We’ve partnered with IONOS, one of the UK’s leading domain name providers, to offer our company formation customers a free .com or .co.uk domain name for one year, to help you establish an online presence for your new business.
In this blog, we’re going to tell you how to claim your free domain name, once your company has been formed.
Key Takeaways
- IONOS provides 1st Formations customers with a free domain name for one year.
- After your company registration, you’ll receive an email with a link to claim your free domain or access a discounted hosting package.
- Once finished, you’ll be ready to start building your online presence.
Check your emails after your company has been registered
We will send you an order fulfilment email as soon as your company has been registered at Companies House (company formations typically take up to 24 hours).
This email will include – amongst other information relating to your company formation – your link to redeem your free domain name.
- Our All Inclusive Package - the perfect way to form a limited company
- How to create a website for a new business
- How to claim your free domain name
If you haven’t received your email, please be sure to check your junk mail and spam folder. To confirm, this is sent as soon as your company has been registered at Companies House, not when you complete the company formation process.
If you still cannot locate the email after checking your junk/spam or contact us to ask us to resend it.
Step-by-step guide
1. Select a domain name
Click the link in your order fulfilment email. You will be taken to the 1st Formations branded IONOS.co.uk webpage.
Here, you will be able to choose between two options. The first is the button on the left, ”Get the all-in-one offer”, which gets you your free domain plus all-in-one web hosting for just £1 per month for the first 12 months – an 88% discount from the typical £9 per month, exclusive for 1st Formations customers.
The other is the link in the bottom right, “Continue with free domain only”. If you follow this link you will be taken to a new page where you can enter the domain name and preferred domain extension (.com or .co.uk) that you would like to use for your company’s website. You can still select the all-in-one offer later, if you change your mind.
Here’s an example of how it will look if the domain you want is available.
If the domain you want is unavailable, you will see this note: ‘exampledomainname.co.uk is already taken. Want us to try and get this domain for you?’.
Once you have found a suitable domain name, you will be presented with a list of your chosen domain name with other domain extensions that you may also be interested in (for example, .org and .ltd) for the purpose of protecting your brand. Select ‘Add to basket’ next to any that you want to pick up, then select ‘Continue’ on the bottom right:
2. Add optional extras
Add any extras that you want, such as an email address to match your domain, web hosting, or the MyWebsite builder which provides templates and an image library to help you build your website. Once you have selected what you want, select ‘Continue’:
3. View your basket
Review your order. Your voucher code will have already been added, so continue to checkout or pay with PayPal.
There will be no charge for your .com or .co.uk domain name in your basket. Please note, this offer only applies to the .com / .co.uk domain name, not to any additional domain extensions or extras you have added.
4. Create an account
Finally, fill in your billing details, create an IONOS account and finalise your order. Once complete, IONOS will email you to confirm that your domain name has been registered.
Customers outside of the UK should use their business address (rather than their residential address) to register with IONOS.
Thanks for reading
Registering a domain name is the first step in getting your new company online.
However, even if you’re not currently interested in trading online, you should still register a domain to protect your brand (by stopping anyone else from using your company name as part of a domain name).
We hope you have found this post helpful.
Please leave a comment if you have any questions about redeeming your free domain name, or anything else related to our company formation packages and setting up a company in general.
Please note that the information provided in this article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or professional advice. While our aim is that the content is accurate and up to date, it should not be relied upon as a substitute for tailored advice from qualified professionals. We strongly recommend that you seek independent legal and tax advice specific to your circumstances before acting on any information contained in this article. We accept no responsibility or liability for any loss or damage that may result from your reliance on the information provided in this article. Use of the information contained in this article is entirely at your own risk.
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