Purchase A Domain Name
Learn how to purchase a domain name to connect to your online store with our recommended provider
The Process
Purchasing and setting up your own domain is a very simple process that takes about 15 minutes. The below guide will help you do this with https://www.namecheap.com as this is our recommend domain registrar.
Visit the Namecheap website at https://www.namecheap.com
Use the domain name search box at the center of the page to look for a domain name
Add the domain name of your choice to your cart
Press the "View Cart" button on the right to progress through the checkout
We recommend disabling the "WhoisGuard" option as this is not ideal for public businesses.
Select "Confirm Order" button on the right side
Complete your order by creating an account and entering your payment details.
You can watch the following YouTube video to see a video walkthrough of how to do this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbcn4skYXqM
Once you have purchased a domain, you will need to complete the steps in our other article "Setup A Custom Domain". You will need to access your domain DNS settings to complete those steps. On Namecheap, you can do this by:
Logging in to Namecheap and going to your account dashboard
Select the "Domains List" on the left menu
Select the "Manage" button beside your domain name
Navigate to the "Advanced DNS" tab under your domain settings
Press "Add New Record" to create a DNS record.
You may have to remove some default records already set in order to add ours
Additional Info
What Is A Web Domain?
A domain is any web address, for example, 'google.com' is a domain.
Your Sub-domain
Your store will be accessible on your own unique subdomain that you can choose. Your subdomain will always be hosted under "example.cloudwaitress.com". Every subdomain must be unique and is taken on a first come first serve basis.
Custom Domain
A custom domain is a domain name you purchase and connect to our service. You can register any domain name available such as "yourbusiness.com" and connect it to our service. This way customers can go directly your domain name to find your online ordering system.
It is often desirable to have your own domain name for your store in order to better promote your own brand and business. It is much easier to tell your customers to find you at "order.yourbusiness.com" instead of "yourbusiness.cloudwaitress.com".
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