New businesses are being encouraged to purchase their domain names prior to registration at Company House.

An increase in the purchase of popular domains over the past few years has led to some businesses being unable to buy a domain that correctly matches their branding.

Sites such as http://www.companynamegenerator.co.uk allow users to check the availability of their desired domain before they commit to registering their brand.

Recently, a new fleet of top-level domain names (gTLDs) became available from domain regulators Icann. Many believed that a wider variety of gTLDs would aid in the personalisation of their online brand, but at $185,000 to apply, are a little out of many people’s budget.

Most companies aim to register a .com or .co.uk address, but as the web becomes more populated, some are finding it difficult to claim a relevant domain. Another domain suffix has been rising in popularity as an alternative to .com. The .co extension also represents ‘company’ and is being used by some whose original desired domain name had already been taken.

Registration companies such as Domaincheck advise the purchase of multiple domain names to secure brand recognition, even if the customer decides to simply ‘park’ the domain until they wish to use it.

Domaincheck are currently offering popular domain names such as .co.uk and .org.uk for as little as £2.99 per year + VAT as part of their January sale. For more information, visit http://www.domaincheck.co.uk.