Buy a domain name

Buying a domain name involves several steps. First, you choose your name, for example, the name of your company or your trademark registered with the INPI. Secondly, you select the associated Internet extension (e.g. .COM, .FR).

At global level, ICANN allocates Internet extensions to public or private registries. There are generic and geographic extensions, as well as new Internet extensions.

Next, check the availability of the new domain for your Internet address.

Is your ideal domain already taken (this is often the case for a generic or short domain)? In this case, buying it will enable you to obtain the domain name. Another possibility is to find a free domain name that doesn’t correspond to a registered trademark.

Having a distinctive name that can be registered as a trademark is recommended when reserving a domain name.

Domain name registrar

A domain name is then purchased from a registrar accredited by the registry of the Internet extension.

In France, it’s theAFNIC that accredits registrars authorized to offer the purchase of .FR domain names. Not surprisingly, Solidnames is an AFNIC-accredited registrar.

Domain name registrars are intermediaries between registrants and registries. The best-known in France are Gandi, OVH (also a hosting company), Ionos by 1&1, Amen, LWS and Viaduc.
Internationally, the registrars with the most registered domain names are Go Daddy, NameCheap, Tucows, eNom and Network Solutions. These mass-market registrars often offer inexpensive domain names.

On the other hand, there are registrars geared towards businesses (e.g. IpTwins, ProDomaines, SafeBrands) and key accounts (e.g. CSC, MarkMonitor, Nameshield).
If you’re not satisfied with your registrar, you can transfer your domain to another provider. To transfer a domain name, you need an authorization code. This AUTHCODE is often available in your customer area.

How do I buy a domain name for my business?

Solidnames is a registrar for legal entities wishing to purchase a domain name. Our company caters to brand owners, companies, law firms and local authorities, but not to private individuals.

As a registrar, Solidnames is accredited by several registries. Solidnames enables legal entities to become holders of new domain names. The registrar is located under the authority of a registry. It pays an official annual fee for each domain name purchased.
To purchase a domain name, Solidnames checks that the customer meets the registry’s registration requirements. In fact, each Internet extension has its own rules for domain name registration, which change regularly.

Solidnames also collects information on the owner of the domain name listed in the registry’s directories. This legal compliance of information on the domain name holder (“whois”) is paramount with regard to the RGPD regulation.

Our company offers automatic renewal when your domain name expires, so you don’t forget them and see your domains expire. They are highly sought-after in natural search engine optimization to recover web traffic from backlinks.

Register a domain name for your website

Once a domain name has been purchased from the registrar, the holder is free touse it to create a website or business e-mail addresses. It is also possible to set up web or e-mail redirections.
To create a website, you need to choose web hosting and an SSL certificate for secure https browsing.

When it comes to technical management of the domain name, the Solidnames registrar communicates DNS server information to the registry. This is how your domain name works.

Does your website have a .FR main domain, for example? You can register several domain names (e.g. .COM, .NET or .EU) and have them redirected to your address. If a customer types your name in their search bar as .COM instead of .FR, they’ll still arrive at your web pages.

The registration of its variants (e.g. with and without hyphens for a company name composed of two terms) is used for redirection.

Buying these other domain names avoids blatant cybersquatting (e.g. counterfeiting, unfair competition, etc.).
In the event of trademark disputes, WIPO has an extrajudicial UDRP procedure for settling intellectual property disputes.

In addition to the Internet extensions organized by ICANN, there are also extensions based on blockchain technology. It is also possible to register NFT domain names in extensions such as .ETH, .CRYPTO or .WALLET.