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?
Got Any Tips On Finding A Good Domain Name
You bet. While it’s really easy to register a domain, having a good domain strategy helps you register the best domain name possible. Here are some hints:Make it easy to remember. This is why many businesses get domains with their business names in them. Some people even choose their business name only after they have a domain they like.Don’t register one that’s trademarked, copyrighted, or being used by another company. This can lead to losing the domain and legal problems.Shorter is usually better because they’re easier for customers to remember. It’s also easier to get matching usernames for Facebook, Twitter and any other social media accounts you have.Got a local business? Include your neighborhood, city or country in your domain so local customers can quickly see where you are. Check the list of geographic domain extensions .berlin .nyc to see if there’s one for your area.Avoid numbers or hyphens. Anyone who hears your web address won’t know if you’re using a numeral 5 or “five”. If your business name has a number in it, register both versions with the number and with the number spelled out .Get more than one. As traffic to your website increases, you may attract then attention of copycats who’ll snatch up similar domain names in hopes of drawing traffic away from you. Register similar or misspelled domains early so this won’t be an issue later.
Verifying Your Registration Information
Some domain extensions have restrictions or registration requirements when you buy a domain through Shopify. For example, to use a .ca domain for Canada or a .fr domain for France, you need to meet certain residency and business registration requirements. These domain extensions have specific registry organizations that manage their registrations. If youre the domain owner, then these organizations can contact you periodically to verify that you meet their residency or registration requirements.
When you buy a domain through Shopify, your stores information is automatically used to complete your domain registration. This information includes your business name, personal name, address, and phone number.
If a registry organization contacts you to verify your domain, then you need to provide proof of your registration information. Each registry organization has different requirements for what kinds of documentation you can provide, for example, a passport, business bills, or proof of business address. If you change your business address or have difficulty proving your registration information, then contact Shopify Support.
Caution
Before you share any personal documentation, make sure that you’re contacted by the registry organization for your specific domain extension.
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How Billing Works For A Domain Registration
If you purchased your domain while signing up for your Google service, you’re charged for the full one-year domain registration amount right away. If you set up autorenew in the Admin console, youre automatically charged again when its time to renew your domain. For details, go to Automatically renew your domain.
Note: Unlike your Google service charges, which are monthly, domain registration renewal happens annually. This means you’ll be charged a higher amount on your invoice once per year when your domain registration renews.
We authorize your card for the amount of the renewal. The Admin console shows “Pending payment” until the payment goes through. If the payment gets declined, we can’t register your domain and the authorization falls off your account after a few days. Your card gets charged only when the payment is successful.
Faqs About What To Do With A Domain Name
1) Now I have my domain name and an idea of what I want to do. What is next?
If you have an idea of what to do with your domain, the next obvious step is to get started with it. I have listed 10 ways to use your domain. The best use of a domain is to start a blog or website with it.
2) How do I permanently buy a domain name?
You cannot buy a domain name permanently. However, here are 3 ways to keep a domain name permanently:1) You can register it for as many years as you want while you are registering it.2) If you have already have bought a domain, you can login to your dashboard of your domain registrar and renew it for as many years as you want.3) You can also setup auto-renewal so that you dont have to pay the total amount at once. Your account will be auto debited for as long as your bank account has money for it.
3) I bought a domain name and hosting now what?
If youve already bought a domain name and hosting the next logical step is to set up a website or blog on it. Here is how to do it:1) Login to your domain registrar and point the domain to your hosting2) Login to your hosting dashboard3) Install WordPress
Go to a domain lookup tool likethis one from ICANNAdd your domain name and fill in the captcha if anyYou will then get the name and full details of the new owner of your domain name.
7) What can I do with a domain name?
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Considerations Before You Buy A Domain Through Shopify
Before you buy a domain through Shopify, review the following considerations:
- Email hosting services aren’t provided on Shopify. Instead, you can connect your Shopify-managed domain to a third-party email hosting service.
- Some domain extensions include WHOIS privacy, which is a service that keeps your personal contact information hidden from public domain registration records. If you want WHOIS privacy, then make sure that your domain extension isn’t on the WHOIS exceptions list.
- Some domain extensions have specific residency or business registration requirements. Make sure that you can meet these requirements, because you might need to verify your registration information. If you can’t meet these requirements, then your domain might be suspended.
- A new SSL certificate is created automatically when you buy a domain through Shopify. You dont need to buy SSL encryption for your domain.
- You need to pay the registration fee every year to renew your domain subscription. Domain renewals are charged separately from your monthly subscription charges. The exact pricing depends on which domain extension you choose.
