Can I Use Shopify If I Already Have A Website
For instance, the domain name example.com might translate to the physical address 198.102. 434.8. Other examples of domain names are google.com and wikipedia.org. Using a domain name to identify a location on the Internet rather than the numeric IP address makes it much easier to remember and type web addresses.
How Do My Customers Remember My Name
Most store owners make a reasonable good living from eCommerce, but we will not hit the big time like Coke or Nike . Create a name that is either memorable or tells your customers what you are selling.
Maybe you should think of what your store is selling and give it a more descriptive name. When you use a more descriptive name, the chances of popping up when people are searching, are higher than if you have a cutesy name.
Step 2. Do some research before you decide on a name.
You want to make sure your competitor does not own the domain you really want because your customers will automatically assume you own the .com and voila, your competitor has new customers thanks to you.
Double-check the domain is not closely related to an inappropriate adult site. This scenario has serious unwanted complications!
MOST IMPORTANT!
If somebody else already owns the domain name you have already chosen, do some research. Research to see who owns the domain name and what they are selling.
You might be able to buy the domain name for a fee. It might be worth it if it is exactly the name that you want.
Step 3. Choose several names!
There is no wrong or right method in choosing a domain name except for the few tips below.
How To Name Your Shopify Store
Choosing a domain name for your Shopify store is no easy task, especially if you havent developed your brand yet! You need to take many things into consideration when looking for a good name, such as:
- What products or services will you offer to your customers?
- Is your store going to be focused on a specific niche product or will you be taking a more general approach?
- Where is your main target market going to be located?
- What makes you different from the competition?
- Will your customers identify with the domain name you choose?
- Is the domain name easy to remember?
- Does it represent what the store is about?
- What does Google show when you search for the domain name without the suffix ?
Once you come up with 5 to 10 ideas, sort them from best to worst and search for each in the domain box of Shopifys Domain Name Generator. It will tell you if the name is available or not. It may be possible to buy a domain that Shopify lists as unavailable, but you will need to search for that domain on a third-party domain provider site to see if the owner is willing to negotiate a selling price.
If none of the domains on your list are available, you can try different variations of the name until you find the right one for your brand. For example, if the name BestPrices.com is not available, then you may have luck with variations such as TheBestPrices.com, TheBestPrice.com, BestPriceOnline.com, etc.
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The Right Way To Set Up Shopify
It’s so tempting to upload your products and then get back to all the less important work at hand. But before you start uploading, it is imperative that you follow my methodology for success – or else more headaches await in the future!
You’ll want to set up your Shopify Theme right away, but I like to set the foundation of your store before we implement all the options in your theme, like collections, products, pages, etc. This is part of a series of articles how to set up your Shopify store. Shopify Theme right away.
Preparing in advance will make things easier on you. It’ll give your business a better chance to compete with established businesses because they are using all their tools and resources whereas if you’re scrambling at launch, it could be too late for them to catch up!
The list below contains everything youll need to get your online store off the ground. Read it, assemble the items, and prepare to work long hours.
Include Your Brand Name If Possible
If you have a distinct store name, then it may be possible to set your domain name as simply .com. But theres always a possibility that someone already has that domain name.
More generic store names need to get creative, maybe by adding a noun or adjective to the brand name. For example, if your store name is The Smith Store and you specialize in candles, your domain name could be www.thesmithstorecandles.com.
Read Also: How To Transfer Godaddy Domain To Shopify
What Is The Difference Between A Domain Name And Web Hosting
A domain name is different to web hosting as the latter is where your website lives. Several companies offer a combination of domain name registration and web hosting to make it easy for people to launch a website. However, there are no strict requirements as you can also buy them separately from different companies.
Buying A Domain Through Shopify
Note
Domains has moved from the Online store page to the Settings page in your Shopify admin. To access your domain settings for your online store, go to Settings> Domains.
To help you set up your domain and manage all your domain settings from your Shopify admin, you can buy a domain through Shopify. If this domain is the first domain that you add to Shopify, then it’s automatically configured to be the web address thats displayed to customers. If you already use a domain with your store, then the new domain automatically redirects to your primary domain.
After you buy your domain through Shopify, you can do the following tasks on the Domains in your Shopify admin:
- editing your domain settings
- setting up forwarding email addresses
- paying for your domain
- renewing your domain
Domains purchased through Shopify are registered for one year, and can be renewed annually. After you buy a domain, you cant change the URL that you chose during purchase. Domain purchases are non-refundable.
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How To Buy A Domain
Buying and registering a domain name is a fairly straightforward process. The first step is to research the availability of your desired domain. If its available, compare the prices and terms of a few domain registrars . Once you buy, youll want to subscribe to a web hosting plan and build your site.
Keep Your Services Separate
Its never a good idea to have all your services with one company. With Shopify you would end up using them for every aspect of your online store. From your domain name, hosting, CMS and the online store website builder. All with one company.
While the upside of this is ease of use, what happens if you ever want to move your store away from Shopify? Then it becomes a bit complicated and even more so if your domain name is registered through them. You can move a domain name from Shopify domain to a domain registrar, which is called a domain name transfer, but that process is costly in terms of time and price.
