Registering a .ie Web Address

[IanD]

Anyone any tips on setting up a .ie web site? Which companies are cheapest etc?

Any advice gratefully received.

Cheers Ian

[Broken Wing]

I've used http://letshost.ie/ for a number of sites and found them very helpful with any queries or problems.

[meinster]

Anyone any tips on setting up a .ie web site? Which companies are cheapest etc?

LetsHost are generally the cheapest, bar special offers. Blacknight have a special offer on at the moment too (but you need to buy hosting from them as well). I've used both without much complaint.

The .ie domain is a managed domain, so you need to prove entitlement to a domain. Really that only is an issue if the domain is not for business purposes. If it's for a company, no hassle. If it's for a sole trader type of business, a small bit more hassle (but not much). If it's for personal use (and the domain isn't your name), then you'll probably want to register a RBN (Registered Business Name; has some tax reporting implications which are largely ignored by Revenue). Full guide to registration categories (including personal applications) on http://iedr.ie/ .. if at any stage in the process you think "this is ridiculous" let me assure you it used be an awful, awful lot worse!

As for other advice: no harm to keep your domain and your hosting separate (separate companies, separate billing). It's easier to swap around your hosting should your needs change, or the hosting company let you down. Keep the domain name short and sweet. No hyphens, don't put "ireland" in the domain (the .ie implies that already, and it won't improve your SEO/Google Ranking). When picking it, make sure if the .com of your chosen domain is already taken that it's not a competitor (ideally, register the .com to and redirect it to your .ie site). Also, ake sure the chosen domain is easy to say aloud. BikerGear.ie is easier to advertise offline (and word of mouth) than IansBikeClothingCo.ie. Even if you have no intention of every using radio advertising, always consider how it would sound on a radio ad. Kube Kitchens spent just under half of their 5-second mini slots with "that's kube with a 'k'", instead of just registering qubekitchens.ie to go along with their main domain. Finally, consider registering any closely related domains by keyboard type or phonetic spelling, if budget allows.

Feel free to ask specifics.