- Domain hosting services are only available with a paid Shopify plan. If you want to close your store or your Shopify account, and you want to keep using your domain, then you need to transfer your domain before you close your store. You can transfer your domain to one of the following:
- another domain registrar
Find A Custom Domain For Your Site
Whether youre working on a blog, an online portfolio, or an online shop, Mailchimp offers custom domains that can make all the difference to your online presence. And theres no reason to stop there. Use Mailchimp to build your website and connect it to our all-in-one marketing platform to really make your offerings stand out from the rest.
Learn more about how to get a free domain name from Mailchimp and how our offer compares to the competition.
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Google Forwards Your Emails Godaddy Offers Email Services
One advantage of having your own domain is setting up a professional email address. Both Google Domains and GoDaddy allow you to give off a professional email presence, but how they work is starkly different.
With your Google Domains domain, you can create up to 100 email aliases that will forward to an email address of your choosing. By contrast, GoDaddy provides a truly professional email setup, but for a fee.
GoDaddy offers three email plans, with their smallest plan offering 5 GB of email storage along with the ability to sync email, calendars, and contacts across all your devices. For those who want a separate email plan rather than using Gmail or their personal email, this is a solid alternative but does incur a monthly fee.
Get A Premium WordPress Theme
Theres a reason why we mentioned premium WordPress theme.
Most beginners go for free WordPress themes but most of them dont provide you support, frequent updates, mobile friendly design and they are not SEO friendly.
Thats the reason why you need to invest money on getting a premium WordPress theme so youre good at from day 1 of launching your WordPress site.
You dont have to shell out thousands of dollars on a premium and good looking web design as there are few theme developers available out there which provide you themes at affordable prices.
Elegant themes is one such theme provider which offers you stunning premium WordPress themes at unbeatable prices.
Why use Elegant themes?
Elegant themes is used by over 500,000 people worldwide and you can get access to 87 professionally designed WordPress themes at just $80 per year.
That means, you literally get 1 theme for less than $1, its a steal you shouldnt miss out.
It doesnt matter what niche you are in including eCommerce to real estate to fitness, you can find at least one premium theme you can use from Elegant themes. The best part is, you dont have to pay for Elegant themes as you can use the 87 themes for lifetime.
Another thing about using Elegant themes is that it offers you Divi Builder which is a drag and drop builder that lets you customize your website design however you want.
Heres how it looks like
So what about the pricing?
Elegant themes offers 2 pricing plans.
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Google Domains: Simple Domains Easy Integrations
is a simple, no hassle registrar. It rocks Googles sleek design, combined with great DNS tools and industry-leading security. Most people looking for a domain also want email to go alongside it, and Google Domains will integrate well with your existing G Suite subscription. Note that this does require you to pay for Googles premium email service it wont work with a standard Gmail account.
Their search function is pretty basic but doesnt get in your way. If you know what youre looking for, it might be right for you.
Their pricing is pretty average, but if youre looking to get your website up quickly without any mess, Google is probably your best bet.
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How To Buy A Domain
Follow these instructions to purchase a domain:
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Choose The Best Domain Name Option
When youre checking for available domain names, youll often find that your first, second, and tenth choices are already taken. Some of the different approaches you can take when this happens are:
- Keep searching. Let your creative juices flow, and continue to search until you find something you love or at least like.
- Choose another extension. If the .com isnt available and youre set on a certain name, consider the .net or .org if you think it will work.
- Reach out to the owner. Maybe the domain is already owned, but its not being put to much use. You could reach out to the owner with an offer.
The Google Seo Advantage / Disadvantage
Before looking at the next steps, I have to touch on one bit of SEO mythology. In the SEO world, there are 3 camps on Google products.
The first camp says that Google is inherently untrustworthy. They say you should never use their products because they just spy on you and are out to punish you. Its all about tricking and outsmarting Google.
The second camp says that Google is SEO. They say you should use all their products and do everything they say. Google will always prefer their own products and will reward everyone that uses them. Its all about cooperating and sucking up to Google.
The third camp says that neither of the first two camps rely on evidence or testing. The answer to all things SEO is it depends. Use Google products that suit your business dont use Google products that dont work for you. Either way, focus on testing and doing the right things for your customers.
Im in the third camp. I have never seen any evidence that Google Domains will cleanse or un-blacklist a domain. Ive never seen any evidence that domains registered with Google get an advantage in the search results. I also have no idea why Google would even make that a factor.
Dont buy into SEO snake oil when you are looking for a domain name registrar. The only tested SEO truth is that the internet is made up of domain names. And you do need a custom domain to build a long-term project around.
The registrar you choose should be based on pricing, convenience, usability, and support.
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