Securing a domain name for your website is a big milestone, but a great domain name alone won’t sell products. It’s simply the first of many steps toward building an online presence. Andrew Lissimore, cofounder and CEO of Headphones.com, learned this the hard way:
“We erroneously thought that if we bought this domain, everything would be rosy. And we were wrong,” Andrew says on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast. “We definitely had a lot of work to do right after we got the domain. We thought if we just opened this thing up, we’ll be flooded with customers and orders.” But there was a lot more effort required before Headphones.com was fully up and running. The domain name was a valuable asset, but it wasn’t the key to instant success.
So, you’ve got a domain name—now what? Here are the essential next steps.
5 things to do after buying a domain name
- Start an ecommerce website
- Build a personal or professional blog
- Use the domain name for digital marketing campaigns
- Redirect traffic to another website
- Sell the domain name
Initially, Andrew’s business was called Premium Sound Canada. Soon, however, he found that most headphones manufacturers weren’t interested in partnering with his brand; he needed a more legitimate domain. “So I thought, ’If we had headphones.com, they wouldn’t be able to say no to us,’” Andrew says. He was right.
Your domain name is a versatile digital asset. Whether you want to launch an online store, create an email marketing strategy, or sell your domain for profit, you get to decide the best way to leverage your digital property. Here are five options to consider:
1. Start an ecommerce website
Use your custom domain to start an online store where you can sell products or services, turning it into a digital storefront for your new company. The easiest way to do this is with a drag-and-drop website builder like Shopify.
2. Build a personal or professional blog
Use your new domain to start a blog focused on your interests or expertise. This can help you build a personal or professional brand, share knowledge, and establish internet credibility, which you can later leverage to grow your company.
A well-trafficked blog can generate income through ads, affiliate marketing, or sponsorships, opening many new revenue streams for your business.
3. Use the domain name for digital marketing campaigns
Marketing specialists sometimes use domains and subdomains for tracking and targeting specific audiences. You can create a specific subdomain for a promotion (e.g., specialsale.domainname.com) or to target specific customers (e.g., student.domainname.com).
Then, monitor the server traffic on these subdomains to see which ones get the most traffic. While you can’t definitively confirm that everyone who visits student.domainname.com is a student, you can gain a general sense of which marketing segments are most engaged.
4. Redirect traffic to another website
You can redirect your domain to another website. Maybe you run an ecommerce store selling sweaters and want to target shoppers looking for Easter sweaters. You could snag the domain name eastersweaters.com and use it as a parked domain, meaning rather than create a new site on this domain, you redirect visitors to a web page on your existing site, letting you capture targeted traffic.
5. Sell the domain name
Domains can be valuable digital real estate. If you have a premium domain, you can list it on Sedo, Flippa, GoDaddy Auctions, or other platforms that specialize in domain resale.
You might connect with other small business owners looking for the perfect domain name for their new website. This works both ways: Andrew of Headphones.com actually reached out directly to the domain’s previous owner to see if they were interested in selling.
How to set up a new website with your domain name
- Enlist a web host and register your domain name
- Connect your domain to your web host
- Build your site
- Refine your site for search visibility and ease of use
- Set up inventory management tools
- Establish professional email addresses linked to your domain
- Ensure site security
- Leverage analytics
- Test your site and launch it
Once you’ve secured your domain name, you’re ready to build a website that your domain will direct to. Here are nine steps to get your new site up and running.
1. Enlist a web host and register your domain name
The first step toward making use of your domain involves a combination of registering that domain and hosting it. A web hosting company provides storage space and server access to host your website. Many of the world’s most successful ecommerce businesses use Shopify for web hosting and as a website builder.
When signing up for web hosting, look for web hosting companies that offer a free domain name as part of an overall plan. This can help you save on initial setup costs. Shopify lets you buy domain names directly for your ecommerce website. Alternatively, you can purchase and register your domain through a domain registrar like Hover, GoDaddy, or NameCheap and connect that domain to your Shopify store, or create a web hosting account with a different company.
