[Part 2] Claim your online territory

I’ll be the first to admit, I left you on a cliffhanger last time.

As promised, let’s continue.

What is a domain?

In context of the Internet, a domain (you can also call it a “domain name” - for our purposes, they’re the same thing) is an address where something is located online. If the Internet is a giant city, a domain is a house.

There are other smaller pieces that make up the full address, such as the “www” and “.com”, but all you need to know for now is that your domain name should direct your audience to your business, aka your Internet home.

What’s your goal for your business?

Most likely, your end goal is to make money. To make money, you need sales. To make sales, you need customers. Not only do you need customers, but you need your customers to end up in the place where you sell them things.

Your Internet home is the place where you sell* things to your customers - maybe that’s your own website, an Etsy shop, or a contact form where they can book your services or sign up for your newsletter.

*I’m using “sell” generally here. The same idea applies to non-monetary goals, like growing an audience. For example, I currently make $0 from this newsletter but I want people to read it and subscribe. I lead my audience to my newsletter’s landing page where they can do exactly that. Landing page = Katelen’s Internet home.

Why should I buy a domain?

If your Internet home is the place your customers go to buy from you, then ideally you’ll have some darn good directions to your home.

Owning your own domain opens a world of possibilities, including but not limited to:

• Brand credibility. coolblog.com looks a lot more legit than coolblog168378978.substack.com/b/coolblog.

• Better user experience. Remember our house analogy? You’d be amazed at how many online business owners give little to no directions to their house. Your domain tells your audience exactly where to find you.

• Hosted email address. When you own your own domain, you can create a professional-looking business email address for purposes like customer service or your mailing list.

• 🚨 Last but not least: Your domain is the cheapest insurance policy you’ll ever buy for your business. Most domains cost less than dinner and drinks at a restaurant. If When your business gains traction, you’ll want to own all the rights to your brand. Not convinced? There are people out there who earn a living by buying domains of people/brands who are going viral, then later selling them to the brand for an astronomical price. Yikes.

Okay, I’m convinced. How do I buy my domain?

Purchasing and maintaining a domain sounds techy, but it’s actually very straightforward.

1. Choose a name

Your domain name will likely be your business name or a variation of it. When choosing your domain name, consider:

• Is the name available? Use BrandSnag or a similar search tool to check.*

• Is the name a reasonable length? If it’s more than 2-3 words, consider shortening or abbreviating your domain name.

• Does it read well? Avoid being featured in one of these articles.

*When you search for availability, you’ll see options for .com, .shop, .net, etc. Which to choose? Grab .com if you can. It’s the standard for commercial businesses in the United States. If you live outside the US, your country may have other options.

2. Choose a host

A domain host manages your domain name. It’s where you purchase your domain and set it up how you want (more on that shortly).

Don’t overthink this one, at least not at first. You can change your hosting service down the road if you’re not satisfied.

That being said, look for these two things when choosing a hosting service:

• Compare pricing. Most domain names start between $10-20 per year, and some hosts offer a discount on your first year.

• Use a reputable domain host! Of course you want a reasonable price, but it’s worth a few extra bucks to use a well-known, safe host than some random site you found in the depths of Google. Among the most reputable hosts are GoDaddy and Namecheap. If you’re going the website route, some site builders like Squarespace and Wix have built-in domain hosting services.

🤔 What if I change my mind?

That’s okay! When you purchase your domain, you own it for one year (unless you opt to buy multiple years for a discount). You’ll receive email notices when your domain is up for renewal, at which point if you’ve decided to move on, you can just let it expire. Your domain host’s FAQ page will have all the info you need if you no longer want to own that domain. No big deal.

How do I use my domain?

If you’re building a website through a site builder like Shopify or Squarespace (or you hired someone to build it for you), the domain is configured directly in the site builder.

Even if you’re not building a website right away, keep reading! The best part of owning your own domain is that you can do *gesticulates wildly* whatever you want with it.

If that’s too much autonomy, may I suggest: setting up a redirect.

The Redirect

As the proud owner of a domain, you get to decide what happens when someone types your domain name in their Internet browser. You can point your domain pretty much anywhere on the Internet with a redirect.

You can redirect your domain to:

• A social media profile

• An online shopping platform, like Etsy or Redbubble

• A newsletter landing page (I did this for technicallykatelen.com)

• A link in bio page such as Linktree

Katelen, I have an Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Etsy shop. Which one do I pick?

Remember the house analogy from earlier? The place where you ultimately want your customers to end up? That’s where you redirect your domain. In the example above, you’d redirect your domain to your Etsy shop because that’s where people buy from you.

All your other accounts (like social media for marketing) are like invitations to a party at your home (where your customers buy). Party invitations contain the address of the party, but the invitation itself isn’t the party.

Your other accounts should contain your domain name as a link to lead your customers to your house.

Set up your redirect

Once you’ve identified your Internet home, head to your domain host site (aka the place where you bought your domain). Go to their FAQ or Help section to find instructions for setting up a 301 redirect for that specific host. Alternatively, search YouTube for “<domain host name> 301 redirect” for a video tutorial.

🧠 Why 301? 301 redirect = permanent redirect. Even if you change where your domain name redirects in the future, your customers will still type in your domain name to find you. Since your domain (URL) will stay the same, use a permanent redirect.

How are you doing?

Remember, you can change any part of this setup at any time. Err on the side of simplicity to 1) keep all the moving pieces manageable for you, and 2) create a straightforward path for your customer.

See you next time,

Katelen

P.S. What questions or topics do you want to see in the newsletter? Hit reply or leave a comment and let me know! 💬