A small business owner's guide to domain names

This domain name guide for small business owners starts with the basics. Your domain name is your address online: the yourbusiness.com part of your website and, often, your email. It is one of the few parts of your website you truly own, which makes it worth a few minutes of care. This guide covers choosing one, registering it properly and keeping it safe.

Choosing a domain name

A good business domain is easy to say, easy to spell and clearly yours:

• Use your business name if it is available. If it is taken, add your town or trade, as in northfieldplumbing.com.
• Keep it short and simple. Avoid hyphens and numbers that people mishear on the phone.
• Prefer .com for a business serving the general public, unless a different ending fits naturally.
• Say it out loud to someone and ask them to type it. If they get it wrong, so will customers.
• Check for trademarks. Avoid names that copy another company's brand.

Register it in your own name

This is the most important rule in this guide. When you register a domain, the registrar records a registrant, the legal owner. That must be you or your business, not your web designer, not a friend who set it up and not a marketing company.

If someone else is the registrant, they control the address. Leaving them can mean losing your website address and your email. If you are not sure who owns your domain, log in to your registrar account or ask whoever set it up, and transfer it to your name if needed.

Renewal: the easiest way to lose a domain

Domains are registered for a period, usually a year at a time, and must be renewed. If a renewal is missed, your website and email can stop working, and after a grace period someone else may be able to register the name.

• Turn on auto-renew at your registrar.
• Keep the payment card on the account current.
• Keep the account's contact email current, and make sure it is an inbox you actually read.
• Note the renewal date in your own calendar as a backup.

Be wary of letters or emails that look like renewal invoices from companies you have never used. Renew only through the registrar where your domain is actually registered.

Connecting your domain to your website

Your registrar holds the domain; your website lives with your web host. They are connected through DNS records, small settings that point your domain at the right place. If someone sets this up for you, they only need to change those records, not own the domain. Keep a note of which records were changed and why.

How we handle domains

On our Starter and Growth plans your website uses your own domain, registered in your name and paid to your registrar; we never register it for ourselves. Our Instant plan includes a free yourbusiness.digit.software address instead. If you would rather not think about renewals and settings, our Domain Management extra watches over your domain for you while you stay the registered owner. See the details on our pricing page, or read what a small business website costs for the bigger picture.