Are you looking to know how to forward your domain to your own website design? This web page contains essential tips for small business website designers in respect of search engine matters.
Broadly speaking, there are 2 main ways to point your domain at your website:
1. IP Forwarding (our recommended method)
2. Web Forwarding (URL masking)
1. IP Forwarding
This method is also known as:
IP Redirection
IP Pointing
IP Address Pointing
IP Address Redirection
Advantages of IP Forwarding
When it comes to pointing your domain at your website, it is believed there are important advantages to consider if you use the IP Forwarding method:
Your actual domain name can be indexed and listed on search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, MSN and Dogpile. By this, we mean all pages in your site, not just your home page.
It is believed that websites which use IP Forwarding receive a higher page rank and subsequently, more inbound traffic from search engines.
You can create hyperlinks on the back of your domain name (this means you can cross-link your web pages using your real domain name).
If you create internal keyword hyperlinks, it is believed that it can boost your search engine ranking.
IP Forwarding is quick to implement (sometimes it's instant, but normally within 48 hours).
Your website visitors can bookmark any web page in your website, not just your home page.
As your website visitors navigate through your site, the full URL is displayed in the address bar of the visiting browser, making it more informative to the end-user.
We believe this makes IP Forwarding a much better solution when it comes to small business website design.
In summary: If you have a business website and you feel search engine performance is important to your business, then the 'Own domain' upgrade which uses 'IP Pointing' is the recommended method for linking your domain up to your Quick on the Net website.
2. Web Forwarding
This method is also known as:
HTTP Forwarding
URL Forwarding
URL Masking
Domain Masking
Disadvantages of Web Forwarding
When it comes to pointing your domain at your website, it is believed there are significant disadvantages to consider if you use Web Forwarding:
Your actual domain name will not be fully indexed and listed on search engines, such as Google, Yahoo and MSN. When it comes to the web pages beyond your home page, your forwarding web address will be listed instead. So, you may find that your website is properly indexed and your domain name is not indexed at all.
You cannot create hyperlinks on the back of your domain name (this means you cannot cross-link your web pages using your real domain name).
If you use Web Forwarding to a sub-domain, you may find that viewing your website directly on your domain may be unstable during the early days/weeks, because sub-domains can take a long time to propagate on the internet and they are not quickly distributed around the world. In other words, it may be on/off in the early days and weeks.
As your website visitors navigate through your site, the full URL is not displayed in the address bar of the visiting browser, making it less informative to the end-user.
There is one other point, which is really more of an irritation than a serious problem. With URL masking, whenever you link off to another site, the URL remains displayed within your browser in the web address bar.
In summary: If you have a business website and you do not feel search engine optimisation is important to your business, then you could consider using the 'Web Forwarding' method for linking your domain up to your Quick on the Net website. Equally well, if you have a family website (or a personal website), then 'Web Forwarding' might be the right solution for you.
Important information about Cheap Domain Prices
It is easy to assume that all domain registry websites are the same. They are not!
What else do I need to know? You need to be careful when you choose a domain provider, because some will charge you for additional services, such as 'Email forwarding'. In other words, they appear to offer a low headline price (for parking), but you can end up paying more money in the long run, when you consider renewal costs and extra essential services. In our experience, the list of domain providers below offer attractive prices, backed up with a pretty good service.
Equally important, some domain providers do not even offer DNS management services at all (you need this functionality in order to set up IP Forwarding), and you may have to transfer to another provider (at a greater cost) to get the service you require.
Many domain providers will make charges for both 'IP Pointing' and/or 'Web Forwarding'. To the best of our knowledge, the following domain providers do not charge for these services:
For clients based in the UK:
How to Register a Domain Name
Enter your domain name precisely (after 'www.) and click ‘GO’.
Select your preferred domain name(s) and then click 'add to basket'.
Click 'continue' (top right).
To use our website service, please select 'Domain only' - you do not need to buy web hosting (because we are hosting your website).
Then, sign-up with 123-reg (for a new customer account) and register your domain name(s).
It's fast, simple and easy!
Domain and Email Hosting
Once again, enter your domain name precisely (after 'www.) and click ‘GO’.
Click 'add to basket'.
Click 'continue' (top right).
Please select ‘Add email accounts’ – if you wish to add email accounts on the back of your domain name e.g. sales@mynewdomainname.com.
Remember to add a separate email account address for each name that you require. For example, sales@ and contact@ are 2 different email address accounts.
Please note that the email service is supported by 123-reg and not QuickontheNet.com (we provide free help and support with your website hosting).
Finally, sign-up with 123-reg (for a new customer account) and register your domain name(s) and email account(s).
IMPORTANT
It is important that you keep your 123-reg username and password handy, because you/we need to set up your domain when the registration is completed.
Another excellent domain service provider is Fasthosts, also based in the UK:
For clients based in the US:
For clients based in the Australia and New Zealand:
TBD
Important notes regarding domain hosting and registration:
You do not need to buy a hosting solution from your domain name provider, as your website will be hosted by QuickontheNet.com as part of our service.
However, you may wish to buy a business email package with your domain, so that you can create business email accounts e.g. info@mydomainname.com.
Email forwarding will be organised through your domain provider (normally through the domain control panel), not through QuickontheNet.com.
When you have purchased your QuickontheNet.com website and bought your internet domain name, we will advise you on what you need to do to make your domain work with your site.
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