Updated on October 4, 2026
What is a domain name?
It’s the part of a web address after “www.”: a name (boulangerie-dupain) and an extension (.fr, .com…). It can also carry email addresses that look professional, like contact@boulangerie-dupain.fr.
A domain name is never bought for good: you register it for one year or more, then renew it. If it isn’t renewed, it expires: the website and email addresses that use it stop working, and someone else can take it.
How to choose it
- Short, and easy to say over the phone.
- Your business name, or your trade and your town: plombier-rouen.fr.
- Avoid hyphens where you can, and characters that are hard to spell, like accents.
- Make sure it isn’t someone else’s brand.
.fr or .com?
For a business working in France, .fr is the natural choice: it tells your customers where you are. A .fr can be registered by people and companies based in the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland. A .com is international and works just as well. You can also take both, and send one to the other.
What it costs
Usually around 10 to 30€ a year for a .fr or a .com, depending on the registrar. Watch the renewal price, often higher than the first year’s promotional one. Some names, sold as “premium”, cost a lot more.
Who holds it
Every domain name has a holder: the person or company that registered it and renews it. If you buy it yourself, that’s you, and you pay for it every year. With a website subscription, the provider usually holds it and renews it for you: ask what happens to it if you leave.
With BoiTech Web
Your domain name is included in the 10€ a month. We choose it for your business, looking for the best name among those sold at the usual price (some names cost thousands of euros), then register it and renew it at our cost. It stays ours, for your use only as long as your subscription runs.
If you leave and want to keep it, we hand it over to you, or to the provider of your choice: you refund us the part of its current year still to run, then renew it yourself. Already have a domain name? You keep it, and we connect your new website to it.
Email addresses on your domain aren’t included in the 10€ a month: ask us for a quote.