Nominent, the registry responsible for .UK domain names, has celebrated reaching a milestone of 10 million active domain names.

The ten millionth domain to be registered was swarvemagazine.co.uk.

In the country code top level domain stakes, .UK is still roughly 4.5 million domains behind Germany and the .de domain name space. In the context, .org domains total about 9.9 million and .net with 14.5 million, roughly the same as .de.

Looking to get your hands on your own .uk domain? Head over to our domain search and register your .uk domain name today!

Its nearest rival, .net at 14 million domain registrations is sufficiently dwarfed, showing the preference for .com domain’s and making it the default in domain names across the globe.

Have you registered a .com.au, .co.uk or a .co.nz for your business? Why not secure the .com domain for your business as well?

For customers who sign-up in January to any of our Web Hosting plans, each will get one $75 Google Adwords voucher to help kick start their online advertising. Adwords is the most powerful online advertising solution available today and allows you to advertise online with Google, the largest online search engine on the internet, quickly and easily and allows you to target customers using selected keywords which match your business and your products and services.

Some of the great features of Google Adwords are;

• Control your advertising costs; set your daily spend limit and there is no minimum spend or contract required.
• Target people specifically searching for your brand, product or service.
• Pay only when people click on your ads.
• Measure the performance of your advertising with detailed reporting.

The $75 credit can only be applied to new Google Adwords accounts within 30-days of signing up for a new Google Adwords account. New Google Adwords accounts attract a $10 set-up fee and vouchers must be used by the 31/03/2012 otherwise they will expire.  Offer ends 31 Jan 2012.

Your Google Adwords voucher will be sent to you within a business day or two of signing up with Web3k.

There is a lot of confusion for individuals looking for web hosting services. Is Linux or Windows better? Which will better suit your needs? We try and explain the differences to help you choose which is the right hosting technology for you - Linux web hosting or Windows web hosting.

Linux is an open source and largely free operating system and competitor to Microsoft Windows. Open source means that rather than one company having control over the software, many thousands of people commit their spare time to making the product better.

Linux is very popular for web hosting, with most web hosting organisations, like Web3k opting to use Linux for its servers. It’s quick, comes with all the software both we and our customers need to easily manage their websites and it’s a very reliable system.

Some might think that because they use Microsoft Windows at home, they need a web hosting plan that’s Windows powered too, though that’s not the truth. Truth is, if you’re hosting a basic website, both Windows and Linux will work in much the same way and most customers won’t know the difference.

If you’re a seasoned programmer, or you’re getting a web development company to build your souped up website with lots of features, then what hosting you need will come down to how the website is programmed and coded. There are two main programming languages for the web besides HTML, and they are PHP (Linux) and ASP/ASP.Net (Windows).

Windows hosting generally commands a premium too, as the software is at little more expensive. Generally the security and availability of websites on either Linux or Windows is much the same.

So, it really comes down to what how you’re website is coded – if it’s a basic website, coded in HTML or PHP, then a simple Linux based web hosting plan will do the trick. If it’s built using the ASP or ASP.Net programming languages, then a Windows web hosting plan is the go.

It can be pretty tough working out what the best web hosting plan for your website will be with some many offers in the market. Today we focus on two of the most important factors in a web hosting plan, Disk Space and Bandwidth allocation.

Disk Space is akin to your hard disk in your computer. There is fixed allocation which you can used, taken up by different files including documents, music, videos, email and software.

Most small websites will only use a very small amount of disk space. For example, a small 10 page site with images may use less than 10MB of disk space if properly prepared by a web designer. Larger websites or those using databases to drive them can consume more disk space, though sites hosting large files such as high resolution graphics, music and video files or popular forums are typically examples of sites that will use more disk space.

The term Bandwidth deals with the amount of traffic your website sends and receives to other people who visit your website. Every time someone visits your website, bandwidth is used. If your site is small and doesn’t get too many hits, a lower bandwidth plan is acceptable, while for more popular sites, higher bandwidth plans should be considered.

