is www.123-reg.co.uk. 123-reg is a reputable and well-established company selling domain names in the UK.

Purchasing a domain name for a business in the UK

When your business resides in the UK and mainly operates in the UK, it is recommended that you purchase a domain name ending in “.co.uk”. You may want to register a “.com” too, but it is better for the main domain name to be “.co.uk”. There are several reasons for this: One is that search engines recognise by the domain name where a business resides and trades. If there was a business out there called “beautifulflowers.co.uk” and you are determined that your business is called “beautifulflowers”, but the domain name is already taken, you might be tempted to just work with the “beautifulflowers.com” domain name. It is likely, however, that in a Google search for a UK flower business your competitor is higher in the rankings than you because they have the “.co.uk” ending.

You might want to check, if the domain name “beautiful-flowers.co.uk” is still available (a “-” between “beautiful” and “flowers”). This might just do the trick! Or you could add a small word, such as “beautifulflowers-uk.co.uk” – in order to get the “.co.uk” domain name.

Also, if you are mainly trading in the UK, your potential clients immediately see in Google searches that the website they are about to visit is a UK website.

Do I need to buy every domain combination? Such as .net, .com. .me?

We have been asked this numerous times. Some of our clients swear by buying them all, but we believe it is a waste of money!

• On your letterheads, there will only be one domain name, right?
• On your business card, there will only be one domain name, right?
• On your car or van, there will only be one domain name, right?
• When a client asks you for your website, you will only give them one domain name, right?
• Search Engine Results are NOT improved by having different domain names. Because search engines probably only know that you use mainly one domain name.