Last updated on September 11th, 2023 at 10:26 am
Afrihost Domain Registration: Afrihost is a South African company that offers various ICT services. These include Broadband Internet, Web Hosting and Telecoms Services. It is one of the leading companies offering domain registration services in South Africa, with additional related services such as hosting.
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About Afrihost
Afrihost was founded in the year 2000 by three South Africans who shared a common passion for technology and the internet. They came together to form a Web hosting and IT company which has now grown to be Afrihost. Currently, Afrihost is headquartered 376 Rivonia Boulevard, Sandton, Gauteng, and offers a wide range of products and services.
A domain is like your website’s physical address. It is what will guide visitors directly to your website on the vast world wide web hence our interest in Afrihost domain registration.
Domains usually have two major elements. For example, afrihost.com has the website’s identity (Afrihost) and the domain extension (.com). When registering a domain as a person or as a company, you can be able to specify the server your domain points to.
Benefits of Having a Domain
There are numerous benefits in having an active domain, more than just being an address. Some of these include:
- It enables you to develop credibility for what you are doing.
- Strong ownership of your brand
- It boosts your Search Engine Optimization
- Both your customers and potential clients can find you easily.
- It gives you the capacity to grow and expand.
- You can strategically position yourself in reaching the target market.
- Allows you to build a strong online presence.
- Develops a strong competitive edge for you.
Types of Domains
Did you know that .com domains compose 46.5% of all global websites? The following are the most common types of domains.
Top level domains (TLDs)
This domain type is ranked at the top of the internet domain name system. You can find more than 1000 available TLDs but the most common ones are .com, .edu, .net, and .org.
An organisation by the name Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is responsible for maintaining the official list of top-level domains.
Country Code Top Level Domains (ccTLD)
ccTLDs are used by companies with dedicated sites for a specific country or region. For example, .jp is for Japan, .us is for the United States of America and .ae is for the United Arab Emirates.
Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD)
These types of domains do not rely on a country code. They are commonly used for specific purposes, for example, .mil is for military, .edu for educational institutions, .org for non-profit organisations, among others.
You do not have to meet specific criteria for you to register for these domains. For this reason, a .com domain is used across different fields.
Second-level domains
These are domains that come after a top-level domain. For example, government institutions in the UK use .gov.uk and academic institutions use .ac.ke.
Subdomains
These are for people or institutions with hug websites who need to create divisions within their site. By creating a subdomain, they can direct users to the specified area of search effectively. An example would be support.afrihost.za which will guide you to access the customer support resources on the website.
Free domains
These are domains that you can access for free on most of the website builders. For example, instead of having commercial.com, you will have commercial.wordpress.com or commercial.squarespace.com.
Searching For Or Creating A Domain Name
Domain names that remain relevant through time are those that match your brand and are easy to remember. The vast internet space is loaded with all kinds of information, therefore, you need a domain that will stand out.
Researching what your competitors’ domains are is important in helping you come up with a domain name that stands out.
These three things are the most important to remember when forming a domain name:
- Make it easy to remember
- Match your domain name with your brand
- Stand out from the crowd
This sounds easy until you realize that your domain names have already been taken. In such a case, you have two options. Either contact the owner through WhoIs and ask if they can consider selling the name to you or create a new one.
Let us now consider the Afrihost domain registration prices for our preferable domain names.
Domain Pricing on Afrihost
Highlighted below are domain prices organized according to their popularity. You can observe that the domains cover a wide range of fields and offer sufficient generic TLDs that you can use in almost all fields.
All their domain packages include:
- Live phone support
- An online trouble-shooter
- 24/7 priority support
- Full DNS control
- Email support
With such a package, Afrihost domain registration acknowledges the importance of keeping your domain active in the web every single hour and day of the week for the whole year. This is an awesome guarantee of the progressive growth of your site.
How to Register or Transfer a Domain on Afrihost
Afrihost domain registration is overseen by an organisation called Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). ICANN keeps a database of all domains and is able to specify which domains are available.
Below are the steps that you can follow in registering your domain on Afrihost.
1: Click here to access the Afrihost website and select the web domains tab
2. Select Domain Registration as shown below.
3. Choose the domain extension that you wish to use from the numerous options provided.
In the example below, we are using the .co.za extension. To add it, you click on the “Add This” button.
4. You will now get two options, that is domain parking and domain pointing.
Select domain parking. Here is what both terms mean.
Domain Parking is a functionality that enables you to reserve or register a domain name that will be used in the future. It is a safe way of ensuring that meanwhile, the domain name will not be registered by anyone else.
Another term for Domain pointing is domain forwarding. It is rerouting a domain to another web address. You can point a domain name that you own to another domain name of your preference.
5: You will get two options, that is, New Domain or Transfer Domain. Select the option New Domain to register a brand-new domain that does not exist in the domains database.
6: Enter your domain name in the search box so as to confirm that it is available.
7: The available domains will be outlined on the right side.
A good domain name will be highlighted. This is a good indicator that you should go to the next step. Click on “Next Step”.
Step 8: In this final step, you will be directed to your shopping cart. Be keen on confirming your domain details and then Check out to complete your order.
In Conclusion
Afrihost domain name registration is one of the easiest and seamless processes in registering a domain.
To add, you have a quick and available customer service team that will assist you in case of any difficulties.
