Domain Names

Beware Hidden Costs – Choose your Domain Registrar Wisely

With so many registrars to choose from it is difficult to determine which deals are the best.

If you have done your homework you will have already discovered that the initial registration cost is not the only cost you need to consider. The hidden fees make it extremely difficult to choose who to use. We make it very easy – by not having any! 

  • Transfer Out Fees – Our Transfer Out (or Away) fees are £0.00, that’s right, we do not hold you to ransom if you register your domain name with us. You can transfer your domain away at any time.
  • Beware the Small Print – There is NOTHING in our small print that will enable us to charge, penalise or fine you in any way for the use of your domain name.
  • WHOIS Record Charges – It is important to keep your WHOIS details up to date. We do not charge for any changes to your WHOIS record nor do we restrict updates to your WHOIS record, you are free to make these changes.
  • IPSTAG Change Fees – We do not charge any fee to transfer away your UK domain name or for IPSTAG changes. Many registrars make this fee so high it’s easier to stick with them. Check this fee before you register with anyone
  • Registrar Lock Fees – It is important to lock your non-UK domain but we don’t extort you for it. We give you FULL control over your Domain Locking. You can lock and unlock your domain at will and as required at no cost
  • Transfer Auth Code Fees – Registrars often quote free transfer outs and then charge you for the AUTH code! You can get your domain auth code from us at any time for free. The transfer away of any domain is at no cost.
  • Parked Domain Advertising – To make money from domains many registrars place advertisements on your parked domains. We do not place third party advertisements on your parked domain or any other service.
  • Web Forwarding – You can forward your domain name to any location and change this setting whenever your with. For free. Often registrars will make small annual charges for changes to your web forwarding service.
  • Name Server Changes – You are free to change your name servers as you wish, no limited, for free.
  • DNS Management – This is often an additional fee based service to your domain registration. With us, you have FULL control over your domain DNS Management at all times. There are no fees to make any changes. Ever.

How to connect Domain POP Mailbox to iPad/iPhone

If your domain is hosted, this guide is not for you. If your domain name is parked, ie. using name servers ns.microlite1.com and ns2.microlite1.com and you have purchased a POP Mailbox – read on…

Your domain is registered, you’ve got your Webmail login for your Domain POP Mailbox, now you want to get things moving on your iPhone or iPad. Here is an example of a POP Mailbox configured on an iPad3 (Ok, The New iPad). Obviously use your own name, username and password as provided.

First, let’s set up the Incoming Mail Server:

Now let’s setup the SMTP Outgoing Mail Server:

That’s all there is to it. You can use the same setting in other mail clients such Outlook, Entourage etc.

Nominet to offer DOMAIN.UK extension

It may soon be possible to register the much anticipated .UK extension for UK domain names. For instance, instead of domain.co.uk you will be able to register the shorter domain.uk version. This new domain extension will only available to UK registrants.

Nominet have begun a 3 month consulation ending January 7th in order to consider the issues put forward. The new extension would be a new service that would run alongside the already popular .CO.UK, .ME.UK, .ORG.UK and .LTD.UK domain extensions.

The .UK domain extension will not simply be another extension. It will be provided with additional security and verification features including:

* Available only to UK registered addressess
* Daily monitoring for malicious software and viruses
* Trustmark support for verified domains

The proposed pricing to domain registrars of the new .UK extension will be £20 per domain per annum as opposed to the current £2.50 per domain per annum for the other .UK extension.

You can respond to the consultation either by completing an online form, by downloading the consultation and emailing your comments to direct@nominet.org.uk or by requesting a hard copy of the consultation from direct@nominet.org.uk

View full details directly at Nominet’s web site under Consultation on a new .uk domain name service

10 Killer Domain Name Tips

How to Choose a Great Domain Name


Today plenty of people run (or are thinking of running) a small or home based business. You could be one of them. Regardless of the type of business, having a website on the internet is immensely important if you want to reach the right audience. And all good websites start with a great domain name.

When it comes to registering a domain name we recommend you get the .co.uk and the .com domains where possible as a minimum. This means people will find your site regardless of which extension they type in. If you can get .biz, .org and some other extensions as well, so much the better.

We’ve put together ten essential points to remember that will help you find the best domain name for your business.

