To set this up, log in to your control panel, in  manage domain names, click “Renewal” and it will show you the expiry date and offer the year ranges you can renew for (but ONLY if you have credits of the applicable type). If you don’t have any domain name credits, click here to log in find out more about buying domain name credits.

Whilst other domain registrars already offer a similar service most won’t actually renew it until the domain name has expired. With our system, the domain never expires.

Please note: As with normal registrations and renewals, this isn’t refundable because it cannot be undone once you commit to it.

Name:Ben Scott

About:As Senior Web Designer, Ben oversees all of Heart Internet's design, usability, SEO and conversion optimisation. Since joining the team in 2009, Ben has redesigned the Heart Internet website as well as the newsletters, HostPay templates, control panel and much more.

Posts by Ben (93)

CardFlick

CardFlick helps you make business cards out of your Instagram and Facebook photos. It’s easy to use, and you don’t need a professional camera to get great looking results.

CardMunch

LinkedIn’s CardMunch app for iPhone is a great way to store contact information on the go without having to type in phone numbers or email addresses one character at a time.

Google Goggles

Google Goggles is a great alternative to CardMunch for Android users. Save contact details quickly and easily thanks to clever character recognition.

Cardcloud

Another app, this time for both iPhone and Android users, Cardcloud helps you store contacts’ info and even tracks where you met them – great if you’ve got a short memory.

Zerply

Zerply is more of a social profile than a business card, but it’s a quick and easy way to recommend professionals and network.

IdentyMe

IdentyMe is perfect if you have the time to create a custom design for your contact details.

.tel

.tel domain names were specially designed to store your brand’s contact details. Purchase them from us just like any other domain name, and add your details quickly and easily. In addition to making it easy for visitors and customers to get in touch, you’ll also benefit from an extra listing in the search engines.

Have you got any virtual business cards or are you considering them? Let us know in the comments!

Name:Jenni Brown

About:Jenni is Heart Internet's SEO & Social Media Marketing Executive. Responsible for blogging, SEO and Heart Internet's Twitter and Facebook engagement, Jenni is a social network enthusiast and has been blogging for a decade.

Posts by Jennifer (118)

Could you provide a bit of information about yourself?
I have always had an interest in design starting back in the late 80s with the graffiti scene and the early 90s when I studied graphic design. Although not pursuing this as a career initially, I later fell into work within the printing sector and took the move to start my own print company Stationery Direct, which offers graphic design, leaflets, letterheads, business cards and other printed products. My involvement with Stationery Direct and in particular the ‘Design for print’ part of the business re-ignited my interest in design.

Why did you start the Graphic Design Forums in the first place and did you have any specific aims when you launched?
I had visited many forums with a need on occasion to seek advice from fellow designers, however, I found that the quality of these forums was poor; very clique and un-friendly, too generic, US based and full of spam. As a result I wanted to create a friendly place where UK graphic and website designers and people generally interested in design could come to ask for help, offer advice, make some friends and maybe pick up a job or 2 in the process.

As well as above and to be perfectly honest my second reason for the forum was to create a place where the target market for my printing company would frequent, however, as time has gone on and the popularity of the forum has grown…I decided that advertising to our members was not something I was going to ‘force down their throats’ so to speak.

How did you go about getting people to use the forum, and was there one moment you can look back on and say that is when it took off or was it a gradual build up?
Starting a forum is such a difficult task, I know after failing once before! It’s a catch 22 situation, unless you have members and lots of threads already in discussion there is no reason for anyone to join up and post, without these people joining up and posting you won’t have any threads and discussion. So it was a long and evolving process where I would initiate posts in the hope that people would take the time to join and reply, in time and with a lot of perseverance and luck this is exactly what has happened.

We ran a competition back in 2010 where we offered thousands of pounds worth of design- orientated prizes, including Adobe Creative Suite, this was advertised on twitter/facebook and other websites and brought many new users to the forum, I would say from this point on the forum slowly took off.

Why did you make the decision to only allow UK IP addresses access to the forum?
This wasn’t a difficult decision to take, I have frequented many forums over the years and 3 of the most annoying issues for me are Spam, poorly written English and topics or advice that do not relate to me living in the UK. By restricting IP’s to solely UK based has eliminated 99% of spam and ensures all topics and advice are relevant to our UK based members.

