What is a domain name?

A domain name is the name associated with an IP address on the internet – it comes after ‘www.’ in web addresses, and after ‘@’ in email addresses. Domain names are the way people find your website, for example Beaming.co.uk, bbc.co.uk. or NHS.uk.

How can I get my own domain name?

Owning your domain name is a straightforward process. Nominet is the manager of the .uk domain name (and second level domains including .co.uk and .org.uk). If the domain name you want is available, you simply need to choose a registrar and register your domain. Domain names vary in price– they can be free for a period of time, but the most sought-after names are usually sold at auction.

Why are domain names important?

Control over your online identity

A key reason why businesses purchase their domain name is to have control over their online identity. Relying on your online identity being focused elsewhere (such as a social media site) leaves businesses vulnerable in the instance the site goes down. Owning your own domain on your website boosts credibility (your own website will likely be the first place potential customers go to try and find more information about you) and ensures you maintain control of the image you want to portray.

Email addresses

Having a business domain in use for your employees’ email addresses can help to add legitimacy to your company’s communications. Email phishing is commonplace, and email users are (rightfully) more suspicious of the addresses from which they receive email. Which one looks more legitimate: yourcompanysales@gmail.com, or sales@yourcompany.com ? Using your domain in your email address also makes it more difficult for cyber criminals to pose as an employee, and damage your reputation.

Marketing and SEO

Owning your own domain should be considered equally as important as your brand. If someone else were to own your domain, should your relationship break down, having to start from scratch with a new domain name would mean losing all the work you’ve put into your marketing and brand awareness. Customers trying to find you using your old domain name would likely give up after a few seconds, and the loss of traffic and the implications of that could have a significant detrimental effect on your business.

Cybersecurity

A key benefit of owning your domain name is that you can prevent bad actors from impersonating you. Not owning your own domain could risk it getting into the hands of competitors, for example, who could put anything they like on a website under your name.

My web design company owns my domain

It’s not recommended that you delegate control of your domain name to any external organisations. Doing this opens your business up to a range of issues, namely, losing control over the domain and being unable to get it back. If you are the registered owner, you have control over the domain and won’t run the risk of losing it.

If your domain is already owned by another company, you can ask for them to transfer it over to you – which they may do for free, or they may charge an admin fee for doing so.

Common phrases relating to domain names

Owning the domain: relates to who owns the domain name

Hosting the domain: involves the storage of the website files

It is common for another company to host your website files, while you retain ownership of the name.

Registrant: the registered holder (whether that’s a person or a company) of a domain.

Registrar: an organisation that sells domain names, such as Google Domains or GoDaddy.