### **What is a Domain Name?**

It is an electronic link that consists of three parts, such as [www.sikka.sa](http://www.sikka.sa) and [support.sikka.sa](http://support.sikka.sa), and it is unique like a car license plate. An annual fee must be paid to the company registered for the domain to continue owning the domain name. If the fee is not paid within 30 days, the domain name will become available for others to purchase and register.

### **How do you know if a domain name is available?**

We go to the website of one of the domain registration companies such as [godaddy.com](http://godaddy.com) and search for the desired domain name in English. It will show us the annual registration fee if it is available or indicate that it is not available. For Saudi domain names, we use Hawsabah  [hawsabah.com.sa](http://hawsabah.com.sa) to register Saudi domain.

### **What are the requirements for registering a Saudi domain name (sa.)?**

The Communications and Information Technology Commission in Saudi Arabia requires two conditions for institutions and companies:

- A copy of the current, valid commercial registration certificate.
- The registered trade name in the commercial register must be related or linked to the desired domain name.

Example for the second condition: Since our company's name in the commercial register is "Sikka Software" the desired domain name is [sikka.sa](http://sikka.sa) and we obtained it because our trade name is identical and clearly related to the requested domain name. However, if we requested a site like [surub.sa](http://surub.sa), they would not accept our request because our trade name and the requested domain name have no connection.

### **What are the prices of domain names?**

The annual registration prices for domains range from 100 SAR per year to 1 million SAR per year, and sometimes more. The significant price difference is due to the number of characters in the domain and the meaning of the domain in society. For example, if we choose the domain [hala.com](http://hala.com), it may be very expensive, reaching up to 50,000 SAR per year. However, if we choose [halafeekom.com](http://halafeekom.com), the annual registration fee may be 100 SAR or less.

### **How to link a domain name to the server?**

The DNS records of the domain name are updated as follows:

- Ensure that there is no A record linked with another server.
- Add two A records containing the server's IP address:
  - The first record is connected with the @ symbol.
  - The second record is connected with www or the desired subdomain name.

Learn how to choose and register a unique domain name for your website, the registration requirements for Saudi domains, and how to link them to the server.

Domains