This however is the reason that the forum has grown more slowly than others, not only is it a niche subject but we are also essentially barring users from the rest of the world from participating. There are many other graphic and website design forums with thousands of members and posts but the volume of spam and the rubbish on them is what differentiates them from us, the majority of posts on our forum are of use and relevant to designers in the UK…quality not quantity.

What advice would you give to someone looking to set up their own forum?
Be patient, expect to spend many hours initiating threads and discussion and don’t be too disappointed if it fails, my first forum attempt failed miserably, it really isn’t easy.

How do you see the forum developing in the coming years and what part do you think social media will play?
We have recently completed the design of a new logo and skin for the forum, along with an upgrade to the latest version of vBulletin. Our continued investment and the new ideas we have planned for the future will hopefully make the forum the place to be for anyone based in the UK interested in design.

We also do our best to create awareness of the forum by taking the time to write articles such as this and by contacting other design related websites, most realise that the forum is a great resource and are accommodating and help with exposure, be it a mention on twitter to their member base or a direct link from their website. We must say a thanks to them for their support and also to our regular members who take the time to advise on all manner of design related questions, if it wasn’t for them the forum would not have done as well as it has.

In terms of social media this is definitely going to be a major factor in the forum’s continued growth and we now have twitter and facebook pages which are continuing to grow and as a result attracting more forum members, don’t forget to give us a follow.

Are there any resources on the internet you use that you would recommend for beginners and advanced designers?
There are many, but deciding which to recommend solely depends on what is specifically required. I would suggest posting any questions you may have on our forum and see what our experienced members have to say; if they don’t have the answers they will certainly point you in the right direction.

Name:Craig Cotter

About:As Operations director, Craig handles Heart Internet's large scale projects, and is also involved with the day-to-day running of the business. Craig ensures that our customers are put at the heart of all our decision making.

Posts by Craig (26)

Our EU cookie policy widget is completely free, easy to use, and works on any website regardless of where it’s hosted. Our thinking behind it was that it should be noticeable but not intrusive for your visitors, and it has the added bonus of being mobile friendly as well. Find out more and add it to your website by copying the code on our EU cookie law page.

If you’re not sure what the EU cookie law is or why you need to comply, you can find out more about it here. Please be aware that the deadline for your website to comply is 26th May 2012.

Name:Craig Cotter

About:As Operations director, Craig handles Heart Internet's large scale projects, and is also involved with the day-to-day running of the business. Craig ensures that our customers are put at the heart of all our decision making.

Posts by Craig (26)

Hi Matt! Tell us about yourself and Matt Lollar Photography.

I am originally from Florida but moved to the UK in 2004 having followed in the footsteps of my grandpa by marrying a ‘British gal’! I live in Sheffield with my wife (Rachel), daughter (Phoebe), son (Reuben) and dog (George). I have worked in photography for about 6 years and specialise in wedding and portrait photography, but also do 1:1 tuition and professional sports portraits.

Photography became something I was interested in after traveling with my dad around the states when I was a kid. He always had an SLR camera (film camera) with him and he would load the film and let me take some pictures. I always loved getting them back from the printers to see what I had shot on our trips!

I didn’t really take any pictures throughout high school because my focus was much more on sports (and girls) as I played baseball, American football had a blackbelt in Tae Kwon Do and was on the powerlifting team. Yes, I was a jock.

Just after my wife and I got engaged, she bought me a digital SLR and that’s when I really became hooked! Not long after I got the camera, people started asking me to shoot their family portraits, weddings, sports, bands, etc and I figured if I was going to spend so much time doing it I might as well get paid for it!

My business started slowly and it was part time on the side of my full time job in marketing. As soon as I got so busy that I was having to book days of holiday to shoot photography jobs I decided to quit my full time job and go full time with my photography business. This meant that I didn’t leap into the photography until I was ready both mentally and financially. Running your own business is no easy task! I went full time with my photography in May 2010.

What’s been the biggest highlight of your business so far?

The biggest highlight for me is that I get to run my own business getting to do what I love every day – taking photos and being around people. I love international weddings and every so often someone from outside the UK will book me to shoot their weddings. In March, the Kenyan Ministry of Sport short listed me to go to Kenya and shoot the entire Olympic Team leading to the 2012 Olympics. I missed out on getting the commission but even being asked was a privilege.

Which photography tools and equipment would you hate to be without?

