Domain Registration And Management
Namecheap has more options for top-level domains, as well as a simpler domain management interface, compared to Squarespace.
Namecheap offers the most popular TLDs
A Squarespace subscription entitles a user to a free custom domain for one year. This automatically renews after the eligible period. Soon after, your domain will be charged based on standard rates inclusive of applicable taxes. Domains purchased through the platform are currently hosted by two registrars: Tucows and Squarespace Domains LLC.
Paid Squarespace subscribers can also register additional domains. The platform has over 200+ top-level domains in its directory, including the most popular options like .com, .net, and .org. Your Squarespace domain can also be used to point to another site or forward to a subdomain.
Being a standalone domain registrar, Namecheap will give you more options. The company has nearly 500 of the most popular domains offered at competitive prices, including country code TLDs as well as a wide selection of generic TLDs proposed by ICANN. Registering on Namecheap also gives users a free email address for a 2-month trial.
But perhaps what makes Namecheap a really popular choice is its interface. The platforms control panel is uncluttered and easy to navigate. This makes managing domains, changing DNS settings, or even transferring a domain less cumbersome. Its hard to say the same for Squarespace since the website builder has to balance a host of other features, too.
Porkbun Review The Best Renewal Pricing On The Market
What good is a cherry domain name if you cant keep it? Weve all heard the horror stories of losing prime URL real estate on expiration. You spend the time brainstorming ideas, find an available domain, and buy it only to have all your hard work wiped away after a year.
There are two options for avoiding thisbuy a domain for as long as possible upfront or find a registrar with affordable, predictable renewal pricing.
For the latter, I recommend Porkbun.
They offer a killer combination of some of the best first-year price deals on new, trending, and alternative extensions as well as the best renewal rates nearly across the board. They beat the market on renewal pricing for over 200 domain extensions.
Look, its going to be ridiculously hard to find an available .com for your keywords at this point in the game. Unless youve gone the startup route of naming your company a cheeky misspelling of a real word, .com URLs are rare to find. Even if you do, youre going to have to pay out the nose for it.
But you dont need a .com or even a .net to have a memorable, easy-to-type web address. Think about the array of extensions that roll off the tongue and make sense for the purpose of your site, the industry you inhabit, or the type of people you want to visit.
Here are a few examples and the excellent rates you can find on Porkbun for them:
Heck, take a look at their renewal pricing on .com extensions against some of the big names:
Check Domain Name Availability
After you choose a domain name, check its availability. You can type a domain into your navigation bar, a search engine, or use a dedicated domain name search database to make sure its available to purchase.
Its best practice to have a few domain name options ready in case your first choice is taken. If your preferred domain name is unavailable, take a moment to think about what the replacement should be ideally, once you get your domain, you wont want or need to change it anytime soon. Try simple variations like including the or my at the front of your domain name, or changing the TLD. If youre set on a specific domain, you can also reach out to the owner and see if theyre willing to sell, and at what price.
If youre launching a business, consider buying multiple domains including common alternate spellings of your brand name, and international domains if you plan to scale so visitors have more ways to find you. You can move, forward, or point domains to ensure people land exactly where you want them to, no matter which domain they use.
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Transfer Domain Name To Reg Names
To transfer your domain to our registrar, you need to make sure you stick to the following steps:
Were going to elaborate on each of the steps below to make the entire process easier for you.
Move My Domain To Another Godaddy Account
You can transfer a domain name from your GoDaddy account into another GoDaddy account with a domain account change. Your domain is not eligible for an account change if its pending a contact update approval, within one day of expiration, expired or already undergoing an account change.
Note: Youll need to verify your identity if you have domain protection on your domain. Well send a verification code automatically if youve had 2-step verification enabled in your account for more than 72 hours. Otherwise, select Send Password and well send a one-time password to your registrant email address.
Youll receive a confirmation notice stating Your transfer is in progress.
Required:
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How To Choose A Domain Extension
When you pick a domain name, you need to choose a domain extension, which is also called a top level domain . The TLD is the part of the URL that comes after the last period in your website domain name. Common top level domains include .com, .org, and .net, but you can also customize your domain with options like .me or .bio for an online portfolio, or .fitness for a gym or personal training business.
Godaddy Vs Squarespace Key Features
In this section, were going to take a look at what Squarespace and GoDaddy have to offer in terms of key features. Different people have different ideas in regards to what represents a key feature. For example, some might be mainly interested in website builders while others may want to know about eCommerce tools. Youll probably find some of the features discussed below to be more crucial than others, but its important to note that they are all important in their own right.
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How To Buy A Domain Name: Domain Registration Guide
What you need to know about domain names, how to choose the right one, and the steps to take to check if a domain name is available and to register your domain.
If you want to start a blog or a new online business, youll need to register a domain name, the name for your website. Getting the right domain for your needs might sound technical at first, but the process is pretty simple.
This domain registration guide will tell you what you need to know about domain name extensions, how to choose the right one for your needs, and the steps youll need to take to check if a domain name is available and to register your domain.
Transfer Status Error Messages
If your domain displays an error message, you can clear it depending on the message:
- Domain is locked – This message displays if the domain is locked, which blocks the transfer. To fix the issue, log into your domain provider and unlock the domain. After unlocking the domain, this message will clear.
- – This message displays if your domain provider rejected the authorization code you entered in Step 3. To fix the issue, ensure the authorization code is correct, enter it in the error message’s text field, then click Submit. We suggest copying and pasting the code for accuracy. After entering the correct authorization code, this message will clear.
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Transferring Vs Connecting Domains
There are two ways to use a custom domain from a third-party for your Squarespace-built website. You can transfer the domain to Squarespace, or you can connect it.
