Published Feb 23 2008, 10:22 PM by Skip - MSFT

How to be the master of your domain

If you’ve signed up for Microsoft Office Live Small Business since Feb. 11, we’ve changed things around a bit with our latest version of the service.

 

Now all you have to do to get started building your Web site is – get started! Then once you’re happy with what you’ve created, you can turn your attention to choosing your domain name.

 

Your domain name is the Web address people will type into their Web browser to get to your site. If you signed up for Office Live Small Business recently, you were assigned a starter address that looks something like http://jdoe7176.web.officelive.com. Even though you can change the jdoe7176 to a friendlier name and that was fine initially, it’s still going to be hard for people to remember. And it does nothing for your business from a branding perspective.

 

So to really take your online business to the next level, you need to be the master of your domain. (Yes, I’m stealing from Jerry Seinfeld.  C’mon, that episode was classic.)

 

My point is, you need to register a custom domain that reflects your business name or the products or services you sell, such as www.wingtoys.com or www.cohowinery.com.

 

You can get one through us for FREE for your first year, and then it’s only $14.95 a year after that. With that custom domain you also get 100 business-branded e-mails, like joe@wingtoys.com, with 5 GB of stories each too. That helps you promote your business with every e-mail you send.

 

Want to know more? Just log in to your account, click on Add/Remove Services in the left navigation, and select the service category for Web site and E-mail.  It’s easy!

 

See you online,

 

Skip Chilcott

Office Live Small Business Team

 

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Comments
  • Jay said:

    I'm having a problem publishing a private domain name i purchased from Microsoft. I have made the domain name my primary domain but can't get people to connect to it. I have to logon to Microsoft Office Live before i can successfully logon to the site using the address.

    Please advise on what i need to do as i need to have people access the site urgently.

    February 24, 2008 5:50 PM
  • tomtom55 said:

    hi. have just started exploring with office live and had signed up for an account for the office live small business package.  i know that this is free for the 1st year with 14.95/yr on the succeeding years.

    but previous to that, i had also signed up for the older version office live basic. will my domain name for the office live basic be charged 14.95 after one year?

    or was it a lifetime thing?  i could not remember because i cant find any links to the basic package anymore.

    February 25, 2008 1:59 AM
  • Filiberto-MSFT said:

    Please see Skip's comments here for the answer to your question: myofficelivecommunity.com/.../4367.aspx

    February 25, 2008 3:40 PM
  • Filiberto-MSFT said:

    Jay: I saw you posted the same question @ the discussion forums; please see the advice you have received from your peers there.

    February 25, 2008 4:54 PM
  • MSFT News Aggregator » How to be the master of your domain said:

    Pingback from  MSFT News Aggregator » How to be the master of your domain

    February 27, 2008 7:35 PM
  • saclarke said:

    I have a custom domain which is working fine.  I read somewhere that you can use your 4th level domain name as a place to test out a new website idea, and then copy it to the primary domain when it is "ready for prime time."  I don't remember where I read this and I cannot find that reference again.  Is this possible and where can I find instructions?  When I go to "domain management" the custom domain is the only one shown.

    April 20, 2008 12:20 PM
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