The size of your website in disk space consumption terms and popularity will affect how much bandwidth you’ll need in your hosting plan. The more movies or high resolution images you hosts, the quicker your bandwidth allocation will be used. When considering what bandwidth allowance is right for you, consider the type of website you’ll be hosting with Web3k and what content will be made available.

What about hosts that claim unlimited disk space and bandwidth in their plans? Every host has a finite amount of disk space to offer its customers, and there’s no such thing as a hard disk drive with ‘unlimited storage’, so be wary of hosts offering these plan as there will typically be restrictions hidden in their terms to prevent users from consuming an ‘above average’ amount of disk space and bandwidth.

We get a lot of enquiries from customers regarding the best web hosting plan for their needs, and every situation is different. If you find you’re still confused, drop us a note and we’ll be more than happy to help!

.co Domain names are the country code top-level domain name for Colombia, though have also become a very attractive alternative to .com domains given their similarity (.co vs .com), which is great for those that have wanted a specific .com domain, however find that their first (and sometimes their second and third) choices are already taken.

Over 1 million .co domains have been registered since the domain name extension became available in July 2010 and has been one of the fastest growing domain extensions due to its similarity to the .com domain extension. There are no restrictions on who can register .co domain, unlike .com.au and .eu domains which require you to have a presence in Australia or Europe respectively in order to register them.

Web3k’s .co domains are priced at $19.95 per year. Search for your .co domain name today!

People use the internet all the time, for email, games, or research, but not everyone knows how website hosting works. At the heart of web hosting and the internet is the Domain Name System, or DNS for short and name servers. Here you can see hosting explained - DNS and Name Servers summarized.

Simply put, DNS is a database matching domain names to internet protocol (IP) addresses. IP addresses are specific strings of numbers assigned to computers connected to the internet. It can be compared to phone numbers linking to a specific phone.

The DNS changes the numbers (IP address) into words for easier access. Whenever you browse to a website or send an email, a computer accesses a domain name and queries a DNS server to find out which computer or server to transfer its data to.

For example, if you type in www.web3k.com.au, DNS looks up its database on a Name Server and finds the IP address it is located at. Once the IP Address (for example 192.168.1.10) is found, your web browser now knows which server on the internet to contact and begin retrieving the pages on the website. DNS constantly works in the background, translating billions of domains into IP addresses every day.

When creating a website and setting up web hosting, DNS servers are required in order for the web hosting to work properly, which Web3k provides with every hosting service purchased.

So as you can see, DNS and Name Servers are an important part of the internet and hosting websites. Without it, the internet would be a different place and most likely harder to navigate. It can be complicated and technical for some; however Web3k already manages this process for many of its customers and can do the same for you.

Start by asking yourself some questions:

How many websites do I need to host?

For many the answer will simply be one, though with some web hosting packages you can host multiple websites if you need to.

What will I be hosting on my website?

What you host on your website will determine how much disk space you need. Most small business websites need no more than 100MB to 500MB, and while that seems small given the size of disk drives in computers these days, a few web pages and image don’t take up all that much room.

If you intend on hosting lots or images, pictures or videos, then you’ll need to consider a web hosting package with a larger disk allowance. If you’re like a lot of people who hang on to their emails rather than deleting them, and prefer to leave them on the server so you can access them from anywhere via webmail, you’ll also need to consider a web hosting package with a larger disk allowance.

How popular will my website be?

How popular your website is, combined with the type of content you will be hosting on your website will determine what bandwidth allowance you’ll need. Like your broadband connection at home, Bandwidth is the term given to the data that it uploaded and downloaded from your website, the more people visiting your website or the larger the pictures and videos, the more bandwidth you’ll need.

Will I be selling directly from my website?

If the answer is yes, you’ll need a web hosting package that offers tools that allow you to perform Ecommerce transactions. Web3k use software called Fantastico, which allows customers to install a number of programs and tools, like shopping carts that you can use almost instantly.

Where are my visitors likely to come from?

