This month, Nominet’s director of marketing and communications, Phil Kingsland, talks us through choosing the right web-hosting company

Setting up a website that successfully reflects your brand can play a vital role in growing your business and gaining competitive advantage. There are two important components of setting up a website: the first is choosing the right domain name, and the second is choosing the right web-hosting company.
Phil Kingsland, director of marketing and communications at Nominet (www.nominet.org.uk), the registry for .uk domain names, looks at the process of setting up a domain name, talks about how to choose the right web-hosting company and offers some advice on how to protect your brand online.

What domain name?
Choosing the right domain name is an important event in any fledgling or established company’s life. Domain names ending with .uk are currently being registered at a rate of one every 20 seconds, and are allocated on a first-registered, first-served basis. With over seven million domain names registered in total, it’s worth thinking creatively when choosing a domain name for your business, as your first choice may already have been registered by someone else. A domain brand can be reliant on what names are still on offer.
It’s not a bad idea to register several similar domain names. You could also register your full company name in addition to a shorter, easy-to-remember version, or consider a hyphenated version if your company name has two or more words. The shorter the name, the better; however, just about any four or five-letter domain will have already been registered.
Setting up a domain name is a straightforward process. You can register a domain name through a registrar (ISP or registration agent), who will act as your agent and submit a domain name application to Nominet – or another international registry – on your behalf.

Top tips for choosing a web-hosting company
Once you have registered your domain name, the next step is choosing a web-hosting company. With so much emphasis on brand identity, there is a very real need to make sure that the web-hosting service you go with meets all the potential needs of your business for the long term.
Choosing a web-hosting company is a personal decision based on your own unique needs as a business. Switching web-hosting companies can be time-consuming and costly, so it is worth investing the time to get it right the first time. It’s important to choose a company that not only meets your needs today, but can also grow with you as your needs change.
Here follows some tips and advice to help you choose the right web-hosting company for your requirements.

Check the costs
When comparing different companies, a key question must be how much the hosting will cost. It may seem an obvious question, but the different fees and costs may not be that obvious. For example, check whether there is a set-up fee. Are there extra fees for secure transactions? What does it cost to host multiple URLs and email addresses? In other words, it is important to establish what is included in the cost and what is extra.

Check the contract
It’s also a good idea to read the contract and terms and conditions carefully before you sign up. Some companies charge an additional fee for terminating your agreement if you wish to change to another provider. It’s worth finding out how much this is and if there are any specific restrictions on moving your account.

Choose the level of service to suit your needs
Different companies offer different levels of service. Take the time to decide what your minimum requirements are, particularly in respect of technical support. Check whether the hosting company can guarantee service levels that meet your requirements. For instance, is its phone number on the website? What kind of out-of-hours support does it offer? Are its support telephone numbers free or do you have to call a premium-rate number?

Check what else they can offer
Although you are keen to get things up and running, it’s important to think about your long-term needs as well as your immediate requirements. Does the hosting company have the flexibility and capacity you will need as your business expands? In addition, most web-hosting companies provide monthly/daily usage reports. It’s worth asking to see these to assess how useful they are, as the layout and what is included can vary considerably from one company to another.

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