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ParishCouncil.net

Domain Names

Your Domain Name is the 'address' of your website. Being funded from a public precept, there are some guidelines that you must consider when choosing your domain name. The following pages give you some advise on what to do next.

The Cabinet Office (office of the e-Envoy) recommends that Local Authorities such as Parish or Town Councils to use a .gov.uk or .org.uk domains for their website, though this is by no means a mandatory requirement. The .gov.uk option tends to cost from around £150 per year, so many Parish Councils choose cheaper domains such as those which end in .org.uk or .co.uk, or more popularly, our very own .parishcouncil.net domain. Below we will show you how ParishCouncil.net can meet your domain name needs.

Introduction to Web Domains

What is a Web Domain Name?
A domain name is an easy-to-remember address for a website on the Internet. For example, when you enter www.parishcouncil.net into your Internet Browser, you come to this site.


DNS - the Domain Name System
The DNS was established to allow users to know what sort of site they can be expected to find when entering a domain name into their Internet Browser. Essentially, this works in the same way as a postal address postcode. For example, a website ending .co.uk would normally mean that you can expect to find the website of a company that is registered in the United Kingdom. Likewise, .org.uk would normally lead you to a site of a non-profit organisation or charity based within the United Kingdom. This is explained more below:

Domains are split into levels:

  •    generic Top Level Domains - gTDLs (.com, .org, .net etc., or
  •    Second Level Domains - SLDs (co.uk, co.us, co.fr etc.)

    Top Level Domains are administered by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) which is also the overall body for providing the Uniform Domain Resolution Policy, whilst Second Level Domains in the United Kingdom are generally administered by Nominet UK, the registry for .uk internet names.

    Many Government websites, including a substantial number of Local Authorities, use the .gov.uk domain name, which is a Second Level Domain reserved exclusively for National, Regional and Local Government bodies and agencies. The registrar in charge of .gov.uk domain names is the Cabinet Office e-Government Unit, and applications for a .gov.uk domain should be made to them.

    The .gov.uk domain

    There are specific rules and guidelines that must be followed in order to successfully apply for a .gov.uk domain name. These can all be found on the Cabinet Office Website, but we have published a brief summary below.

    You can either apply for a .gov.uk domain yourself, and then forward us the details in order to build the website, or you can let us apply for you. Please note that owing to the increased complexity of applying and registering the .gov.uk domain name, we cannot include this in our website packages (infact, to have a .gov.uk domain name for a year can cost more than our bronze and silver packs put together!).


    Your eligibility for a .gov.uk domain (courtesy of the Cabinet Office Website)

    To preserve the integrity of the .gov.uk namespace the registration/ownership of .gov.uk names is limited to:

    • UK government and devolved administration departments and agencies,
    • executive and advisory non-departmental public bodies and appropriate projects, and
    • local and regional government bodies (including properly constituted town and parish councils).

    The following are not eligible for a .gov.uk domain:

    • individuals (included elected representatives);
    • associations representing public sector staff;
    • public sector pension funds;
    • stand alone “arms length organisations” where staff are not public servants, e.g. they are employees of a private or public company;
    • charitable, voluntary and privately owned organisations;
    • companies and organisations registered by Companies House (www.companies-house.gov.uk/index.shtml) that is, private companies (limited by shares or guarantee), private unlimited companies and public liability companies;
    • public, privately owned or charitable organisations undertaking work or programmes within the public sector;
    • public, privately owned or charitable organisations undertaking work or programmes targeting the public sector;
    • internet management and network related companies, including ISPs and hosting companies;
    • change of status that ordinarily would make it ineligible, for example, moving into the charity, voluntary, limited company or commercial sectors;


    How to apply for a .gov.uk domain

    There are two ways to apply for a .gov.uk domain. Firstly, you can follow the application procedure as described on the Cabinet Office e-Government website, and then have that domain name 'forwarded' to wherever the actual website is stored (i.e. the ParishCouncil.net 'server'). Alternatively, you can let us complete the application process in your name. This means that we will be acting on your behalf to apply for your .gov.uk domain, though please note that you will be the signatory and 'owner' of the domain, and not ParishCouncil.net. Please also note that there may be a charge for this application service.