So why not save money and keep your portfolio of domains at a domain name registrar? On top of that, Shopify is registering your domain name on your behalf through a domain name registrar anyways and adding a small fee to make a profit. Instead, why not cut out Shopify from the equation and just register directly yourself?
Read Also: How To Transfer Squarespace Domain To Godaddy
Boost Inventory Listings To Increase Reach And Sales
What makes local inventory ads so valuable is that theyre only seen by shoppers that are close by and looking for products you sell. Every dollar you spend to boost your listings will help your products be seen by people actively looking to buy. Maximize your ad bids during store hours to improve their efficiency even more.
Local inventory ads are a great way to reach our customers with relevant product information when they go online to search, says Rahel Götz, Team Lead for Online Performance at SportCheck. In fact, local inventory ads led to 108% more shop visits and over two times more revenue from store traffic driven by local inventory ads.
What To Consider When Deciding On A Custom Domain Name
Here are a few questions you should ask when deciding on a custom domain name.
- Will my business operate out of its native country?
- In such cases, a regional custom domain name with extensions such as might be the best choice.
Read Also: How Much Does It Cost To Buy A Domain
Update Domain Settings To Connect To Shopify
If you decide to go ahead and purchase your domain through Namecheap or another third party domain registrar, then you need to edit a couple of settings. You are going to need to change to parts of the DNS Settings :
Thats it just two edits to overwrite the default entries.
To change these DNS settings, you just need to log into your third party domain registrars account, find the domain and click edit settings.
For Namecheap, this is how you do it:
It should look like this:
Now the final step is to just verify the connection.
Transfer The Domain To Shopify
Once you successfully transfer the domain to Shopify, itll take over responsibility for the domain name.
This means that you will no longer be able to access the website or email accounts associated with the domain name.
If you need to keep these services active, you will need to continue paying for them through Shopify.
Recommended Reading: What To Do After Buying A Domain Name
Key Features Of Godaddy
GoDaddy has gained significant popularity in the market. Some of the key features of GoDaddy include:
- Dedicated Server Plans: GoDaddy provides dedicated service plans for customers who want the best performance, security, and control. You can choose GoDaddys dedicated server plans if you have a large site with thousands of monthly visits.
- Web Hosting: GoDaddy offers 4 different hosting options: Shared, Dedicated, Virtual Private Server, and Reseller. All 4 hosting services differ in Server Space, Data Center Infrastructure, Website Management Level, and additional resources.
- WordPress Hosting: WordPress is one of the most widely used Blogging platforms in the world, accounting for 17% of all websites. This type of hosting is suitable for those who run a WordPress-based website.
- E-Commerce Solutions: Users can utilize GoDaddys E-Commerce solution to create an online store. Its basically a GoDaddy hosting plan with pre-installed WooCommerce.
To know more about GoDaddy, visit this link.
Buy A Shopify Domain Using The Shopify Mobile App
1. Open the Shopify App on your mobile device and press the Store icon in the bottom right corner.
2. In the Sales channels section press Online Store.
3. Press Domains
4. Press the BUY NEW DOMAIN button at the top.
5. Type the domain you want to buy into the domain search box and see the domains available.
6. Choose the domain you want and press the Buy button next to it.
7. Add your payment details and complete your purchase.
8. Return to the Domains screen. If your new domain is ready it will be listed here. Press the Change primary domain link.
9. Select your new domain from the list and press Save.
Congratulations! Your new Shopify domain is ready to go.
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Can You Move Your Domain Name From Shopify
Like we said earlier, having all of your services tied to one company is never a good idea. Your store is already tied to Shopify and buying a domain name from the platform ties your domain name, CMS, and hosting to Shopify.
You get the ease of setup and use as weve mentioned several times already but this comes at the expense of the ease of moving your domain name from Shopify.
Make no mistake, you can move your domain name from Shopify. The process is called domain name transfer. Moving your domain name from Shopify is a very complicated process that will cost you quite a lot of money and effort.
Its due to the stress of moving your domain from Shopify that we recommend that users register their domains through a domain name registrar. Your business could really grow in the future and you might want to move from domain Shopify for more control and flexibility in your store, theme, website, feel, and so on.
How Do I Register A Domain Name Without A Registrar
Making money on Shopify doesnt even require you to sell anything at all, in some cases. The Shopify affiliate marketing program lets you earn money per successful referral made from your account to the Shopify platform. The more sellers youre able to bring into the fold for Shopifys platform, the more youll earn.
Read Also: Do I Need Private Domain Registration
Best 11 Domain Name Registrars For Shopify
- Shopify
- DNSimple
- Pros Purchasing a domain name from outside Shopify will save you a couple of dollars!
- Cons Purchasing a domain name from outside the Shopify platform would require some technical work to integate it into your online store, and you wont take the advantage of the automated setup and the zero domain configuration option!
Two: Prepare The Domain For Transfer
Log in to your domain account. Make sure the email address associated with the account is current, functional, and not tied to the domain you wish to transfer.
Unlock the domain you wish to transfer. The exact process for this varies slightly from one domain registrar to the next, but is typically done by visiting the domain settings and clicking Unlock.
If you do not see the option to unlock the domain, chances are the domain is not eligible for transfer.
Once the domain is ready for transfer, youll receive a transfer key, also known as an EPP code or transfer authorization code.
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