Although we’re more than happy to register and renew domains for our clients, it’s good practice to keep them under your own control and independent from your webhost if you’re able to. It simplifies things if you have to move your hosting elsewhere (yes, that does sometimes happen!) and can keep your costs down a little.

We’ve used many different domain registration companies over the years, for our own purposes and on behalf of our clients. Some are cheaper than others, some have more complicated websites and tools. The one site we’ve been happy to recommend to our clients regularly has been 123-reg. Our clients seem to get on with the setup because they have an understandable interface for registration and renewals, their support is helpful and they don’t cost the earth.

If we are looking after your site, there’s no need to purchase anything other than your domain, as we provide your email facilities and SSL certificates at no extra cost. But apart from that, do take a look at their website for registering your domain.

The one important thing we’d suggest is that you keep your contact details up to date on the 123-reg system (although that goes for any registrar you choose). If they can’t contact you, your domain may lapse if you don’t get their email and don’t pay their invoice!