1. Think about your keywords.

Keywords can be a strong part of any domain name. Jot down the half a dozen strongest keywords relating to your business and see if you can use any of them in your domain. One idea is to combine a keyword with your brand name, for example.

2. Use and develop your brand.

If your business already has a name, try and get the domain for it if you can. This will help to build your brand. A good example would be if you own a shop and you want to build a website to back it up online. Even if people don’t know if you have a website or not, the first thing they’ll search for is your business name, so make sure they can find it.

3. Check copyright and any trademarks before committing to a domain name.

When you have a domain name you like, check and see whether anyone else is using that name first. Not just as a domain name, but as a business name. It could be costly if you buy a name that is already in use.

4. Be timeless rather than trendy.

Don’t be tempted to go for a domain you think is trendy. Trends pass, but your domain name will be around for some time. Ask yourself this – will the domain name you choose still sound good and be effective in a year from now? How about ten years? The answer should be yes in both cases.

5. Avoid misspellings.

Avoid this at all costs. If someone asks you your domain name you should just be able to tell them what it is. You shouldn’t have to say ‘it’s so and so, but you don’t spell it the normal way.’ Avoid using a ‘z’ instead of an ‘s’ and so on.

6. Keep your domain name short and catchy.

The shorter it is the better. Most obvious single word – and even two word – domains have gone, but you don’t have to resort to five or six word domains. Keep it as short as possible, because short domains are far easier for people to remember than long ones. You don’t want to have to explain your domain name for people, or worse, struggle to fit it on your business cards!

7. Use UK-Cheapest.co.uk to find out whether your preferred domain is available.

This is the easiest way to see whether your ideas are available or not. Once you have the name you want – and it’s available as both a .com and a .co.uk name – you can buy it from us.

8. Avoid hyphenated domains.

Have you ever tried to give someone a domain name that has hyphens in it? You end up saying something like this: ‘it’s best hyphen new hyphen sports hyphen shoes dot com.’ Phew! It’s a bit of a mouthful, but those hyphens are necessary otherwise the person won’t find the website. So avoid using them wherever possible when you’re creating your ideal domain name.

9. Consider opting for something other than your brand name.

If you cannot get the domain name you want, think about combining two particular evergreen words related to your business that will carve you a niche online. Let’s say you sell titanium wedding rings for example. You could combine the words titanium and vows (as in wedding vows) to create a brand from the very beginning.

10. Persevere!

Don’t choose the first domain idea you come up with. It’s amazing how many people spend only five or ten minutes thinking of a domain name. As soon as they find something that is available and halfway reasonable, they buy it, when there could have been something far better available had they spent a little longer thinking about it.

Be prepared to brainstorm some ideas for a day or more, and remember – the domain name you choose could have a profound effect on how successful your business is.

Conclusion

Choosing a domain name is a serious business, once you start building your brand it is difficult to change it, so put the time in at the beginning to avoid the common pitfalls. It will be worth it.

New [SPAM] policy on parked domain forwarding services

Re: How we deal with SPAM for email forwarding

We have changed the way we deal with spam for all emails managed by our parked domain services. External services such as Google/Gmail, Hotmail, AOL are constantly tightening their incoming email requirements and so in an effort to minimise false positives further, we have applied the following features:

1) We have modified the score for Spam Assassin to eliminate false positives.

2) We have activated Spam Assassin for all emails. This includes incoming mail for mailboxes, out going mail for mail boxes and emails forwarded to external destinations.

3) Email determined to be SPAM by Spam Assassin is no longer quarantined but will continue to be forwarded (or delivered if you have a Mailbox) with the addition of the text “[SPAM]” added to the subject header.

4) The Spam Assassin headers will remain intact for all forwarded email. This will show the receiving mail server that we have already evaluated the email and marked the score. The receiving mail server may perform additional checks.

5) Google’s Gmail policy states that even if email arrives that they determine is spam, it will still be delivered as long as the text “SPAM” is included in the email subject header. See Best practices when forwarding to Gmail for more information.

6) These changes are only relevant to parked domain services (microlite1) and are not relevant to our Plesk hosting services.

If you see an email with [SPAM] in the subject header this just means that this MAY be spam, it is down to you to decide as it is impossible to know for sure on an automated basis. Other than the subject header change the email will be treated normally as with any other email. The modification of the subject header will ensure that all emails are delivered to your external services.

As always, if you have any questions do not hesitate to contact the support teams.