Domain names

[GraemeVW]

Just one last thing
Talk to a good accountant, look at going Ltd, have the correct liability insurance

This second business I'm going to do with my other half. It won't need investment, or much money up front.
While it's small I'll do the accounts myself, probably just tie the small income into my sole trader tax returns.
I'll look at an accountant if it starts to make enough to make it worthwhile.

Liability insurance is something I hadn't thought about. I'll need this for my handyman stuff, but I guess if I'm selling products to people I'll need to look into all kinds of things like this.
One of the products is a liquid. A safe liquid, but I guess that will need ingredients lists, safety data etc even though it's not dangerous or toxic.
I don't know, lots to learn and think about.

 

[JohnH]

There must be a central list of all the domains, just like the ,gov controls all the company names so that they are unique, there must be an official organiszation that contrals domain names, so surely you dont need to involve a 3rd party to register your domain, and who charges you money annually for the privalage..

 

[GraemeVW]

There must be a central list of all the domains, just like the ,gov controls all the company names so that they are unique, there must be an official organiszation that contrals domain names, so surely you dont need to involve a 3rd party to register your domain, and who charges you money annually for the privalage..

I have no idea!
I had assumed that, in a sort of personal number plate kind of way. Either in use, or on retention.

But it seems that's not quite how it works.

 

[julianf]

There must be a central list of all the domains, just like the ,gov controls all the company names so that they are unique, there must be an official organiszation that contrals domain names, so surely you dont need to involve a 3rd party to register your domain, and who charges you money annually for the privalage..

There is not. Different extensions are dealt with by different groups. Nominet is the .co.uk one but, whilst they may (or may not) have a retail portal, it's not like you'll get anything more than you would going to another registrar.

 

[voipio]

Domains need to be registered (for a fee, for x years) and then re registered when the time runs out. If you forget, someone else can register it and then that's it - gone. Same as loosing a mobile number.

So you kind of own it, so long as you keep up the registration payments. And those are to the "registrar" rather than the host. You can swap registrar whenever you like. There's no (that I've ever found) release fee or anything like that. You just get in touch with them and ask for, I forget what it's called, but the equivalent of a PAC code for a mobile number (port authorization code - again it's some other three letter acronym for web stuff)

Had a .com domain for a while, then let it lapse. Just checked the URL, and it's active, with a "holding" website that says I can have it for £3,500. Ermmm, no!!

 

[m_c]

There must be a central list of all the domains, just like the ,gov controls all the company names so that they are unique, there must be an official organiszation that contrals domain names, so surely you dont need to involve a 3rd party to register your domain, and who charges you money annually for the privalage..

There are Domain Managers for each domain, which are allocated/authorised by the IANA (global organisation who oversees everything domain related).
Domain Managers rarely deal directly with the end customer, but instead authorise various Domain Registrars who do the selling, and can update the Domain Managers records.
Domain Managers will typically charge a fee for this access, so although you could setup your own Domain Registrar, the fees, process costs, and audit costs make it unfeasible for just a few domain names.

 

[ukracer]

Others have posted how it all works.
But put simply once you buy a domain you own it for a year or two depending on how much you pay (you can pay for 5 years etc on some places.)

There are two types of site.
One specialises in selling domain names.
The other specialises in hosting your websites.
They can usually do both but do one better than the other.

For example the place I use is Guru. They would charge you £6 for a .co.uk domain. All it needs to be is not a reserved word and not a name already registered.

You would then need to pay for hosting rather like paying for a garage to put your cars in while you sell them. Cost for this vary. Depends on speed you need. Size you need type you need.
There arevessentially two types one runs on windows servers and one runs on Linux servers.

In general you would not worry about which type to use as you really only use a front end to upload.
So essentially you are uploading a few pages of html and links. Plus photographs with links. Rather like putting everything in a filing cabinet.

Word press is easy because many "hosts" have a one button install where you just add a user name . A domain name and a template that you can alter the names colours etc add photos and pages.
My test site is http://www.mistatee.co.uk and is even more basic than usual as I deleted it recently and was showing a guy how the install worked.

In reality you pay for a domain name today and you own it for a year no one else can use it take it away . They even tell you when it needs renewing. (Mine are set to autorenew.) And you can even be late in renewing and you don't lose the name.

Oh and stick with .co.uk in my opinion. It's cheaper than .com and others you can now get.