Transferring a Domain
This is Squarespaces recommended way to use a custom domain for their websites. If you transfer your domain, you can manage and control both your domain and website through Squarespace.
Note: In order to transfer a domain, it must be included on Squarespaces list of available TLDs.
Squarespace makes transferring a domain super simple. Just visit this site and follow the prompts.
Connecting a Domain
Sometimes, users want to keep their domain name with their current third-party provider, yet still use it for their Squarespace site. This is possible by connecting your domain. Just note: youll have to manage your domain and website on each separate platform.
If you choose to go this route, heres how youd accomplish it:
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In the Home Menu of your Squarespace website, click Settings, then clickDomains.
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Enter the fulldomain nameyou’reconnectingin theDomain Namefield, then click Continue.
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Select yourdomainprovider from the drop-down menu
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Then clickConnect Domain.
A Domain Name Is Part Of A Full Web Address
The http:// or https:// and the www. part of the web address that you type in your browser are not part of the domain name that you choose. They are added automatically by the company that hosts your website and can vary depending on how your website is set up. But you can usually type in just a domain name to open the website you want to see.
So, for the web address https://www.celebrationofreiki.org, the domain name is celebrationofreiki.org.
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Should You Transfer Your Domain To Squarespace
Squarespace is the website builder youve always wanted to use. But does that mean you should transfer your domain name to it?
If you already own a domain name and you want to create a website on Squarespace on it, you are given two options: You can point the domain name to your Squarespace website, or you can transfer it to Squarespace from your existing registrar.
Which option should you choose?
The long answer short is that it depends on what you want to achieve. Each of these two options has its pros and cons andto help you decideI will walk you through them in this post.
Forward To A Different Squarespace Site
Instead of forwarding the domain, move it to the other site. You dont need to use a forwarding preset, meaning youll go through fewer steps. Moving your domain also moves your domain subscription to the second site, letting you manage all relevant site subscriptions in one place.
To use a subdomain on the other site, create a subdomain after moving the root domain. You can then set the subdomain as the sites primary domain.
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Rules For Domain Names
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Use only letters. You can’t use most punctuation marks and although hyphens are allowed, it’s hard for people to type them, so avoid them too. The same holds true for numbers.
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Use typical spelling. Don’t try to be clever with the spelling of your website domain. People often tell someone about a website verbally. Make sure you and others can speak the name of your website and the listener will know how to type it without special instructions about spelling.
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Try to keep the business part of your domain name between 6 and 14 letters, the shorter the better. If you can’t come up with an ideal short name, then try to use words that will be memorable as your “brand” when typed together. If at least one of those words is a word that someone might search for, even better. The domain name CelebrationofReiki.org is an example of a slightly longer name that is memorable as a phrase and also uses the search word “Reiki.”
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Make sure the name looks good when typed in all lower-case letters too and doesn’t have any unexpected combinations of letters that might form other words you wouldn’t want your potential clients distracted by, such as salesexcellence.com. Some people might see “sex” before they see “sales,” you know, or is it just me?
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Check that the name you want to use isn’t already trademarked or used on social media. You can look up the domain name on Knowem.com to be sure.
How Do I Transfer My Godaddy Website
Move my domain to another GoDaddy account
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Transfer Your Domain To A Different Domain Registrar
If your domain is managed by a provider that doesnt support all the necessary DNS records, you can transfer it to a different registrar. When you transfer the domain, you change who you send payments to in order to renew and keep your domain name.
Request the transfer at the registrar that you want to move your domain to. Look on their website for an option such as Transfer DNS. Be aware that after they make the changes, it can take a few days update across the Internet.
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Here Are Some Facts That I Wish I Had Known About Domain Selection Several Years Ago:
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When you register a business, the name you chose, as well as your location, become public record.
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When you search for a URLs availability on GoDaddy or Google, those searches also become publicly available information.
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Right now, there are thousands of humans and robots combing these public records and snatching up the corresponding domain URLs before you can get around to buying them at a reasonable price.
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Domain selection can have a huge effect on your websites search performance.
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Godaddy Has Great Initial Pricing But Raises Your Domain Fee
GoDaddy is famous for offering dirt-cheap domain names, primarily for .com addresses. If you want an alternative address, such as .xyz, you may also find excellent deals. However, theres a big caveat to this domain pricing. The cheap pricing is only for the first year afterward, your pricing may increase dramatically. You can control some of this by registering your domain for 2+ years, but each year after the initial year will be billed at the full rate.
Google Domains doesnt offer dirt-cheap domains, but pricing is still reasonable. Also, when its time to renew, youre not going to get a big shock, as youll pay the same to renew as you did to register.
If youre looking for alternative domains such as .pub, .restaurant, or even .investments, compare GoDaddys renewal pricing with Google Domains before registering. While your first year may be cheaper, Google Domains may offer better pricing in the second year andbeyond. Of course, you could always sign up with GoDaddy at a low-cost price, then transfer the domain to Google Domains later getting the best of both worlds!
Search For And Buy A New Domain
Follow the instructions in the pop up to find a domain name and purchase it.
Youll need to sign in to your Google account or GoDaddy account, or signup for a new account if you do not have one.
You may need to add billing information if youve never used Google Checkout. This isnt connected to Webflows billing system.
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Editing Your A Record
This step will direct the A record for your domain to a SquareSpace IP. Before performing this step, you will need to be provided with that IP address by Squarespace.
Squarespace may provide you with up to 4 IP addresses. You can create multiple A records for your domain. First, edit any existing records to match using the instructions above if you already have more than 1 A record. Then, if additional A records are required:
Click on the + A Record button.
After editing and adding the desired records from Squarespace, check if you have any additional A records with different values from those provided by Squarespace. If yes, you should remove them:
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