Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Setting up an account with 123-reg

Setting up account with www.123-reg.co.uk and ordering domain names

First thing that you see when you visit site again is the three boxes

‘Register- Build – Host’.

Ignore ‘Build’, you want to ‘Register’ and ‘Host’, the latter means to
buy space for your site.

First things first: set up an account. This is free and carries no commitment. It can lay dormant until you decide to order your domain name and create your site.

It's worth a diversion to be familiar with what you are getting.

Click ‘Register’ to display a table of fees, also see link to VAT-inclusive prices.

The prices quoted are fantastical, as it’s a raw marketing ploy to get you on board. They do go up, though not dramatically, after the two-year honeymoon.

Ignore ‘Bulk discounts’ and go down to What you get for FREE. I’ll just run through these.

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What You Get FREE!

Web Forwarding (3 types!) – if you were to buy two domains, ie .co.uk + .com, you could have a site build around one of them, and have the other divert to it, so you don't need to pay for the space twice.
Catch All E-mail Forwarding – this option allows any email addressed
’****@yourdomain.co.uk to get through, even if someone makes a mistake, ie wrongname@yourdomain.co.uk. You just have to prompt the sender about the correct email to reach you. Or you can choose restrict all received emails solely to the accounts you set up. This will deter junkmailers to some extent.
Up to 100 E-mail Forwarding Addresses – you can create the impression you have loads of staff with ‘info@’, ‘webmaster@’, ‘gigs@’ etc, and each of these can be forwarded to two other email addresses you select.
Free Home Page Wizard – ’This page is the holding page for 'yourdomain'. Rather than leave it at this, its better to do a provisional homepage with good text and perhaps a strong photo, announcing when the site will be launched. You will however need to buy the package before uploading this page.
Change Name Servers
doesn’t apply
Change IPS TAG (UK domains)doesn’t apply
No release fee (some charge £19) –applies only if you want to move the domain and site to another web company
Change Contact Details – change of address and other details, but not username
Full Online Domain Management – grand way of saying ‘
you can run your site, from any PC, anywhere’ - needs some knowledge of HTML
Submit Your Web Site to 10 Search Engines – do this when happy with site
Display and e-mail invoices for all domains ordered through 123-reg – allows you to keep track of your domain purchase online, via the site, using username and password. Invoice also comes into your email account that you use for correspondence
No Transfer fees to move your domains to another Provider – doesn’t apply

Additional 123-reg Services!
Build You own Web Site Online in Seconds – may look like its been created in seconds too!
Host Your own Web Site at a Fantastic Price! - hosting = running your own site, click this when ready to buy the package
Transfer Your Existing Domain Names into 123-reg – applies if you bought domain elsewhere
Move Domains Between Other 123-reg Users
– ie would have allowed me to buy yourdomain.co.uk and move it to your account
Purchase POP3 Mail Boxes – no need for these if you use Outlook
Purchase Sub Domains i.e. anything.yourdomain.com – useful for small businesses
Affiliates Scheme, it's Free and People Have Made Thousands! – can look cheap to link like this and earnings are likely overestimated. Better to affiliate to
Amazon.co.uk , when recommending books & videos for further reading, or on your links page. Can be a strong feature if used judiciously.
Pre-register the new .eu Domain Name – hardly seen this extension in use, could be popular as its short
Purchase Domain Name Watchers To Get Domains That are Already Registered! – usually pricey, better to invent new ones
Submit Site Your Web Site to up to 400 Search Engines – only a dozen of them currently matter
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To review the packages, click
Host Your own Web Site at a Fantastic Price

Stick to the Starter package as the others offer large webspace for businesses. The package buys web space but also covers predicted visitor traffic. You can upgrade if site traffic goes over the max but initially, you are fine with the basic package.

Now to open an account. Go to
http://www.123-reg.co.uk/newuser.cgi. Create a username and fill in other details. You will be sent a confirming email, with a password you can change. At this point, you have not made a purchase and merely registering as a member.

Use the link in the email to finalise registration or alternatively return the
123-Reg homepage, and use the ‘Member Login’ link on the left hand side. A box will pop up asking for Username and password.

You should now be into your Control Panel and you want to
Order New Domain Names.

Click ‘Register’ and type in ‘yourchosendomain’ into box and select ‘co.uk’ from menu beside.

Its availability and other similar domains will be checked by 123-reg. This shows you what extensions are available - select any you think you want to protect from misuse by other parties. Click your selection and then ‘Add domains to basket’

Then on the next page, click ‘Check out’

Click ‘No web hosting’ if not already selected (it is usually the default). It’s cheaper to buy the starter packages once you have the domain name sorted; this page is for companies into heavier stuff. Click ‘
Next step’.

The next page has your details, for ‘Registrant Type’, click ‘Individual’. Check ‘UK Whois Opt-out’ - otherwise your details will be visible online but leave ‘Setup Email Catch-all' to discourage spam. Click ‘Next step’.

Put in your 16-digit card number, without gaps. Issue number applies to Switch cards only, and card security code is last three digits on reverse.

Check details beyond, ‘
Confirm order now’.

You will receive a copy of you invoice into your inbox but its viewable online in your
Control Panel.