Start Your Online Plan for the price of Two Pints?

Two pints of Heineken cost approximately 10 Euro.

I know this as I have conducted  extensive market research on this important topic.  Don’t mention a Jack Daniels and Coke as I’ve done nationwide and beyond research on that one and that costs a little more.

So what never ceases to amaze me is that there are literally thousands of Irish businesses who have not taken the ten minutes to go off and register their business domain name.  It can’t be a cost issue, it can’t be a time issue either as it literally takes 10 minutes or less.

Not having a credit card shouldn’t stop you as most Irish domain companies now take Laser (I use Blacknight and I know they do).  A .com is currently 5.99 (ex VAT) with Blacknight and probably the same with other Irish hosting providers.  (I do not have any link with Blacknight other than being a loyal customer and advocate.)

Getting your domain name is your first step to getting your business online and also stops someone from taking your domain name from you (at least for the .com name).  For instance the www.latelateshow.com domain name is not available anymore.  I bet RTE would like it.  If they want it they will have to pay and probably pay handsomely for it.  Currently some enterprising person has registered it and it is now parked waiting some interest.

Why would RTE be interested?  What if someone was putting spam or porn on this link.  It would reflect badly on RTE even though they had nothing to do with the URL.  The same applies to you and your business.  Take the time to do this.

Multiple Domain Names

James Larkin put this well recently about protecting your brand and I agree wholeheartedly with this  that you should seriously consider registering your other TLDs (three letter domain) names as well.  It is a minimal cost to protect a business name that you will have for the next 10-20-30 years.  Again the cost is low in comparison to the impaxt of losing the domain name.

What Next Though?

To move to the next step and get a web presence you need either to get hosting or most web design companies now have their own hosting packages and can give you a competitive rate on hosting.  If you ever move from them you can transfer to your new hosting package.  If you don’t want to spend the money then it is possible to and I have shown how you can build your own website and if this article doesn’t deter you then look at one of the free templates ate places like www.freecsstemplates.org/ which can be a starting point for you if you want to cut your own teeth.

But In The End

Think of the price of not registering your domain.  Get with the program.  Don’t drink ten pints tonight drink 8 and you will have the spare change to register your domain.

Authors Note

I just realised I havent practised what I preach so I have now registered several new domain names for my web design business.

Related posts:

1. Make Sure of Your Web Plan for This Year