Domain Names

How to connect Domain POP Mailbox to iPad/iPhone

If your domain is hosted, this guide is not for you. If your domain name is parked, ie. using name servers ns.microlite1.com and ns2.microlite1.com and you have purchased a POP Mailbox – read on…

Your domain is registered, you’ve got your Webmail login for your Domain POP Mailbox, now you want to get things moving on your iPhone or iPad. Here is an example of a POP Mailbox configured on an iPad3 (Ok, The New iPad). Obviously use your own name, username and password as provided.

First, let’s set up the Incoming Mail Server:

Now let’s setup the SMTP Outgoing Mail Server:

That’s all there is to it. You can use the same setting in other mail clients such Outlook, Entourage etc.

Nominet to offer DOMAIN.UK extension

It may soon be possible to register the much anticipated .UK extension for UK domain names. For instance, instead of domain.co.uk you will be able to register the shorter domain.uk version. This new domain extension will only available to UK registrants.

Nominet have begun a 3 month consulation ending January 7th in order to consider the issues put forward. The new extension would be a new service that would run alongside the already popular .CO.UK, .ME.UK, .ORG.UK and .LTD.UK domain extensions.

The .UK domain extension will not simply be another extension. It will be provided with additional security and verification features including:

* Available only to UK registered addressess
* Daily monitoring for malicious software and viruses
* Trustmark support for verified domains

The proposed pricing to domain registrars of the new .UK extension will be £20 per domain per annum as opposed to the current £2.50 per domain per annum for the other .UK extension.

You can respond to the consultation either by completing an online form, by downloading the consultation and emailing your comments to direct@nominet.org.uk or by requesting a hard copy of the consultation from direct@nominet.org.uk

View full details directly at Nominet’s web site under Consultation on a new .uk domain name service

10 Killer Domain Name Tips

How to Choose a Great Domain Name


Today plenty of people run (or are thinking of running) a small or home based business. You could be one of them. Regardless of the type of business, having a website on the internet is immensely important if you want to reach the right audience. And all good websites start with a great domain name.

When it comes to registering a domain name we recommend you get the .co.uk and the .com domains where possible as a minimum. This means people will find your site regardless of which extension they type in. If you can get .biz, .org and some other extensions as well, so much the better.

We’ve put together ten essential points to remember that will help you find the best domain name for your business.

1. Think about your keywords.

Keywords can be a strong part of any domain name. Jot down the half a dozen strongest keywords relating to your business and see if you can use any of them in your domain. One idea is to combine a keyword with your brand name, for example.

2. Use and develop your brand.

If your business already has a name, try and get the domain for it if you can. This will help to build your brand. A good example would be if you own a shop and you want to build a website to back it up online. Even if people don’t know if you have a website or not, the first thing they’ll search for is your business name, so make sure they can find it.

3. Check copyright and any trademarks before committing to a domain name.

When you have a domain name you like, check and see whether anyone else is using that name first. Not just as a domain name, but as a business name. It could be costly if you buy a name that is already in use.

4. Be timeless rather than trendy.

Don’t be tempted to go for a domain you think is trendy. Trends pass, but your domain name will be around for some time. Ask yourself this – will the domain name you choose still sound good and be effective in a year from now? How about ten years? The answer should be yes in both cases.

5. Avoid misspellings.

Avoid this at all costs. If someone asks you your domain name you should just be able to tell them what it is. You shouldn’t have to say ‘it’s so and so, but you don’t spell it the normal way.’ Avoid using a ‘z’ instead of an ‘s’ and so on.

6. Keep your domain name short and catchy.

The shorter it is the better. Most obvious single word – and even two word – domains have gone, but you don’t have to resort to five or six word domains. Keep it as short as possible, because short domains are far easier for people to remember than long ones. You don’t want to have to explain your domain name for people, or worse, struggle to fit it on your business cards!

7. Use UK-Cheapest.co.uk to find out whether your preferred domain is available.

This is the easiest way to see whether your ideas are available or not. Once you have the name you want – and it’s available as both a .com and a .co.uk name – you can buy it from us.

