How To Buy A Domain For Your Recruitment Agency

So you've decided to set up your own recruitment firm. You’ve spent the last few years working for other people, you’re a good, consistent biller, you can bring in new business and you’ve got some experience mentoring or managing a team. But what about everything else? What about all the back office things you never got a chance to touch? 

Well we’ll take you through one small part, which is how to buy a domain for your new recruitment agency. 

What is a domain name? 

Your domain name is your recruitment website’s address on the internet. It’s more than just a URL, it’s part of your brand identity, how people will remember your firm, and it can directly affect your firm’s visibility in search results. 

Every website on the internet is denoted by a particular IP address, which is a series of numbers (e.g. 604.8.7.2). Since remembering the IP address would be incredibly difficult for the average person, websites, including recruitment sites also use domain names (e.g. “abstractionlabs.co.uk”) to represent their online location.

Each website URL is made up of a second-level domain (SLD) and the top-level domain (TLD). So, using our previous example of “abstractionlabs.co.uk”, “abstractionlabs” is the SLD and “.co.uk” is the TLD. 

Do you have a company name for your recruitment business already? 

If you've already come up with a name for your recruitment agency then simply check to see if your company name is currently available on Companies House and also check it is available as a domain. If you don’t have a name for your new recruitment firm then sit down and brainstorm some ideas. 

Your recruitment agency's name should be directly relevant to your business or the niche you’re planning on recruiting for. Try to keep it short and simple. It should be easy to say, easy to spell and easy to hear and understand. Ideally it should be unique but this may not always be possible and sometimes it’s good to blend in with your market and competitors at the early stages of your business. Consider using keywords relevant to your market. Don’t use numbers or hyphens ideally, it makes the website harder to remember. For example if your recruitment agency was called “8 Recruitment”, people will ask if the website is "8" the number or "eight" how it’s spelt? Keep it professional - remember your recruitment business could quite easily scale to a dozen consultants within a few years and then grow exponentially from there on out.

Does my domain name need to be the same as my recruitment firm name? 

No it doesn’t but it should be very similar at the very least really. You could have quite easily registered your recruitment agency on Companies House already and then come to find that that particular domain is already taken. Not to worry! Just sit down and brainstorm some names that are very close to your registered name and pick a suitable domain. 

Where can I check if a URL is available for purchase? 

All the major domain registrars will let you check to see if a particular domain is available but to keep it vaguely impartial you can use Nominet, which is the official registry for all .UK domains. It’s best to search the main domain registrars for availability as they will offer you a whole range of domain endings / top-level domains (.com, .uk. .ie, etc.). 

What are some of the major domain registrars? 

There are hundreds of domain registrars out there and there’s not a huge difference in them except for price and maybe service but I highly doubt you’ll need to get in touch with them on a regular basis. Here’s a list of some of the major firms….

123 Reg

Go Daddy 

Name Cheap 

Domain.com   

Which domain registrar should I pick? 

To be honest it’s not going to make a huge amount of difference. You can look at reviews for each provider to see if they’ll be right for you but it’s probably going to be a price decision really. Personally we use Google Domains, which are in the process of being transferred to Squarespace. 

I’d recommend opting for a well priced option, a domain provider, who will send you an update when the domain is due to expire so you can renew it and a domain registrar that doesn't penalise you with hidden fees if you try to transfer to another provider. 

How much are domain names?

The cost of domain names varies based on a few key factors such as the domain extension (.co.uk, .uk, .com, etc.), the domain registrar you're using, the domain's popularity, and whether it is considered a premium domain. You can normally expect to pay around £5 - £15 per year for most domains.

Is one domain enough? 

If you’re just setting up your recruitment agency to focus on the UK market, at least in the early stages then a “.co.uk” domain ending may be enough but if you’re planning to expand to the the US or the German markets in the near future then it may be wise to buy a “.com” or a “.de” domain ending too. 

Does my domain registration expire? 

Yes, your ownership of that particular domain will likely expire after 12 or 24 months and you will need to renew it. Make a note of this date, put it in your calendar and renew it before it expires. There are people out there who make a living out of purchasing freshly expired domains and then selling those domains back to their owners at a highly inflated price. 

I’m planning on using a website template builder 

If you’re planning on using Wix or Squarespace to build your first website then I’d recommend just purchasing the domain through them too. It will probably be a little bit more expensive when compared to other providers but it will make the process a whole lot easier from a technical viewpoint if it’s all in one place. 

Can you purchase the domain for our recruitment agency?

Certainly! We understand not everyone is technically minded and if you’re looking to use us as your recruitment website developer then we’d be happy to purchase the domain for you, along with hosting and setting up your professional emails. 

What do I do now I have my domain name?

The next step is to purchase hosting for your website. If you’re using us as a recruitment design agency then we’ll take care of the next steps for you. We use Google Hosting and Google Cloud for our websites. We can work with other providers but it makes website deployments a lot harder and more time consuming and more at risk of errors. 

If you've got any questions about purchasing or transferring over your domain then just get in touch with us.