If you’re an Australian based business and expect most of your website visitors to be in Australia, it makes sense to host your website with an Australian web hosting provider, like Web3k. If your target audience is overseas, you should pick a web hosting package that is located in a country that is close to your customers and will be faster for them to access, greatly improving their experience when visiting your website.

Do I intend on growing the website?

If you want to grow your website, adding new content or images, photos or videos often, you’ll need the piece of mind that you can upgrade your web hosting package without an issue.

These questions are just a start, and Web3k are only more than happy to work with customers on their website and web hosting package needs, so feel free to drop us a line anytime!

Once an SSL Certificate is installed into your website,  you will direct customers to use https:// rather than, rather than http:// (the first few words that you see in front of a url in your browser window. You can choose to send customers to your secure pages when transactions of sensitive information are taking place, or use https:// for all of your internal website links making it easier to maintain your site. Your customers will notice a padlock symbol appear in your browser window (either in the status bar at the bottom or address bar at the top, depending on your browser), which denotes your site is secured and gives your customers confidence.

Check out our page on Which SSL Certificate is right for me to find out which certificate best suits your needs.

We look into what goes into choosing the right name, the right domain extension or TLD and how the content of your website might affect what you choose.

Think about websites you visit often. The domain names for these websites are generally easy to remember words (Google, Yahoo,  Amazon etc) and the words used in the domain name sometimes bares resemblance to what the website is, does or offers (news.com.au etc).

If your preferred name is already registered, you might need to be creative with your domain name, often a catchy name, made up words or unusual combination of words are good starters.

You should aim to select a domain name that is your business name or a name that resembles it.

If you’re website is supporting your business, then it’s key to register a domain name that includes your business name. This allows customers to make the connection between your business and your website, while also making it easier to remember for returning visitors.

Some people will tell you they expect to type in ‘businessname.com’ or ‘businessname.com.au’ and get to the site they expect, while others just go straight to a search engine and search based on your name. Either way, you have a much higher chance of guiding customers to your website if you incorporate your business name into your domain name. This also aids with brand building and marketing of your business.

If your website isn’t for a business, try and stick to words that describe the topic of your website, which helps let potential visitors understand the content they’re likely to find on your website.

Avoid trademarked names, unless they’re yours.

If you have any trademarks registered with IP Australia or another countries intellectual property organization, you should look to register these trademarked as domains too. This prevents anyone else registering trademarks assigned to you and potential legal proceedings to retrieve the domain name at a later point when you realise someone else is using it when they shouldn’t be.

However, trademarked names are a two-way street - you should always check that the domain name you’re registering isn’t a word that’s been trademarked as you could easily find yourself out of pocket for a domain name that could be taken away from you.

Abbreviations

Registering abbreviations of your domain name in conjunction with a domain name that matches your business name is quite acceptable, especially if you’re business name is either used as a whole set of words or abbreviated by your customers. It’s a simple process to redirect an abbreviated domain name to your existing website to ensure you’re not missing out on any traffic to your website. Also good practice if your business name is easily transferable to an acronym. For example, if our business name was ACME Lawyers International, we might register the acronym ALI.com.au too, if it were available.

Misspellings

Is your business name often misspelt? You might want to consider registering some of the known misspellings for your business name and redirect them to your existing website too.

.com.au or .com?

This is probably the most asked question with regards to domain names, should I register a .com domain name or a .com.au domain name (or any other country for that matter). The answer is easy. Both.

If both the .com and .com.au domain names are available, it’s recommended you register both. Most people believe that a .com domain means you’re operating your business in the United States, which isn’t entirely true. Whilst common myth would have you believe that, .com domains are the ‘generic’ domain on the internet and can be used by anyone, regardless if you operating in the US or Australia.

By registering both, you’re also preventing someone else from registering that domain and passing off as you, whilst also protecting your intellectual property.

Stay away from hyphens

If you can avoid using hyphens (’-') in your domain name, do so. Domains which don’t have hyphens in them often look more aesthetically pleasing and Search engines tends to be more friendly to websites without hyphens in their domain names. You may have a hyphen in your business name, in which case, it really cant be avoided.

Surf on over to our Domain Names page to search for your domain name today!