8. Avoid hyphenated domains.

Have you ever tried to give someone a domain name that has hyphens in it? You end up saying something like this: ‘it’s best hyphen new hyphen sports hyphen shoes dot com.’ Phew! It’s a bit of a mouthful, but those hyphens are necessary otherwise the person won’t find the website. So avoid using them wherever possible when you’re creating your ideal domain name.

9. Consider opting for something other than your brand name.

If you cannot get the domain name you want, think about combining two particular evergreen words related to your business that will carve you a niche online. Let’s say you sell titanium wedding rings for example. You could combine the words titanium and vows (as in wedding vows) to create a brand from the very beginning.

10. Persevere!

Don’t choose the first domain idea you come up with. It’s amazing how many people spend only five or ten minutes thinking of a domain name. As soon as they find something that is available and halfway reasonable, they buy it, when there could have been something far better available had they spent a little longer thinking about it.

Be prepared to brainstorm some ideas for a day or more, and remember – the domain name you choose could have a profound effect on how successful your business is.

Conclusion

Choosing a domain name is a serious business, once you start building your brand it is difficult to change it, so put the time in at the beginning to avoid the common pitfalls. It will be worth it.

New [SPAM] policy on parked domain forwarding services

Re: How we deal with SPAM for email forwarding

We have changed the way we deal with spam for all emails managed by our parked domain services. External services such as Google/Gmail, Hotmail, AOL are constantly tightening their incoming email requirements and so in an effort to minimise false positives further, we have applied the following features:

1) We have modified the score for Spam Assassin to eliminate false positives.

2) We have activated Spam Assassin for all emails. This includes incoming mail for mailboxes, out going mail for mail boxes and emails forwarded to external destinations.

3) Email determined to be SPAM by Spam Assassin is no longer quarantined but will continue to be forwarded (or delivered if you have a Mailbox) with the addition of the text “[SPAM]” added to the subject header.

4) The Spam Assassin headers will remain intact for all forwarded email. This will show the receiving mail server that we have already evaluated the email and marked the score. The receiving mail server may perform additional checks.

5) Google’s Gmail policy states that even if email arrives that they determine is spam, it will still be delivered as long as the text “SPAM” is included in the email subject header. See Best practices when forwarding to Gmail for more information.

6) These changes are only relevant to parked domain services (microlite1) and are not relevant to our Plesk hosting services.

If you see an email with [SPAM] in the subject header this just means that this MAY be spam, it is down to you to decide as it is impossible to know for sure on an automated basis. Other than the subject header change the email will be treated normally as with any other email. The modification of the subject header will ensure that all emails are delivered to your external services.

As always, if you have any questions do not hesitate to contact the support teams.

Multi year domain registration and renewal periods

Finally it is now possible to register .UK domain names for periods other than 2 years.

Since it’s inception, Nominet (the UK domain registry) have only facilitated 2 year domain name registrations and domain name renewals. It was not possible to register or renew for any other period. Unlike pretty much all other domain extensions which have since the year dot had registration and renewal options starting from 1  to 10 years.

We now support .UK domain name registration periods from 1 year to 10 years. Renewal periods of the same value are now also offered at time of renewal. You can see the official Nominet news release under Nominet to roll out multi-year reigstration periods for UK domains.

To get the best value from your domain name registration or renewal, go for 10 years (or as long as you can afford) as the price is stepped down and discounted for longer term registrations and renewals. Prices drop to as low as £2.99 per year if you register or renew for the longer periods, these terms are set and forget, no need to remember to renew.

Automatically scheduled 10 year renewal orders

Domains can be renewed up to 180 days before the expiry date. However this poses another problem which Nominet are aware of. That is, let say you have 100 days left on your domain name and you want to renew, you choose the 10 year renewal. Sounds ok? Well this will be a big fail. This is because a .UK domain name cannot have more than 10 years remaining. So in this case, if the renewal worked, you would have 10 years and 100 days remaining. No possible, so we automatically schedule your renewal order to execute on the expiry date – this resolves the (annoying) problem of timing your renewal perfectly.