The world of web hosting and domain name registration may seem large and overwhelming if you haven’t put together too many websites. Or it may just seem like more hassle than you have time for when your focus is on the day-to-day operations and success of your company itself.

This is understandable! Something that can save you time is choosing a UK hosting company that also offers domain names services in addition to the hosting itself. This is advantageous for two main reasons:

Firstly, it may very well save you money by buying both services together. It’s just like your internet provider or phone company: you will generally pay less for each individual service if you buy them together. As an added bonus, some web hosting companies even offer free domain names when you choose to host your site with them, which saves you even more money.

Secondly, it makes it easier for you. If you buy domain names from one company and host with another, you have to be in charge of transitioning domain name access from one company to the other. But if you buy a domain name through your UK hosting company, they’ll do it all for you. Less hassle, less time.

Domain Name Registration · web hosting

You’re probably wondering: “What does Twitter have to do with my domain name or your website content?” The simple answer is this: separate elements of your online presence should not just relate back to your business, but should relate to each other.

Each of these three things plays a different role in the success of your website and your web hosting experience.

• Domain name is an important initial draw to the website: it sums up what the site is about.
• Website content fleshes out what you have to offer: it fills in the details and provides useful information.
• Twitter (and other social networking) builds the relationship: it’s a way to reach out to customers, and to let them reach out to you.

When you buy domain names (or receive free domain names from a UK hosting company, which some do offer), take a step back to make sure all of the elements of your company’s online presence will be aligned. For example, you should buy a domain name that clearly and succinctly relates to the content the website will contain. Your Twitter handle should be a close match to your domain name. And the things you Tweet about should be related to the things your website content addresses.

This may sound obvious, but you’d be surprising how many companies’ web presence are “all over the place” – be smart by thinking ahead and presenting a cohesive brand in everything you do, both online and off.

Domain Name · Twitter · Website Content

While venture capitalists may want to take a gamble on a new, upstart company, that’s not the best approach to take when selecting a web hosting partner for your business or personal website.

The age of a UK hosting company isn’t the only factor you should base your decision on, but it is an important component. Age tells you several things about a company:

• It must offer products/services that are worth its prices, or it would not continue to remain profitable.
• It excels at client/customer relations, or it would have earned a poor reputation and gone out of business.
• The company’s experience means they already know what they are doing and are not ‘figuring it out as they go’ – new customers can expect polished service and organised, professional behavior.

In addition, an established company has the flexibility of personnel, finances, and facilities to offer additional services that may benefit customers and build a strong customer-web host relationship.

For example, a new company may only have just the number of servers they need, with little space or budget flexibility to add anything else until they earn more money.

But a web hosting company who has been in business for years can expand their offerings, providing domain name registration, free domains, email hosting, and a strong collection of support and security services.

So while age isn’t the only thing that matters, choosing a web hosting company with years of experience tends to bring along many advantages that do matter quite a bit.

web hosting

Email hosting is an important subset of the web hosting business. If you are going to do any business online, then a website is a very good idea: it provides a central location for basic information on what your business does and how to contact you.

But not everyone wants a website, and that’s fine if it works well for their business not to have one. But if you ever send any business-related emails, then email hosting, at the very least, is something you really ought to consider.

Free email addresses (such as from Gmail, Yahoo, and the like) are fine for personal use. But if you got an email from a business partner from a free address, how much confidence would you have in their company?

With email hosting, you simply buy a domain name and we use our web hosting services to set up anywhere from 1-50 email addresses at that domain.

So instead of “Businessname@gmail.com” you can have “Owner@businessname.com”, “sales@businessname.com”, and “support@businessname.com” – the possibilities are endless.

If domain names and domain registration sound complicated, don’t worry. As a UK hosting company of more than a decade, we’ve worked with plenty of clients like yourself. If you’re interested in email hosting, contact us.

Of course, email hosting can certainly be paired with web hosting for a robust website. We just focused on email alone in this post so that customers understand they do not have to sign up for a whole website to take advantage of professional email addresses for their company.

Email Hosting

So. You’ve searched through all of the possible domain names, chosen to buy a domain name (or get free domain names from a web hosting company), and even picked out that UK hosting company you want to use. You’ve probably even hired a designer and picked out background colors, banner styles, and everything else, or chosen an easy-to-use website template. Your website is almost ready to go.

But what about the content? This is usually the last step people think of when they put together a website, but it should be one of the first. How do you write good content? Here are 5 quick tips that can help you:

1.      Remember your audience. Business websites should use professional language, while personal websites can be a bit more relaxed.

2.      Provide useful or interesting information. People will only come to your website once if you don’t give them a reason to come back.

3.      Use spell check. It may not matter in your emails, but people will notice spelling and grammatical errors and it won’t make you look good.

4.      Outsource if you need to. Freelance writers are more affordable than hiring full-time employees and are good and efficient at what they do. For a business website, this might be a good choice.

5.      Be yourself! Remember, your site represents who you are as a person or a business. Don’t be afraid to let what makes you unique show through – that’s what people are there for.

Good Content · Starting a Website

Domain names are an important part of any company’s online marketing effort. When you sign up with a web hosting company, you may have the option to buy a domain name to transfer to them, or to even receive free domain names as part of your UK hosting package.

Before you buy domain names to use, make sure you understand the value that domain name registration can provide to your business, and select your domain accordingly.

Here is why a domain name matters in online marketing:

• Domains describe your business to customers. If a customer sees your website in their Google search results, the domain name helps inform their decision of whether your website is relevant to their needs and whether your site will be trustworthy and informative.
• Domains describe your business to search engines. Part of search engine optimisation (a complex process on the whole) is domain name. If your domain name contains keywords that match your site and what you want to rank well for, this can help your site get seen by more users.
• Domains can help in offline marketing that draws people online and to your site. Choosing a domain name that is memorable and easy to spell can help make your radio, television, or print advertising more effective.

Domain Names · Online Marketing

As a business owner, you know it’s a good idea to have a website. Perhaps you’ve looked through domain names, read about web hosting, and maybe even gone through the domain name registration process and hired a UK hosting company. You may have picked out a template, put some information up, and got your site to go ‘live’.

But it’s important to take a step back and make sure you are doing things for the right reasons and going about it in a way that will actually benefit your business. Don’t buy a domain name and set up a site just because you think you’re supposed to have one. Websites aren’t valuable for the sake of being websites – they’re valuable because of the function they fulfill, for the role they play, and for the value they offer to your customers.

Think of it this way: your website is your business’ online presence. It needs to give customers a sense of what your business is like and provide useful information to them, even if it’s just as basic as a list of service you provide along with business hours and contact information.

There are plenty of ways to go about building the website itself: you can buy domain names directly, or receive free domain names from a company who provides your web hosting. But before you get too involved in the building process, step back and make sure that your goals for the website match your goals for the business, and that you stay true to who you are throughout each step of the process.

Domain Names · web hosting · websites