I Received An Email Asking Me To Set Data Sharing Settings For My Domain
After registering a new domain, you’ll receive an email from customercare@squarespace.com asking you to set your data sharing preferences. One of our domain registrars, Tucows, requires that we send this email to comply with data regulations like GDPR. To view and edit that info, click the link in the email, or you can ignore it. Sharing your data is optional and your domain will work normally even if you don’t take any action.
Alternatives To Google Workspace Email Accounts For Squarespace
If you want a more affordable option than Google Workspace, its still possible to get a professional email account linked to your domain. You have two options there:
- Link an email account to the domain you bought on Squarespace
- Buy an email and domain from the same provider, then connect to Squarespace
Its always good practice to keep your email accounts and domain with the same company. This saves a lot of time and hassle in case you need to migrate later.
So for the cheaper providers? Weve always had great results with Namecheap. You can even get up to 5 free accounts with Zoho Workplace and there might be other solutions out there too.
Change The Name On Squarespace
Once youve decided on your name, head over to your Squarespace dashboard and go to SETTINGS> > DOMAINS. Then you will choose to get a new domain or use a domain you already own.
At this point the choice is yours. If you are going with an extension other than a .com, it may not be free on Squarespace and is cheaper somewhere else.
However, at some point you will probably want to have it administered by Squarespace, and youll have to pay to the transfer of that accomplished. And youll have to go into some deeper settings to get that done, which makes some people nervous.
Since I like to keep things simple, Id go with Squarespace from the beginning and get your new domain from them.
If you decide to purchase the domain from Squarespace, follow the steps to check out and, Congratulations, you now have a new domain associated with your site!
If you have purchased the name somewhere else, you can either transfer it to Squarespace or have it pointed to Squarespace. If you have just bought it you will probably have to point it to Squarespace as there is a waiting period to do that after the purchase of a domain.
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Squarespace Custom Domains Are Not The Cheapest
Another thing worth noting is, Squarespace domains are not the cheapest. A regular top-level domain through Squarespace runs at $20 after the first year.
While Squarespace tries to convince you that other domain name registrars charge $100 a year for the same domain, its simply not true! A quick search for the top level domain anawesomedomain.com, for instance, reveals that prices range from $0.88//year to $12/year , with varying level of services included.
Take . You can register anawesomedomain.com for $12 and renew it for the same amount every year. While a SSL certificate is not included, you get Whois privacy for free. So lets say youre planning on keeping your domain for 10 years: if you register it through Squarespace, youd be spending $180 just for the domain but youd be saving $60 when you do it through Google Domains.
This is just for original top-level domains like .com, .org, and .net. With new generic top-level domains like mine , Squarespace domains can be twice as expensive as the same domain you register with Google.
Purchase Your Domain In Squarespace
Your first option is to purchase this directly in Squarespace. The good news is, you can actually get one year free when you sign up for an annual plan. So thats pretty awesome!
In Squarespace, you are going to click on Settings, and then Domains, and, to purchase your domain, youre just going to click Get A Domain. Next, you can search for the domain that you want. Lets say that I wanted to do Louiseteaches.com. As you can see, that is available. It will let you know if not, so if you type in one that isnt available, it will say Taken.
Lets go back to that one – Im happy with that. You might be wondering about whether it needs to be a dot com all of that sort of thing. I definitely have a few tips for you which is in my free Guide and Ill leave a link to that in the description below.
Lets say that you are happy with that. All you need to do is click Add, then Proceed To Checkout, and fill in your information to register it. Click Continue. So, then all you need to do is click Place Order, and its going to give you that domain.
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One Year Of Free Domain For Yearly Plans
Squarespace offers a free domain when you buy a yearly subscription. It also works if youre using the free trial and upgrade to an annual plan. Same if youre on a monthly plan and upgrade to an annual plan.
- Once you select a domain, there is a five day grace period where you can still decide to change it. After that, its set in stone.
- Squarespace domains are set to auto-renew by default. You can disable the option in your Domains panel.
- After the first year, youll need to pay $20 per year for the domain. Depending on the TLD, there may also be taxes to pay on top.
Finally, if you want to buy additional domains, they will cost you $20 $70 each, depending on the TLD . Having multiple domains point to the same site can be useful for covering misspellings or translated versions of your domain name, for example.
About Squarespace TLDs TLD stands for Top Level Domain.Theyre also known as domain extensions. Squarespace lets you choose from more than 200 of them. The most common, like .com or .net are cheaper than specialised ones like .art , .software or .pizza .
Can I Get A Refund For A Domain
You can cancel your domain and receive a refund within five days of registration. We don’t offer refunds after this five-day grace period.
Your primary domain can’t be removed. If the domain you want to remove is your primary domain, first set a different primary domain.
To cancel your domain and receive a refund:
To learn more about refunds, visit Refund policies.
Read Also: Can I Transfer My Domain Name
Tips On Using Squarespace
To help businesses get started, the team at Squarespace offered the following tips on how to get the most out of using the service and building a website to grow your business online:
First, outline what kind of content you will put on your website and how it will be organized. Think carefully about the purpose of your website, consider how you can differentiate your project or business, and gather all your existing content in one spot this makes it easier to see how it all relates and fits together.
Be consistent. Whether you choose to update your site once a year or blog every week, create a plan and stick to it.
