How to Register .PK Domain in Pakistan?

We are living in the information age and knowledge-based economy. A website is a primary tool of functioning in this age. The preliminary step would be to register a domain name for your new site, if anyone wants to run any online business or desires to create any online blogs.

What is a Domain name?

The domain name is the address of a website that people type into the URL bar of their browser when they want to visit a site. The key job of a domain name is to enable computers to find the server where a website is hosted, so the files can be recovered and the website is served to the user. Domain names also play a significant role in marketing and SEO purposes.

The efficacy of the domain name depends upon some factors:

• Like, the uniqueness of the domain name will remain memorable to the users. So, the visitors will always have that name stuck in the back of their minds. There are a number of chances that users will revisit a website that would have a memorable name.
• The domain name must denote and encourage your brand. You can even use the name of your business as a domain name. The primary motive is to reinforce your brand through a catchy domain.
• The domain name that encompasses keywords which you want your website to rank for can greatly improve your website’s SEO.

.PK Domain Name Structure:

The Domain Structure is another very important aspect that must be kept in mind. Every new domain which is registered under .PK, has to be affiliated with one of the following second-level or third-level domains. General instructions for each category will be discussed in the next paragraph.

.PK	General Second Level Domains without .com.pk etc Suffix
.COM.PK	General Business, or Individual
.NET.PK	Network Related Business
.ORG.PK	Non-profit Organizations
.FAM.PK	Family and Individuals
.BIZ.PK	General Business, Promotional
.WEB.PK	Web Sites
.EDU.PK	Educational Institutes
.GOV.PK	Domains for Government of Pakistan
.GOB.PK	Domains for Government of Baluchistan
.GOG.PK	Domains for Government of Gilgit Baltistan
.GKP.PK	Domains for Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
.GOP.PK	Domains for Government of Punjab
.GOS.PK	Domains for Government of Sindh
.GOK.PK	Domains for Government of Azad Kashmir

.PK Domain Restrictions:

The structure above is quite clear. Now we should talk about the restrictions which are imposed while registering a domain. All the requests for the registration of domain must remain in line with the PKNIC registration policy agreement. There is a list of restrictions given below which must be given regard:

1. The maximum domain name length is 63 characters (excluding the .pk portion), and the maximum length is 67 characters including .pk suffix
2. For second level .PK domains, the minimum length for the domain name, exclusive of the .pk portion is four characters (e.g. 1234.pk) .
3. For third level .COM.PK, etc domains, the minimum domain name of one character are allowed (e.g. a.com.pk). The label “pk” and all the second level suffix names are reserved for these domain types (e.g. can not register pk.com.pk, net.com.pk, com.com.pk, gov.com.pk, etc).
4. A domain name can not begin with a dash “-“, and can not have two consecutive dashes “–“in it. These are reserved for IDN encodings
5. Generic dictionary words are allowed (unless they violate other terms set forth here or in the general PKNIC Registration Policy).
6. The domain name is not present in the list of reserved or blocked names.  Examples of reserved namespace are INFO.PK, NAME.PK, etc.
7. The new registration and/or renewal of classes of domain names identified as Disallowed classes of Domain Names (listed below) shall not be allowed.

In Pakistan, PKNIC is responsible for providing and registering Domain names:

PKNIC provides domain names in the .PK ccTLD (country code Top Level Domain) namespace. This includes domain names with .pk, .com.pk, ,net.pk, ,org.pk, .web.pk, .fam.pk, .edu.pk, as well as various government only subdomains like .gov.pk etc. Clients can buy domain names directly here or are encouraged to contact our authorized channel partners and resellers to buy .PK domain names and additional services like web hosting.

How to Register .PK Domain Name in Pakistan?

Here are the following steps to register a domain name on PKNIC

How to check if your .pk / .com.pk domain is available?

Log on to https://www.pknic.net.pk/

Usama.com.pk isn’t available as per the WHOIS Records

Let’s Try usamaanjum.pk

Okay great, now that usamaanjum.pk is available. We’ll proceed to how you can actually create an account at PKNIC and register usamaanjum.pk domain in Pakistan on your name.

In order to do that, you first need to get Domain Credits by Paying PKNIC the cost of the domain and then using those credits to purchase/register the domain.

How to Create an Account on PKNIC?

• Firstly, You need to create an account on PKNIC. To do that, click the get started button at the top right.

• Fill in your information!

Submit that info and you are done with that!

How to Buy Domain Credits on PKNIC?

In order to register a domain, you need to have Domain Credits available in your account. To get domain credits, follow these steps below.

Step 1: Log in to your account!

Step 2: Pay in order to Get “Domain Credits”!

As in the image above, there isn’t any domain credits available in my account to be able to purchase a domain. So, we need to get domain credits, and in order to do that you need to go to the billing section and add domain credits! You can pay via Bank Draft or Cheque, by a Prepaid Card or a Credit Card.

Payments via Credit Cards!

Credit card payments are simple and you’d do them easily.

Payments Via Cheques

To send your payments by a Cheque, you need to make cheques payable to ‘PKNIC (PVT) Ltd’ and write your .PK account number (or domain name for renewal only) on the back of the cheque. You also need to print and include this payment slip with your payment.

Send your cheque at:

PKNIC Collection
84 Tipu Block, Garden Town
Lahore. Pakistan

Payments Via Prepaid Cards

If you do not have a credit card or a bank account of your own, you can always try getting a prepaid card from an authorized reseller in Pakistan

https://pk6.pknic.net.pk/pk5/ppc.PK

Choose your City!

Contact any of the resellers and ask for a prepaid card and pay them accordingly.

.PK Domain Price/Fee?

• For domain registrant based in Pakistan, a domain fee of Rs. 1175/- per year will be charged.
• For domain registrant or their registrar located outside Pakistan, a fee of $24 per domain per year is charged.
• The fee is charged on a biennial basis (two year period) and can be paid up to a maximum of ten years.

Finally, How to Register .PK Domain Using the Domain Credits you Purchased?

• Log in to your account
• Click the “Register Domain” button at the top left and add your information to the form and proceed!

That’s it, you are done with the Domain Registration! You can add DNS Nameservers later on if you do provide them at the time of applying.

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