Anyone who knows me knows that I am never far from a coffee pot or my green, astro-turf covered flip-flops! Those two items would definitely be at the top of my packing list for a desert island! Of course I couldn’t be without my Sigma 50mm F/1.4 lens, which when used correctly produces the most stunning photos! It is on my camera about 90% of the time! Getting the right lighting is also crucial and whilst you can’t pack this in your camera bag, choosing the right time and location is vital.

What are your top tips for taking amazing photos?

Great light and great interaction are always my two main goals when taking photos of people. Without either of these things your photos will just look ordinary. A good photographer will achieve both of these.

My approach means that no two people’s portraits look-alike because I am trying to capture them and what they want to do, not applying a ready-made formula or style. Making people feel at ease is also crucial, there’s not one wedding I’ve shot yet where shouting “Hey Big Daddy” to the groom hasn’t raised the most genuine of smiles in front of the camera!

What resources would you recommend to photographers just starting out?

There are three websites I would highly recommend for anyone starting out in photography. The first of these is flickr.com, a website with a group for just about everything! If you want to know about capturing the expressions of dogs or how best to use your Nikon D700 then there’s a group and discussion board for that. Don’t underestimate how much you can learn from other users.

The second website is strobist.com, a great blog on off camera lighting, and as I’ve said before, it’s all about the lighting!

Lastly for a small fee you can join kelbytraining.com, which is a great website with tons of video tutorials. If you want to learn how to shoot a wedding, then this website has a step-by-step tutorials on how to do it, so you can get the experience of the shoot without actually having to do it!

How did you decide who to hire for your website design?

The top three things I was looking for when hiring a web designer was that they should be local, affordable and efficient, and fortunately for me Ben at Resound Design encompassed all those things and also came highly recommended! Resound design have been great at getting on with the task in hand, always being available to speak to on the phone (I hate e-mailing) and good at the more mundane but essential things like invoicing and timekeeping.

What kind of look did you want for your website and why?

The most important thing for me when thinking about the ‘look’ of the website was that it should strike a careful balance between reflecting the professional, reliable service I offer, with my easy-going, fun and relaxed style of working with people to create photos that reflect their personalities. It was essential for me that the site was easy to use and that the photos took centre stage, as they speak volumes about how I work.

Why did you choose to host your website with us?

Honestly? My specialism and skills lie with the camera rather than I.T systems! I didn’t want to host it myself and wanted to be able to phone someone local who I knew I could trust. Ben at Resound uses you guys and that is good enough for me!

How did you go about asking people to vote for your website?

Mainly through my twitter (follow me at @MattLollar) and business facebook page.

What are your future plans for Matt Lollar Photography and what would you like to achieve with your business?

When I started out in photography what I really needed was a more experienced photographer to take me under their wing and show me the ropes, but sadly for me there wasn’t anyone to do this. My dream is to grow the company to the point where I can hire and train other professional photographers and make Matt Lollar Photography a place to nurture and grow aspiring photographers, whilst providing the best possible service.

Name:Jenni Brown

About:Jenni is Heart Internet's SEO & Social Media Marketing Executive. Responsible for blogging, SEO and Heart Internet's Twitter and Facebook engagement, Jenni is a social network enthusiast and has been blogging for a decade.

Posts by Jennifer (118)

StopTheHacker is a comprehensive website health monitoring solution that helps you and your customers guard against malware, injections and other forms of hacking. The service is activated from the control panel and there is no software to install, manage or update – it’s all done for you.

StopTheHacker is available in both Starter and Pro forms, and can be activated for your own websites as well as your customers’ websites. If you’re unfamiliar with how StopTheHacker works or what it does, you can find out more details on our StopTheHacker reseller page or check out the various marketing resources available in your Reseller Control Centre.

Why should I sell StopTheHacker to my customers?

As well as adding to your services and giving your customers more buying choice, StopTheHacker also has huge ethical advantages. Keeping on top of security is essential for all website owners, and this is a great way to help your customers protect themselves against worms, malware and infections.

If you have a close relationship with your clients, for example you handle their web design, SEO or similar services as well, having StopTheHacker installed on their sites can save you time and stress in the event that their site is compromised. It also allows them or you to check at a glance if a site is compromised rather than having a suspicion it might be and having to trawl through thousands or even millions of lines of code.

Part of a StopTheHacker report highlighting unclean areas of a site.

Offering StopTheHacker for free

Heart Internet Resellers benefit from an exclusive discount on the StopTheHacker Starter Package, so it only costs you £9.99 per month or £99.99 per year to install on as many hosting packages as you like. At that price, you can afford to give it away!

