Choosing and Buying a Domain Name

Choosing a domain name can be difficult, especially if your chosen domain name has already been registered by someone else.

Things to keep in mind before you buy a Domain Name

1. One of the things that the search engines look at when they're determining the relevance of your website (and thus, its search engine ranking) is the domain name. You should always try to get a domain name that's relevant to what's on your website. To take an example from real life, the Cheshire-based garage door company E-Ryder recently bought a new domain name: cheshiregaragedoors.co.uk. It gets much better traffic than their old domain name, eryder.com!

2. If you can't find the domain name you'd like, try using hyphens between words, trying a different extension, or attaching a relevant word to the end. For example, if you want to run a computer shop in Knutsford under the business name "speedy," you'd be hard pressed to register speedy.com - but you might be able to get speedycomputers.com, speedy-computers.com, speedycomputers.co.uk, speedycomputersknutsford.com - use your imagination!

3. Always double-check your spelling, because once a domain name is registered, it's registered!

4. Also, double-check your domain name for unintentional meanings. There are a slew of stories about companies such as Who Represents, who registered the domain name whorepresents.com - whoops! Mind you, I don't think that's as bad as Pen Island's domain name...
Just for laughs, here's a whole bunch of other poorly-thought-out domain names .
And, joking aside - don't let this happen to you!

Buying a Domain Name

Domains are registered in one or two year increments, and have to be renewed whenever they expire. For example, a .co.uk domain name costs £8 every two years, and a .com costs £10 per year.

HostingForAQuid.co.uk accepts PayPal, so you can pay by credit card, debit card, bank transfer, or with any money you've got lying around in your PayPal account.

To start the process of buying a domain, just enter the name you want in the box at the top of this page (where it says "Check your Domain Name") and press Check. You'll be guided through the rest of the process from there.