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What is a domain?
A domain is like your online postcode. It tells digital traffic where to go to find your website.
In the case of True North Web Design, it looks like this:
- URL (Link): www.truenorthwebdesign.co.uk
- Domain: truenorthwebdesign.co.uk
So, to use a familiar company, Amazon’s domain is amazon.com and Google’s is google.com.
If you want a website called “I don’t know what a domain is”, it’s idontknowwhatadomainis.co.uk
You get the idea.
Its navigational purpose being like an address means that, just like a plot of land in real life, it is always better to own yourself it than to ‘rent’ it.
Do other web developers manage this for me?
Yes, there are developers out there who will register a domain for you – some who will keep it in their name and run it on your behalf forever, and some who will then transfer it to you after project completion/payment.
It’s worth noting in the interests of good faith that not everyone who does this is shady, and may be offered by honest developers just as a thoughtful service because they know people are often confused by this part of the internet.
But being shady isn’t the only consideration here. Even if you get an honest developer and trust them entirely, it’s still risky. Suppose they die in a car crash next week. You have no control over your domain – it’s over. They are dead and you’ve lost critical ownership of a part of your business.
I don’t, and here’s why:
I don’t register client domains on their behalf. I did debate doing it for non-techy clients, as a service, but I resolved that I cannot, on principle. I value ownership higher than convenience, especially in an age that treats ownership so loosely.
Supposing I did register and keep the domain in my name, as much as I might say “you own it”, to the law, you don’t own it – I do. It’s registered in my name, I pay for it (even if I use your money to do so), and I exert control/management over it – in law, this looks like ownership.
For simplicity and transparency, when working with me, you will need to register your own domain, but if that is daunting to anyone please don’t worry. I can point you to guides (or make one myself) showing you how to do it, and would be happy to help with this. I just can’t actually buy the domain for you.
My domain registrar is offering me far cheaper website builders than you…
Yes, they do this. GoDaddy, Wix, Squarespace, and others, for example, offer this. Usually they bait you in with very low domain prices, like 1p for the first year, and then add a ‘while you’re here, we have a free AI builder’ service that, if used, locks you into their ecosystem so you are essentially guaranteed to be a paying customer long into the future.
Some designers fear that some clients will see this enticing low price and not decide to work with the web developer, and that is precisely why some more shady website developers prefer keep the client distant from domain registration.
I don’t fear that though.
There are very stark differences in the services (and the quality) and I am confident in my offering. Building with a company’s in-house website builder might seem cheap, but it often has hidden costs. Growth and features are punitively priced, and worse – you end up forfeiting ownership of your site in any real sense, once again, because it’s built on someone else’s infrastructure.
My sincere advice is to absolutely buy your own domain. You always want to own the land you’re building your house on – and unlike houses, domains are not prohibitively expensive.
Depending on the suffix – whether “.com” or “.co.uk” or “.org” or others besides, a guide price for a domain from a trustworthy service is between about £7.99 and about £30 per year. I use Krystal – this is not an affiliate link or a sponsorship. They’re a genuinely good company with great customer support, that both the NHS and National Trust for Scotland use – and they’re eco-friendly too.