As a small business owner, don’t underestimate the importance of having an online presence. Your website is often the first point of contact between you and your potential customers, so making a good impression is a must.
One of the essential elements of your website is your domain name. Simply put, this is the address your customers will type into their browser to find your ecommerce website.
This article will give you a crash course in all things
What Is a Domain Name?
First, let’s answer this important question: what does domain mean?
A domain is a unique reference that identifies a website. Simply put, it is the location of your website, or an address people type into their browsers to find your website online.
You can think of a domain name like your website’s street address. Just as your business has a physical address that customers use to visit you, your online store has a domain that helps your customers access it.
For example, our domain name is ecwid.com. If you type it in your browser, you’ll be taken to our website.
The actual address of a website is a complex numerical IP address. For example, the IP address of google.com is 172.217.3.196. Such strings of numbers are great for computers but are not very
The Difference Between a Domain Name and an URL
To avoid confusion, it’s essential to understand the difference between a domain name and an URL.
A domain name is the location of your website. A URL (uniform resource locator, also known as a web address) is a specific page on your website that someone is visiting.
For example, our domain name is ecwid.com. The URL of this blog post is https://www.ecwid.com/blog/what-is-domain.html
ecwid.com is a domain name
A URL consists of the protocol, the domain name, and the path. Though you’re now familiar with the definition of a domain name, you might be wondering: “What does a protocol and path mean?”
A protocol is a method by which data is sent from one computer to another on the internet. A path refers to the exact location of a page, post, or file.
For example, in the URL https://www.ecwid.com/blog, “ecwid.com” is the domain name, “https” is the protocol, and “/blog” is the path to a blog on the website.
Learn more: Guide to URL: Design URL Structure For the Best SEO Results
Understanding Types of Domains
Now that you know the domain definition and the difference between domains and URLs, let’s dive into the different types of domains.
The basic form of a domain name consists of two elements:
- The domain name itself, such as “ecwid”
- The extension, such as “.com”
A domain extension is a suffix that follows the domain name in a web address. It’s likely you’re already familiar with the most common domain extensions: .com, .net, .org, .co.
To distinguish domains from one another, there is a hierarchy within the domain name registry. Let’s look into the most common domain levels.
Top-Level Domains
There are generic
- Domains used for general purposes: .com, .net, .org, .info
- Domains used for their specific purposes: .pro, .biz, .name
- Domains used by companies of a certain industry: .edu, .gov, .travel
.edu domains are usually used by universities
There are also
Second-Level Domains
Usually,
Third-level domains
The Importance of a Domain for Your Business
Now that you know what a domain is, you might be wondering: do I really need one for my business website? The answer is yes!
There are several reasons why having a domain is essential for your small business. To name a few:
- It helps customers find your business online. A domain name makes it easier for customers to remember your website and search for it.
- It defines your brand. A domain name can support your brand, letting the customers know who you are and what you sell. A unique domain name helps associate your name with your product.
- It helps optimize your SEO. Search engine optimization relies on keywords to help your rankings during searches. It can be useful to have a domain that contains a keyword related to your business.
Artists often use their name as their personal brand name and domain name
Also: 8 Best Practices for Choosing a Domain Name
How to Register a Domain
Before you put your knowledge to practice, let’s discuss domain registration.
Before registering a domain, you should come up with a domain name. It should be short, unique to your business, and easy to remember. It’s a good idea to choose a .com domain, as this is the most popular and recognizable domain extension.
And never forget about SEO! It’s important for your domain authority — this describes your website’s relevance for a specific subject area or industry. The higher your domain authority scores, the higher your domain ranks in search engines. You can check your domain authority using this tool.
Once you have an idea of what you want your domain name to be, you can check if it’s available using a domain availability checker tool. For example, GoDaddy or Name both have easy tools for determining domain availability.
A domain availability checker shows that the domain is taken and offers an alternative
If the domain name you wanted for your business is taken, you can try a domain name generator tool to come up with some alternative domain name ideas. For example, this one or this one both can provide great results.
When you find an available domain, you then want to register it with a domain registrar. It is a business that sells domain names and handles the process of registering them.
Some of the most popular domain registrars are GoDaddy, eNom, Name, NameCheap, Moniker, NetworkSolutions.
To buy a domain:
- Go to the domain registrar of your choice.
- Type in your domain into the search box and click Search Domain.
- Select the extension you need (for example, .com) and add the domain to your cart.
- Complete the registration and payment process.
Congratulations, now you have a domain for your business!
Also: How to Buy the Perfect Domain Name for Your Store
However, there’s an even easier way to buy a domain for your online store — read on to learn more.
How to Connect a Domain Name to Your Online Store
If you’re considering buying a domain name for your ecommerce business, you might be looking for an ecommerce platform too. Luckily, some platforms allow you to kill two birds with one stone.
Take Ecwid by Lightspeed, for example. When you sign up with Ecwid, you get a free ecommerce website with a
Of course, you want to change the default domain name so that it better represents your business and makes it easy for the customers to find your store. You can easily customize the domain name in your store settings. For example, you can choose to use your brand name instead of your store ID
An example of a free domain for an ecommerce website made by Ecwid by Lightspeed
If you don’t want to have .company.site as your domain, you can easily give your Ecwid Instant Site a custom domain. To do that, you can buy a domain name right in your Ecwid admin. It will automatically be set up for your online store, so you don’t have to do it yourself!
Actually, you can do everything
Use this guide to buy a domain via your Ecwid admin in no time.
Another cool perk of buying a domain via Ecwid is that you get a free SSL certificate for your store. This is extremely important when selling online. When customers share their private information while purchasing something from your store, your SSL certificate will keep sensitive data secure from hackers and data thieves.
To Summarize Your Domain Knowledge
A domain is important for your small business because it helps customers find you online, defines your brand, and supports your SEO efforts.
Now that you have a good understanding of what a domain is and are familiar with the domain structure, you can register a domain for your business website.
To do so, come up with a domain name, check if it’s available, and register it with a domain registrar of your choice. Remember, a domain name is an important part of your online presence, so choose one wisely.
