Domain or URL? What you register for your .at website

Start with the name you want to keep

A course organiser wants an address for her own project. Her current sign-up page sits deep inside another website, and she wonders whether she needs to buy the entire link. The first decision is the domain name she wants to use. Write down two or three alternatives ending in .at and check each separately. Make a separate note of the page you eventually want visitors to see. This keeps naming manageable even before you know which booking system or website service you will use over the longer term. Check availability and any existing naming rights separately.

Read a web address as separate parts

For explanation only, consider https://www.example.org/kurse?termin=mai#anmeldung. IANA reserves example.org for documentation; it is not an available name to order. The table identifies the parts of this example address. Choose your own name for a new .at address, and do not copy this example into DNS settings or an order.

A page does not need another domain registration

If you later want contact, courses and directions pages under your own domain, you do not buy three more domains for them. You plan those pages in your website system. Check with that service which paths are supported and how you can name them. Conversely, adding /kurse does not make someone else’s registered domain available to you. Inventing a path on another website does not give you access there either. Keep the search for an available name separate from the question of which content you can publish under your own address. That distinction makes an order easier to assess.

Ask for two different addresses in a website proposal

If someone is building a website for you, ask them to specify both the exact domain name and the complete public destination address. Record who manages the website and who retains the domain account. A preview address or editing link is not automatically the address intended for your customers. Before ordering, ask whether your chosen service supports a custom domain and what service level you need. Our .at registration does not include website hosting or an email mailbox. A short clarification now helps you avoid buying a suitable name while the connection you actually need is still unplanned.

Do not edit DNS to enter a page path

When an instruction includes a complete destination address, establish the task first: are you connecting your domain to a website, or sending visitors to a particular existing page? Do not experiment by pasting a long page link into a DNS target field. Ask for the required values with their field names. With us, you can manage DNS using the default nameservers or use custom nameservers; creating individual website pages remains a separate task. Follow the relevant connection or forwarding instructions rather than trying to derive technical settings from the visible URL. This also gives support a clearer question to answer.

Choose links that can survive a website revision

Before using a specific page address on printed material, profiles or messages, consider how long you intend to maintain it. A link to your current course list may be more useful than a link to one sign-up page that has already expired. Agree with your website manager what should happen to older links when content changes. Keep a small list showing where each important link is used, its complete address and the responsible person. A later revision can then account for links people actually have. Retaining the domain helps, but does not replace maintaining the content those links point to.

Test the complete link before sharing it

Open the exact address you intend to publish on your phone and on another device. Also use a private browser window so an existing sign-in does not hide a problem. Does the link reach the correct public page, the intended offer and the right language? Where possible, copy the address from the approved public view instead of retyping slashes or extra details from memory. Do not use a personal booking, account or editing link as the general address for your project. If the result is wrong, give the website manager the precise public address and a short description of what you see instead.

• The name and extension match your confirmed domain registration.
• The shared link reaches the intended public page.
• It works without your existing signed-in session.
• You have recorded important links and responsibility for later changes.

Budget separately for the domain and website service

A standard new .at domain at atdomain.at costs €12.99 total for the first year. Renewal currently costs €15.99 total per additional year. Prices checked on 1 November 2026. At unchanged prices, the initial year and one later annual renewal would total €28.98. Additional page paths on your website are not extra domain registrations, although your website or booking service may have its own charges. Review that offer separately. Place your order once the name, holder information and intended use fit together, then wait for confirmed registration before treating the new address as secured.