Domain Name

Once you decide to create a website and/or email addresses for your organization you will need to register a domain name.

Choosing a Good Domain Name
Choosing a good domain name is a critical factor in the success of your website and email strategy. It is best that your domain name be the same name as that of your organization or the product you want to promote or sell. The domain name should be easy to remember and spell. Please find below some good articles on what to consider when choosing a domain name;

• 8 Quick Tips to Choosing a Domain Name,
• The Effective Strategy For Choosing Right Domain Names,
• Choosing a Domain Name, and
• 10 Tips for Choosing a Domain Name

Management of Domain Names
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is responsible for the management of domain names. The most common generic top-level domain (gTLD) domain is the .com but there are many other gTLDs; .biz, .info, .name, .net, .org, and .pro. There are also sponsored TLDs; .aero, .asia, .cat, .coop, .edu, .gov, .int, .jobs, .mil, .mobi, .museum, .tel, and .travel. ICANN has accredited registrars that register and manage domains names themselves and through their resellers.

There are also country code top-level domains (ccTLD) for each country. The Kenyan ccTLD is .ke and it is managed by the Kenya Network Information Center (KENIC). The most common third level domain for Kenya is .co.ke but there are several others; .or.ke, .ne.ke and the there is .go.ke, .ac/ke and .sc.ke which are reserved for the government and institutions of higher learning and lower and middle institutes of learning but require supporting documents for their registration. KENIC has accredited registrars who receive applications for domain registrations and manage this process.

.com or .co.ke
I must confess I am not sure if there is any advantage from a technical standpoint in registering a .co.ke rather than a .com, I do not think so. The decision to purchase a .ke would therefore be on the basis of identifying with Kenya for marketing and other purposes.

The disadvantage is that the current cost of a .ke domain from KENIC is KES 2,000 plus VAT. Your registrar will add a mark up, for their work, taking the cost to approximately KES 3,480 ($47). So you get to choose - $47 for Kenyan pride or $10 for a global identity. There are slightly over 12,000 .ke domain names that have been registered and there could be many more if the cost was lower.

Registering the Domain Name
Please note that domain names are not sold rather they are registered often in one year intervals. Registering a domain gives you the right to use it but you should not confuse this with owning the domain name.

To find out whether the domain name is available go to the website of an ICANN accredited registrar or to the KENIC website and search for the availability of the domain name.

If you have a credit card then you can go to the website of a gTLD registrar and pay to use the domain. It should cost no more than $10. Some web hosting companies will register your domain name for free if you buy hosting space from them. You may want to consider doing this and saving that cash. That said beware should you decide to move because you are unhappy with the web hosting service it may be a pain to move the domain name. My advice is not to to register your primary domain name with your web hosting company.

If like the many other millions of Kenyans you do not own a credit card then you will need to register your domain through an individual or organization in Kenya that is a reseller or sub-reseller. You will pay them in Kenya Shillings and they will make the payment to the registrar often in the USA.

The registration of a .ke domain names is done by the KENIC accredited registrars. You will need to contact one of them and register the domain. Most of the registrars will require you to go to their office and complete a form that provides your contact information and then make the payment.

I highly recommend asking people who have registered a domain name for their advice, ask them who they have used and who they would recommend. Like in all other matters in life some registrars are much more reliable and thorough than others. Identifying these and choosing to work with them will a wise decision and will save you the inconvenience or even worse a significant loss of revenue by a registrar or reseller that mismanages your domain name resulting in you losing it.

Disputes, Ownership, and Contact Details
When you are registering a domain name it is unlikely that you will be thinking about having a dispute with your registrar or their reseller but this is a critical aspect to consider and plan for.

If several weeks or months down the road you decide you want to move your domain name to another registrar because you are not happy with your current agent or registrar. Perhaps they have indicted they will raise their price next year or when you chose to move to a new web host the registrar or reseller was not as cooperative in making the necessary changes with the name servers. If your registrar or reseller decides to be uncooperative in moving the domain name they can make life very difficult for you and there is a real risk that you can lose your domain name.

You can avoid this by making sure you are correctly listed as the owner of the domain name and that your contact details are listed. If you do this properly when the time comes that you want to move all you need to do is get the new registrar you want to work with to initiate a request to move your domain and the owner will receive an email to accept this.

Unless it is completely unavoidable do not try to move your domain name to another registrar two weeks or less to the day your domain name is due for renewal. Go ahead and renew it and then move it after that to reduce the risk of your domain name lapsing if it is not renewed by the due date.

Domain Renewal
Please make sure you mark on your calendar the date that your domain is due for renewal and make sure you make arrangements to make payment on time. Do not count on your registrar or reseller to do this, as they may forget or may be trying to contact you to remind you about this and have been unable to get through to you. If they are managing their cash flow strictly they will most probably assume that you want to renew the domain name and pay and end up with you not paying them thereafter.