Ensure that your hosting plan supports your chosen content management system (CMS), like WordPress. If your website is centered around an ecommerce store, consider Shopify’s all-in-one solution, which, in addition to web hosting, includes a range of other features tailored for online businesses.
2. Connect your domain to your web host
Update your domain name system (DNS) settings in your domain registrar account to point to your web host. This connects your domain address to your hosting server. If you purchased your domain name from your web host, this step is often automatically handled.
3. Build your site
Shopify’s website templates are optimized for online retail and naturally integrate with apps from the Shopify App Store. Plus, you don’t need to be tech savvy to get up and running or add new pages once your website is live. A variety of design themes, a drag-and-drop editor, and AI tools can help you easily design a site that best represents your brand.
4. Refine your site for search visibility and ease of use
Whether you enlist a web developer or build your site yourself, make sure it’s mobile-friendly, visually appealing, and easy to navigate. Include dedicated pages for your services, blog, and contact details.
Use your site builder’s tools to structure your site and add intuitive links for easy navigation. Ecommerce pages should include a clear call to action to generate interest in your products or services.
As you work on your site, consider adding a Coming Soon page with a newsletter sign-up to build interest in your business. Before Andrew officially launched Headphones.com, he created a landing page with the launch date. This allowed Andrew to reach out to brands before launching a full-blown store.
5. Set up inventory management tools
If you’re running an online store, inventory management tools are a must for keeping track of stock. Shopify users have access to inventory management features directly through the platform, and can also expand functionality through connected apps.
6. Establish a professional email address linked to your domain
A custom email address that matches your domain (i.e., name@domain.com) adds credibility to your business—especially if you have a great domain name.
Many email service providers, like Google Workspace and Zoho Mail, offer tools to set up and manage domain-based email addresses for a fee. In some cases, your web hosting plan includes a free email account aligned to your new domain name. When you purchase a domain from Shopify, you’ll have access to free email forwarding for an unlimited number of email addresses, so you can create custom addresses but have your emails delivered to your existing account.
7. Ensure site security
Securing your website means limiting who can access and edit it, protecting intellectual property, and safeguarding users’ personal and financial information. Using your website building software, you can establish secure protocols (e.g., your URL starts with https instead of http), enable backups, and audit your site to ensure no sensitive information is exposed. Enable two-factor login so that only approved site administrators can access your site’s settings and data. And use SSL certificates to encrypt the connection between the user’s browser and your website. Domains purchased from or connected to Shopify automatically receive a free SSL certificate.
Ecommerce vendors who use Shopify also have access to an array of payment security solutions to protect both their business and customers. This includes software that complies with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and payment authentication tools, letting you process credit card payments without exposing financial data to hackers.
8. Leverage analytics
Analytics allow you to understand how your website is performing, identify trends in visitor behavior, and plan strategies to generate traffic to your website. In addition to the analytics provided by your web hosting service, you’ll likely also want to monitor Google Analytics. This platform is especially valuable because it contains insights from Google search results. Since Google remains the dominating search engine, you benefit from learning as much as possible about your Google SEO.
9. Test your site and launch it
Look for the preview function in your website building software; this will render the pages exactly as they’d appear in a user’s browser. Preview your website to ensure your pages load quickly—on both desktop and mobile browsers—that all images render, and all links work as intended. If you’re satisfied, it’s time to go live and make your site available to the public. Now what started as a domain name idea is a functioning website.
I have a domain name, now what FAQ
What’s next after getting a domain name?
After getting a domain name, the next step is to choose a web hosting provider, connect your domain to a hosting account, and start building your website using a content management system (CMS) or website builder.
Do I need a website if I have a domain name?
You don’t need a website if you have a domain name. People also purchase domain names to redirect visitors to their main site, protect their brand, prevent competitors from capitalizing on an opportunity, or sell to interested parties at a later date.
What happens to my website if I don’t renew my domain name?
If you don’t renew your domain name, your website becomes inaccessible, and the domain may eventually be released for others to register, potentially causing you to lose ownership of it.
