Our pals over in the message boards are reporting a number of queries regarding domain names. So I’m going to do my best to give you the whole scoop in easily digestible chunks, so you can quickly find what you’re looking for. But if you have a question I don’t cover here, you can also check our FAQs on domain names.
1. Domain names 101. You need to have a domain name associated with your Web site, but these two things are not really the same. A Web site consists of a collection of HTML pages, images, and other types of files that are located on a Web server. You create this collection of files as you build your Office Live Small Business site. A domain name, however, is part of the Internet address that points to the location of those Web site files. In the Web address http://www.microsoft.com, the domain name part is “microsoft.com.” When you type this address into your browser and send it out over the Internet, the Internet infrastructure will use the domain name to find the server on which the Microsoft Web site files live, and send them back to your browser.
2. What are fourth-level domain names? When you sign up for Microsoft Office Live Small Business, you’re immediately assigned what’s called a “fourth-level” domain name, based on information you provided. Yours probably looks something like yourname.Web.officelive.com. This is the working Web address for your Web site. If you want, you can modify part of this name from the Home page by clicking Account Settings, then Domain Manager, and then Rename. This fourth-level domain name is yours as long as you want it – and it’s free. But we recommend you acquire a “custom domain name” that better represents your business once you feel your site is ready for public consumption.
3. What are custom domain names? As I started to say above, it helps to have a domain name that includes your business name or flagship product, since those are what people are likely to remember and it will help drive traffic to your Web site. You can sign up for a custom domain name by signing into your account and clicking the Get a Web address link in the center of your Home page. When you get a custom domain name through Office Live Small Business, there is no charge for the first 12 months. The cost is $14.95 a year after that.
4. Make your custom domain name “primary.” Once you have a custom domain name, you’ll want people to use it to get to your site. This means you need to make it the “primary domain name” for your account because your primary domain name is always the one associated with your Web site. By default, the fourth level domain you received at sign up is set up to be your primary domain, so to make your custom domain primary, sign into your account and click Account Settings and then Domain Manager. You should see both your fourth-level domain and your custom domain. Under Actions across from your custom domain name, click Make Primary.
5. What to do if you already have a domain name. If you’ve already registered a domain name with someone else – whether you have a Web site associated with it or not – you can still use that domain name with your Office Live Small Business Web site. You simply need to redirect your domain by changing the name server settings on file with your current domain registrar so that your domain points to your new site. It’s worth noting that once you associate a domain with an Office Live Small Business account, you cannot associate it with another Office Live Small Business account. I mention that because we’ve had people redirect a domain to an existing account thinking they can use it for a second Web site within that account, but we’re not set up for that. Along the same line, if you have associated a domain with Office Live Small Business and then decide to direct it elsewhere, you cannot re-associate that domain with an Office Live Small Business site at a later time.
6. What to do if you want to create a second Web site. If you have two businesses and want two separate Web sites, you cannot currently manage them from a single Office Live Small Business account. Open a second account if you want to create two Web sites. You can then get custom domain names for each and link between the two sites if that’s appropriate.
7. How to point additional domains to your site. When you register or manage more than one domain name with Office Live Small Business, customers can use any of them to reach the Web site associated with your domain. There are a number of reasons why you might want more than one domain name. If your domain name is easily misspelled, having domain names with spelling variations can help capture traffic from potential customers who type in your Web address incorrectly. Or you may want to purchase variations of your primary domain name to keep competitors from doing it. You can register additional domain names for $14.95 per year each and have them automatically point to your primary Web site. To do this, sign into your account and on the Home page, click Add\Manage Services, then Web Site and E-mail, and then click Add next to Domains.
8. Private domain name registration. When you sign up for a custom domain name with us, you automatically receive private domain name registration, which helps protect your contact information from spammers, telemarketers and other unwanted solicitations. If this offer wasn’t available at the time you signed up, you can purchase private domain registration for any .com, .net or .org domain you own with us for $6.95 a year. To do so, sign into your account and click Get a Web address in the center of your Home page. Under Web Site and E-mail, click the sign up link next to Private Domain Registration.
I hope this has been helpful, but please use the Add a comment button if you have additional questions. We’re here to help!
Skip Chilcott