Registration - making a name for yourself

Your business or organisation will need an address on the World Wide Web in exactly the same way that you have a postal address for your business premises. This is known as your domain name and your customers will find your site more easily if it is memorable and simple.

Your domain name is the address your customers use to find your site either by typing it into their web browser’s address window, or by using a search engine such as ‘Google’ or ‘Ask Jeeves’.

The first part of the name (the name after www.) should have a close connection with your business name for example the domain name for Cyberstorm is simply ‘cyberstorm’.

The second part of the name (the extension letters after the dot) refers to the type of organisation you represent.

For example Cyberstorm is a trade name, which primarily deals with customers within the UK and has chosen the extension .co.uk as this most accurately describes the business. If we dealt with customers outside the UK we could have registered as a .com as well.

The extensions currently available are shown below along with a guide to their current costs. Most registrations are for a minimum period of two years.

Some businesses register more than one type of business extension (often the .co.uk and .com) to give potential customers as much chance as possible of finding them. The various addresses can be linked to point to the same web site in the same way that the Post Office redirects letters.

Cyberstorm - search and register

Cyberstorm can research all of the currently available suitable domain names and will present you with all of the name and extension options you can choose from. We provide this service free of charge.

Once you have chosen your domain name we can register it for you. Your domain name is registered in your name and remains your property should you decide to move it elsewhere. We only use companies who allow you to redirect the mail from other email or web addresses to your web site address without further charges.

Cyberstorm also monitors your registration and will let you know when it’s time to re-register.

Whilst your web site is being developed, Cyberstorm will arrange for any e-mail sent to your domain name to be forwarded to your personal email address. This means that you can start using your domain name on your business stationery and vehicles/premises straight away. We can also set up a holding page giving contact details and a business description until your main site is ready for release.

Once you have chosen and registered a domain name you can start thinking about what the site will do, what it will say, and how it will look. These are the essential elements of WEB DESIGN.