Act now to secure your new .UK domain name!

10th June 2014

Today marks an exciting new chapter for .UK domain names. It is now possible to register yourname.uk, without the ugly ".co" or ".org" getting in the way!

The good news is that existing holders of .co.uk and .org.uk domain names will be given priority in the registration process, and now is the time to act!

HALF PRICE OFFER: If you instruct us to register your .uk domain name before 5pm on Friday (13/06/14) the first year's registration fee will be half price!

It's simple – just email or call us if you would like to register your .uk domain name or if you have any questions.

Why .UK?

Until now it has only been possible to register UK domains under .co.uk, .org.uk, and a few other less-common extensions. This can make it more difficult for customers to remember your web or email address.

Nominet (the organisation that runs the UK domain registry) has decided to allow registration directly under .uk. Simply put, It focuses attention firmly on your website name – exactly where it should be.

Existing domain name owners

If you already own a UK domain name, the equivalent .uk domain name will be reserved for you, but you must act now to register and make use of it!

There is an order of preference, so the owner of example.co.uk will have priority over the owner of example.org.uk for registering example.uk. If you want to find out who has the right to register a .uk domain, you can use our domain name lookup tool to check:

1. Visit http://whois.hiltonian.net/
2. Enter the domain name you wish to check (e.g. "hiltonian.uk") and click the "Check" button
3. When the results are displayed, click the "Check registration rights" link
4. Below "Right of registration" it will indicate which existing domain name (if any) has the rights to registration

If you decide to register your .uk domain name, your existing .co.uk or .org.uk domain name(s) will continue to operate in perpetuity, so long as you continue to pay the annual renewal fee for both domains. This will give you as much time as you require to plan the transition to your new .uk domain name.

What are the costs?

.uk domain names will cost exactly the same as .co.uk domain names – that's £12 per year or just £6 per year for hosting customers (ex. VAT).

If you act by Friday 13th June the first year's registration fee will be HALF PRICE!

Any existing UK domain names (such as .co.uk or .org.uk) will continue to be renewed at the price you currently pay, unless you instruct us to cancel them. It will still be possible to register new .co.uk or .org.uk domain names at the same price.

“Accredited Registrar” status awarded by Nominet

12th May 2014

Hiltonian Media is pleased to announce that we have been awarded “Accredited Registrar” status by Nominet, the .uk domain registry. Whilst Hiltonian Media has been a Nominet member and registrar for many years, this new accreditation recognises the high level of customer care that we provide.

The .uk namespace will be changing over the coming months, with businesses, organisations and individuals being able to register directly under .uk instead of having to choose from .co.uk, .org.uk or one of the many other second-level domains. We will guide our customers through this transition to help ensure that their intellectual property is protected and they don‘t miss out on this exciting new opportunity.

If you have any questions about .uk domain names or what our accreditation means for you, please do not hesitate to contact us.

New Generic Domain Names – what should I do?

17th March 2014

The domain name “landscape” just got bigger, and it is going to continue to grow over the coming months and years. New generic top-level domains (gTLDs), such as .club and .cool, will soon be available to register, and if you have enough money you could even have your own top-level domain! But is this choice really good for your business and customers?

The Pros

• It is becoming increasingly difficult to find good .com and .co.uk domain names that haven't already been registered. The new gTLDs will provide new options for your brand.
• Most people who don't know your web address will perform a search, so having the “perfect” domain name is becoming less important.

The Cons

• It will take some time before consumers become familiar with the concept that .anything could be a web address. Conversely, people instantly recognise anything ending in .com, .net or .uk as being a web address.
• Many people still just add .com or .co.uk to the end of the brand name if they don't know the correct address.
• It will now be much more difficult and expensive to protect your brand across all relevant gTLDs.

What should I do?

• Wherever possible, register your brand with .com and .uk, plus any other TLDs you feel are relevant or require protection for your brand (for example, if you have ambitions to grow your business into foreign markets, registering your brand in other country-code TLDs would be a wise move).
• Identify which of the myriad new gTLDs are relevant to your industry and brand and register these domains. We will be posting more information about which gTLDs are available to register once our gTLD partners have announced pricing and availability.
• Give us a call! We will happily discuss your options and talk you through the minefield of global domain branding.

Why .com?

For over 15 years, .com has provided the most credible and recognized home for businesses looking to succeed online. As the standard for doing business online, local and global companies rely more on .com than any other domain to confidently connect with new customers and partners.

Take the next step in growing your business. Join the millions of businesses that have found success on a .com.

• .com means business. .com is the standard for doing business online. Give your business the recognition that comes along with a .com to help connect with new customers and partners.
• .com means credibility. Your name says a lot about your business so why associate it with a less credible domain? Customers know .com, and that’s why every Fortune 500 company and the world’s 100 fastest-growing companies have a .com. Align yourself with the domain more businesses rely on to grow online.
• .com means confidence. Every business can benefit from an online identity customers know and trust. Thanks to over 15 years of reliability, security and availability, .com enables you and your customers to confidently connect online.

Hosting Account Upgrades

9th January 2014

As part of our programme to continually improve our products and services, Hiltonian Media will be deploying new web and email hosting servers at a brand new datacentre facility in Reading. These new servers are around four times more powerful than our existing servers, meaning your website will be even more zippy than it is now. We have been preparing for this upgrade for several months.

Customers who are affected by this migration have already been contacted.

Hosting customers will receive a generous increase in diskspace allowance, meaning larger email inboxes and websites!

The Bronze hosting package will have its diskspace quadrupled to 1GB, meaning more space for your email account and website. All customers will continue to benefit from regular off-site and tape backups.

Managed Virtual Servers will benefit from additional RAM.

Full details of the new specifications and prices

Customers still using the legacy "Basic" package, which was withdrawn from sale several years ago, will not be upgraded, and are encouraged to upgrade to the "Bronze" package to benefit from more generous diskspace allowances.