What it is
Your domain is your address on the internet: yourbusiness.co.uk. Your website lives at it, and so does your email if it ends in @yourbusiness.co.uk.
You don’t buy a domain once. You rent it, a year or more at a time, from a company called a registrar.
In your name
The most important thing in this guide: your domain must be registered to you or your business, with an email address you can get into.
If a past web designer, a nephew or a former partner registered it in their own name, ask them to move it to you now, while you’re on good terms. Your registrar’s account shows who the registered owner is. If you don’t know who your registrar is, a “WHOIS” search on your domain shows it.
Renewals
If a renewal is missed, your website and your email both stop working. After a short grace period, the domain can be released, and anyone can register it, including a competitor.
- Turn on automatic renewal.
- Keep the card on the account up to date.
- Make sure renewal reminders go to an inbox someone reads.
Your email
Your domain holds a short list of settings, called DNS records, that tell the internet where things go. The records for your email are separate from the ones for your website.
So a new website doesn’t have to touch your email. Whoever moves your website should change only the website’s records, and leave the email ones alone.
A new website
Moving your domain to a new website usually means changing two records: one for the bare domain and one for www. It takes minutes to change, and from a few minutes to a few hours to reach everyone. Your domain stays where it is, in your name.
With us
We register your domain in your name after your first payment, and pay for it, renewals included, while you’re with us. If you already have one, we point it at your new site and leave your email exactly as it is. If you leave, the domain goes with you.