Domain names are being registered at an alarming rate, thousands of people are becoming disappointed to find that their name has already been taken! Register your domain name as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. You don't have to have a website to buy a domain name, you can simply buy it now and use it later.

What is a domain name?

A domain name is a unique address such as 'eurekahosts.com'

What's the difference between .co.uk and .com?

Domain names have different extensions to try to categorise the different addresses.
Here's what the extensions mean:

.com - Global Commercial
Net - Global Network Provider
.org - Global Organisation
.co.uk - UK Commercial
.org.uk - UK Organisation.
.ltd.uk - UK Private Limited Company
.plc.uk - UK Public Limited Company

You may purchase any domain name and extension you like. You are perfectly entitled to buy a domain name with the extension .org even if you are a UK commercial company, it's just a guide.

Are there any rules to abide by?

Web names must be at least 3 characters long. .com and Net domain names can be up to 26 characters long whilst .co.uk domains can be much longer. A long name isn't as easy for your friends, customers, etc. to remember and they'll also have to type it in each time! Valid characters are letters, number and hyphens "-". You cannot start or end a domain name with a hyphen though. The only other rules, as mentioned above, are that you should not register names that somebody else has ownership or copyright/trade mark rights on. So registering bhs.co.uk would get you into trouble but stevesfootballsite.co.uk would be ok.