In addition to setting yourself apart from other web hosts by doing this, you can also include it as a benefit of other services you offer. For example, if you offer SEO, you can mention that clients’ websites are monitored for search engine blacklisting through StopTheHacker.

How to sell StopTheHacker

StopTheHacker is extremely easy to set up. Simply head to the ‘Manage Add-Ons’ section of the Reseller Control Centre and click StopTheHacker. From this page you can choose to add standalone StopTheHacker packages to websites or become a StopTheHacker reseller.

Once you have chosen to become a StopTheHacker reseller, you will be directed to a page with details and payment options:

Following your purchase, you can then enable StopTheHacker on the websites of your choice manually, or use HostPay or the API to allow customers to buy StopTheHacker directly from your website. Upgrading sites to StopTheHacker Pro is as simple as pressing a button.

Positioning StopTheHacker

Marketing materials
We’ve created a comprehensive data sheet about StopTheHacker, which contains statistics, images and copy you can use on your own website or even as a PDF or physical information sheet for your customers. Feel free to edit it as you wish, or simply use as is.

You may want to supplement a product page on your website with blog posts and social media updates based around the topic of security. Using security statistics and linking to your relevant product page is an easy way to create interest and add value without running the risk of repeating yourself over and over again or annoying people with direct sales messages.

What to avoid
Be careful you don’t imply that your customers need StopTheHacker to make up for insecure systems or servers as that is simply not true. The vast majority of websites are compromised through code exploits rather than anything at server level, and all our servers have extremely high levels of security in addition to being monitored 24/7.

Complementary products and services

StopTheHacker sits well with the comprehensive email virus scanning solution you can also offer to your customers. You could also create a page or bundle based around the importance of security and include SSL certificates along with email virus scanning and StopTheHacker. As the StopTheHacker Starter Package is a fixed cost no matter how many websites you install it on, you could offer a discount for customers taking up two or three of the security trio you offer.

StopTheHacker is a great service for websites and hosting packages of all sizes, so it will sit well with everything from the smallest hosting package to the most powerful VPS. Everyone benefits from more secure websites, so it’s an essential product to offer all your web hosting customers.

Name:Jenni Brown

About:Jenni is Heart Internet's SEO & Social Media Marketing Executive. Responsible for blogging, SEO and Heart Internet's Twitter and Facebook engagement, Jenni is a social network enthusiast and has been blogging for a decade.

Posts by Jennifer (118)

By offering a web builder as well as web hosting, you significantly increase your potential customer base. Additionally, as a Reseller Pro customer you’ll get an exclusive 25% off the standard price.

You can use our ready to go white label marketing collateral to help position the product amongst your clients and customers and provide compelling reasons to buy the product.

• Email marketing templates

• Product data sheets

• Website copy

A couple of screen shots:

Demo on your website
You can also provide customers with the opportunity to have a play with the software before they buy. The demo is completely white label and you can link to it directly from your website. You can find this in the Setup demos section of your RCC.

Tell us what you want
Remember, all these are completely free and you can use them for any purpose you see fit. If you have any ideas for something new we could provide resellers with, let us know in the comments below.

Name:Matthew Telfer

About:Matthew is Heart Internet's Marketing Manager, and has held senior marketing positions in the web hosting industry for 5 years. With a passion for online marketing, Matthew is responsible for shaping strategy and developing the Heart Internet brand.

Posts by Matthew (250)

Romazzino!

Romazzino is a rather tasty-looking Italian restaurant based in Cheshire. With a great looking website and the ability to book online, Romazzino is a great example of how a local business can co-exist online and offline.

Congratulations are also in order for our fantastic second and third place winners, the Ayrshire Wedding Directory and Roger Griffiths Photography respectively.

April was a stiff competition, and we’d like to thank all our talented finalists for taking part. If you’d like to have a go, you can find out how to enter below.

Nominations for May’s contest are now open!

Got a website hosted with Heart Internet? Then you can enter it (or a client’s site) for our next Website of the Month competition. Simply email the URL(s) to wotm[at]heartinternet.co.uk before midnight on the 7th May. Six finalists will be selected and voting for May’s contest will run from 8th – 31st May.

Please note that if you’ve submitted your website before and you didn’t make it to the final six, your website will be put forward into the nominations pool automatically so there’s no need to email us again – we still have your entry.

Check out the terms and conditions or find out more about the prizes.

