Thinking about using a .ie domain for your website? If your target market is based in Ireland this could give you the extra credibility you need with both your potential customers and with search engines. If you are targeting a more global audience I would recommend sticking with a .com address. When purchasing a .com, .net or other domain it is very straight forward to do so and connect your site by using any of a number of domain providers. I've tried out a few and have found GoDaddy.com to be the most straight forward to use when dealing with the already complicated process that is DNS Set up. Registering for a .ie domain has some extra steps involved, but fear not I'm here to help you through the process.

Step 1: Check that your domain is available.

So you've decided you want to use an Irish domain, the very first thing that you will need to do is see if the domain is available (otherwise we're kind of wasting our time!)

For the purpose of this post I'm going to be using letshost.ie which is based in Dublin's own Aran Quay but you can use any domain provider which offers Irish domains.  Using letshost.ie's domain search tool you can search and see if your given domain choice is available, if so you should end up with something like this:

Step 2: Get your documentation together.

This is where setting up Irish domains are a little bit more tedious than just a regular .com address. In order to prove that you or your business have some kind of link to Ireland and thus are entitled to use an Irish domain for your site you will have to provide some documentation. Depending on the type of site which you are going to be using for your new Irish domain you will have to provide some different kinds of documentation. For example:

• Personal Use: If your site is strictly for personal use and not for a business you will only need to provide a copy of a form of identification such as a driving license or passport.
• Sole Trader Use: If you are a sole trader (In other words someone who runs a business on their own and has registered as such) using your site for your business you will need to provide your RBN number. An RBN is a 6 digit registered business number which you can search for at www.cro.ie/search.
  
  However if your domain name is not directly related to your business name you will also need to include an explanation as to how this domain name is connected to your business.
•  Company Use: If you are using this domain for a company where the domain matches the company name exactly you can simply provide your CRO number. However if there is no evident correlation between the two you will need to provide your CRO number, your RBN number as well as an explanation as described above in the sole trader section.

Step 3: Submit the application.

Once you have provided your documentation submitted this is the monotonous part over. You now simply have to wait for the application to be approved and you can start using your domain. So do your self a favour and make sure you've included everything you need. Once the application is complete you can now connect your site using the hosts DNS control panel.

CONCLUSION:

While there is definitely some work involved in setting up an ie domain it will be worth it to give yourself the extra credibility. Once your application has been accepted, if you need help setting up your DNS records I would recommend getting someone more technical to help to with this or even just speaking to your providers support team. As someone who has worked on a technical support team I know that this is something they get asked 100 times a day so it shouldn't be a problem. I hope you found this post helpful and I would love to hear your experience of carrying out this process so please comment below and be sure to subscribe for our future updates.