    The .parishcouncil.net domain

    Whilst many Local Authorities and Government websites use the .gov.uk domain, it is not a mandatory requirement. Indeed, there is a sizable number of Parish Councils that have opted for alternative domains such as .org.uk or .info. The benefits of this is that you can market your website with a domain that is easier to remember than many .gov.uk domains.

    We believe that amongst the most memorable domains are the ones that we own, which include .parishcouncil.net, .parishcouncil.org, .parishcouncil.org.uk and .parishwebsites.co.uk. Therefore, you would simply add the name of your Council to the front of this domain to see what your domain would look like.

    Try typing your Parish Council name and selecting one of our Domains to see how it looks:

    www. 

    All these domains are free with our Website Packages.

    Choosing your domain name

    Deciding on a name

    Choosing your domain name is very important. Your domain is your website address, and serves three crucial functions:

    1. Lets users know what they can expect to find on your site.
    2. Should be easy to remember to allow users to return or tell friends about the site.
    3. Should be easy to find using Internet search engines (such as Google or Yahoo).

    Many Parish Councils have opted to use the suffix -pc in their domain name. This is a growing 'web-convention' amongst Parish Councils, and a benefit of its use is that the address is invariably short and easy to remember.

    e.g. www.ashpcsurrey.gov.uk


    However, whilst this may be easy to remember, it may not always be apparant to the user what the site contains. Therefore, we would recommend that the words parish and council are included at some point in the domain name. This does not make the address overly long; it is easy to remember; it clearly demonstrates what the user can expect to find on the site, and since it contains the correct terms, people searching using Internet search engines are more likely to find what they are looking for.

    Below are some alternative website names:

    www.ashparishcouncil.org.uk
    www.ash-parishcouncil.org.uk
    www.ash.parishcouncil.net
    www.ash.parishcouncil.org

    Please take a moment to look at these domain names, and decide which you feel would be most appropriate for your website. If you would like free practical help and advice in deciding on a domain name, please email us at info@parishcouncil.net and we will be happy to give you confidential and impartial advice.


    Is your Domain Name taken?

    Since there a limited number of websites that use the .gov.uk or .parishcouncil.net domains, your preferred address is unlikely to have been taken. However you can check this on the WHOIS website (clicking this link will open a new window).

    Managing your domain

    .gov.uk

    Parishcouncil.net is a Registered Company, and as such we are ineligible to hold a .gov.uk domain name, and can only act to advise Councils on how to apply for Government Service domain. As such, responsibility for the maintenance and management of the .gov.uk domain must lay with the registree council.

    Parishcouncil.net will advise on .gov.uk domains, including domain management, but do not accept any responsibility regarging the renewal or security of any .gov.uk domains.

    For more details, please contact your ISP (Internet Service Provider) that supplied you with your .gov.uk domain.


    .parishcouncil.net

    .parishcouncil.net domains are operated exclusively by Parishcouncil.net. All management and administration of your domain will be included in our website package price.

    Included in this charge is 24 hour voice-mail and email support, with domain and email address administration conducted within 48 hours of notification of a change.


    Other

    This includes domains such as:

    .co.uk
    .com
    .org.uk
    .org
    .info
    .net
    etc.

    Domains arranged and managed by Parishcouncil.net are held on trust for the Client Council. Councils may transfer registration of the domain name away from Parishcouncil.net at any time for no cost.

    All domains managed by Parishcouncil.net are guaranteed for server up-time.

    Parishcouncil.net do not hold responsibility for domains held externally and pointing to our server space. Failure to secure an external domain may result in your website becoming unavailable to users.


    We already have a domain name we want to use

    This is no problem at all. We would be delighted to transfer your existing domain to ParishCouncil.net for no cost.

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