Name:Jenni Brown

About:Jenni is Heart Internet's SEO & Social Media Marketing Executive. Responsible for blogging, SEO and Heart Internet's Twitter and Facebook engagement, Jenni is a social network enthusiast and has been blogging for a decade.

Posts by Jennifer (118)

What we need from you

• High proficiency in coding standards compliant websites in XHTML/CSS.
• In-depth knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite (ideally Fireworks, Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign).
• An understanding of JavaScript and popular JS libraries such as jQuery.
• Understanding of web usability and information architecture, knowledge of wireframes and mock-ups (UI & IA Design) would be beneficial.
• Experience in creating promotion material e.g. web banners, newsletters etc would be beneficial.
• You should have a natural flair for creative design as well as knowledge of web design and design tools.
• Be passionate about the industry and willing to keep up-to-date with the latest web design trends.
• Ability to clearly articulate ideas to line manager and other non-design team members to gain sign-off.
• Experience in designing for print would be beneficial but not essential.
• A positive, can do attitude and a strong team player.

What you will be doing

Working closely with our senior web designer, your role will include:
• Designing & implementing new and exciting marketing strategies.
• Updating our main website and its accompanying promotional material.
• Contributing to our company by being a key part of our team.

What you will get from us

• Competitive salary.
• Great pension benefits.
• Free snacks, fresh coffee and soft drinks.
• No dress code.
• Relocation assistance for those who qualify.
• Your choice of OS for your desktop.
• A technical, geeky environment that encourages learning and ideas.

If you’ve been recommended this page by a friend, feel free to check out our About page to find out more about us, or see the other job positions we currently have open.

Interested in applying? Contact marketing[at]heartinternet.co.uk and include your CV and a cover letter. We’d love to see some samples of your work as well.

Name:Jonathan Brealey

About:As a Director and Co-founder of Heart Internet, Jonathan developed the company based around innovative features, user-friendly functionality and excellent customer support. Jonathan has been a key player in shaping the UK web hosting industry since 1997, having co-founded WebFusion with Tim Beresford.

Posts by Jonathan (80)

To register a UK domain name for up to ten years, simply find an available name via our domain name search or 360 Name Finder from 1st May. Add any .co.uk, .org.uk, and .me.uk names to your basket as normal, and then choose the number of years you want to register them for at the checkout.

The prices will be as follows:

- Single year registration: £3.99 ex VAT
- Multi-year registration (2 years +): £2.99 per year ex VAT

Changes to Domain Credits

Our domain credits system helps you save money on registering and renewing domain names by offering discounts for bulk buying. Find out more about Heart Internet domain credits and the domain robot.

In addition to the current domain credits system, you will be able to purchase one-year UK domain credits. These are specifically for one year .co.uk, .me.uk and .org.uk registrations. If you wish to register a domain name for an odd number of years beyond that (3, 5, 7, or 9 years), you will need to pay by card. If you wish to register any domain (.uk or otherwise) for multiple years, you will need to purchase our standard domain credits. If you would like to buy a .com, .net, .org or any other non-UK domain extension for a year, you will need to use standard domain credits.

There will be no discounts for single year UK domain name credits. Multi-year .UK domain name credits will cost the following:

- UK Domain Credits X 5 = £29.80  (£5.96 per domain)
- UK Domain Credits X 10 = £59.60 (£5.96 per domain)
- UK Domain Credits X 25 = £144.50 (£5.78 per domain)
- UK Domain Credits X 50 = £279.00 (£5.58 per domain)

FAQ

I already have a domain name, will I be able to renew it for anywhere between one and ten years?
Yes, you will be able to renew .uk names for the same periods of time as new registrations.

What are the advantages of registering domain names for longer periods?
• You can take advantage of our domain credits system to save money on longer registration periods.
• You can benefit from the current prices and avoid potential increases in renewal fees for the duration of the domain’s registration.
• You don’t have to worry about renewals every year or two or risk losing your domain.
• Some search engine optimisation specialists believe that domains that are renewed for long periods of time carry more authority (you’re showing you’re committed to the website).

Will I be able to transfer my .uk domain names as normal?
Yes, you can transfer domain names in and out as you need. You don’t have to be tied into the same registrar for the full period of your registration.

Update: HostPay users can now allow their customers to register .uk domains for between one and ten years as well.

Name:Ricky Hayes

About:A valued member of the Heart Internet team since 2007, Ricky is a System Administrator responsible for looking after the company's webservers, mailservers, upgrades and security.

Posts by Ricky (18)