Once you have a content strategy ironed out, try to condense information onto as few pages as possible to avoid overcrowding your website. Question whether 20 pages and a five-folder navigation menu are necessary. Don’t make visitors dig too far to find what they are looking for. Often, a simple, three-page site for instance, a homepage, an about section and a blog or gallery is the perfect place to begin.
Consider the context. Your website should be the central place for your content. Social media channels can be used alongside your website to distribute information and create extra buzz or user engagement.
Don’t sweat the small stuff. Squarespace offers analytics, SEO, e-commerce, custom domains and social media integrations. An integrated service can be a powerful, timesaving tool for your small business.
What Comes With A Squarespace Domain
Squarespace lets you buy and register domains through their partner Tucows, and each domain comes with Whois privacy and SSL security. As is common practice these days, your domain will work with or without the www at the front.
But yes, youve guessed it: no free email address.
However, a nice little bonus is the parked page. You can use it to let visitors know your website is still under construction, and Squarespace gives you control over how it looks.
Nice bonus: Squarespace gives you some control over your parked page
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Set Up The Domain Name At The New Registrar
At this point, youll need to set up the domain name at your new registrar. Namecheap is an industry standard in domain names, and I highly recommend them.
Right in Namecheaps main menu is a link called Transfer to Us. Hover over that and select Transfer Domain.
Enter the name of the domain to transfer and follow the instructions. Youll be asked to enter the transfer key that you got from Squarespace.
Note: This is a professional review site that receives compensation when you purchase through the affiliate links at no extra cost to you. I personally test or research each product before endorsing it. This site is independently owned and the opinions expressed here are my own.
Editing Your Cname Entry
You almost certainly already have a CNAME entry set up in your domain’s Zone File for www. You will edit this existing CNAME to direct traffic to ext-cust.squarespace.com.
Read Also: How Can I Get A Domain Name For Free
How To Connect A Domain Name To Squarespace
Premium DNS offers you a reliable and secure cloud service that utilises multiple locations to ensure your DNS hosting is the fastest possible. In addtion, it allows you to set all types of DNS Records and take complete control over your DNS within your Account Manager.
For all other locales, this service upgrade can be added to any existing domain name. For UK, as per Registry policies, Premium DNS features are already included in every account upon registration.
Connecting a Domain to Squarespace
Included in its features, Premium DNS offers you an instant quick setup so you can connect your domain name to apps and websites like Squarespace.
Easily connect your domain to Squarespace within your Account Manager using the steps below:
Congratulations! You just connected your domain name to Squarespace.
Configure Registrar Dns Information
If a window labeled DNS Settings opened up and shows you information about your host, records, and required data, youll have to configure your DNS information yourself.
First, log into your domain registrars site. Typically, you will be looking for a domain menu that contains information and configuration options for your domain registration. Youll want to look for a DNS option, and the option to manage those DNS options.
If it seems like Im being a little vague here, its because every domain registrar has a slightly different configuration. The location of the specific menu items and buttons you need to click varies from registrar to registrar.
First, you will need to set the A records. A records are Address records. Heres a little aside about how domain names work :
Computers talk to each other primarily through numbers. Every computer and every server has an IP address that looks something like 127.0.0.1 or 192.168.1.1. When you type a domain name into your web browser, your browser checks a Domain Name System server and looks up the number that is associated with that name.
What youre setting now, through DNS records, is that association. Currently, your domain name points at some web hosting or to some default DNS servers for your hosts parking page. You need to tell the registrar which IP address it should point to namely, Squarespaces IP addresses.
Squarespace has four IP addresses youll need to configure as A records.
Recommended Reading: Who Owns Domain Name Checker
Can I Remove The Www From My Domain
Yes. You can remove the “www” from your domain.
You can only remove the “www” from a Squarespace domain you already registered, and it must be set as your primary domain.
Unless you’re absolutely sure that you want to only display your naked domain, this isn’t always necessary. Without changing any settings, visitors can find your site with or without typing “www” before it. If they type “yourdomain.com,” they’ll be taken to your domain, and the “www.yourdomain.com” will appear. This is a fairly standard practice across the internet.
Will Squarespace Help Me Purchase A Registered Domain From Someone Else
If the domain’s registrar is Squarespace Domains LLC, we can help you contact the domain owner. To send a message to the domain’s owner and inquire about purchasing it, fill out this domain contact form.
If the domain’s registrar is Tucows, we’re unable to help you contact the domain owner to inquire about purchasing.
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Squarespace And Email Accounts
Squarespace doesnt offer custom email addresses by default with their domains. What they do, like many other website builders, In this case, you get to use the basic Workspace plan, which includes Google Drive, Calendar, Docs and Hangouts, amongst others.
Its not an ideal solution, but there are advantages:
- You can manage your Google Workspace products directly from Squarespace
- You can connect Squarespace contact forms to your Google drive and address
- If you are eligible, you may get Workspace free for one year.
The cons include:
- Not able to connect any other email providers with Squarespace. Its Google Workspace or youll have to manage your emails through the third party provider solution.
- If you really want to keep your email offer from another provider, you can connect it to Google Workspace, but its not an easy task.
- Certain features might be unavailable. For instance, if you sign up to Google Workspace by yourself, you get Google Voice. When you go through Squarespace, their partnership doesnt cover that service.
Finally, when it comes to prices, its all the same whether you buy through Squarespace or Google directly, costing around $6 per month or $72 per year . And yes, thats per user which isnt exactly cheap.