Make it easier for people to buy things from you by securing your .shop domain

Are you selling anything online? Or wish you were? Do you harbor a vague, semi-guilty, maybe-one-day-I’ll-get-to-that feeling anytime someone asks you about how to purchase your art/books/wares online? Are you already using a third-party service like Etsy, Big Cartel, Shopify, Society6, or Zazzle?

If any of this applies, we recommend you check out the .shop domain.

Get ahold of the one that goes with your site/brand while it’s available!

It’s release has been highly anticipated and it’s a pretty good deal. I could be a simple URL forward to your existing online shop, or become a fully branded eCommerce site for your business.

.shop is a sweet, simple new TLD that can help customers find your wares.

Wait, what’s a TLD?

Don’t worry, you are not the only person wondering. TLD stands for Top Level Domain. You’re probably familiar with the more common ones such as .com, .org, .net, .edu. It turns out there are about a thousand more (or as many as you can think of). New TLDs have gained steam the last couple of years and new ones are being released frequently. There are a lot of ins and out to the story, but basically, it allows for a lot more targeted organization of the interwebs.

New TLDs go a long way to solve the issue of domain names ‘already taken’

Many common names and/or businesses may deal with completely different subject matter but are competing for the same namespace online. Now there’s an opportunity to have a domain that is more specific. Think .guru, .accountant, .studio, and, the soon-to-be-seen-everywhere, .shop domain.

Using a new TLD can quickly identify the type of content you offer, and help with SEO if it contains a relevant keyword (like “shop”).

TLDs are the wave of the future – they are definitely here to stay. However they can still be confusing, and sometimes people don’t recognize them as valid website addresses at all. For that reason, it can be helpful to include the “www” in front of your new domain, i.e. www.leslienewman.design (yep, we jumped on the bandwagon with the launch of this site last year!).

Beyond useful, there’s a lot of entertainment to be garnered from the new domain possibilities: .ninja, .rocks, .coffee. You can see a comprehensive list here but before you get too enamored, note that not all are available yet and registration and renewal costs vary hugely.

We’re eagerly awaiting the day .ART becomes available, currently it’s listed as TBA. If you’re an artist and yourname.COM domain was snapped up 20 years ago by a real estate agent (true story) you’ll have a chance to get yourname.art.

A note about managing multiple domains

Multiple domains can have a great positive impact on your web presence, and they can also quickly become a headache to manage. On this front, the first rule of thumb is to register all your domains in one place. This doesn’t have to be the same place your website is hosted; many web hosts offer a free domain with your first website, which is okay. However, we recommend keeping your domain registration and website hosting separate, especially if you’re interested in eCommerce, intensive content marketing, or just have an addiction to side projects (like us).

Our favorite registrar is name.com, and another one we like is hover.com. Be warned, most registrars will try to sell you all kinds of other services, which you most likely don’t need. The two just mentioned keep things pretty well streamlined. Most registrars make it easy to set up a “forward” so you can make www.yourname.shop point to the place you sell online.

Back to .shop domain

So, to recap:

• You can now register and use .shop domains
• Consider having a simple (and memorable) URL forward to your existing online shop
• Or plan for the future and grab your desired .shop domain before someone else does
• Check the pricing and renewal costs (it can add up over time)
• Include “www” in front of your new domain so it’s clear it’s a website address
• For your sanity’s sake, keep all your domains at one registrar

We hope this is helpful information. Let us know by leaving a comment below. Sign up for our list to stay connected.