Your domain name is your website's address, such as JaneArtist.com. This article explains how yours works and who owns it.
The domain name that comes with your website
Your subscription includes registering (or transferring) your own domain name and setting it up for your website. Our pricing page lists the endings we offer, such as .com and .ca. We work with you to choose a name that suits you and is available, then we register it, set it up and attach your website to it. You do not need to do anything with a registrar yourself.
Who owns it
You do. When we register a domain name for you, you (or your group) are the registrant, the person the registration is in the name of. We manage the registration for you at no additional cost, and our contact email address may appear on the registration records so that spam does not reach you.
If you want to take your domain name to another company, contact us and we will help you move it.
If you leave
When your membership ends, we stop renewing the domain names we manage for you, and a domain name that is not renewed expires. Once it has expired, anyone can register it. If you want to keep yours, contact us and we will help you move it to a registrar of your choice, ideally before your membership ends.
We recommend that we manage it
We urge you to let us manage your domain name. A name that lapses is released for anyone to register, and the people who buy lapsed names often take ones that had visitors. Problems also come from changes made at a registrar without us knowing. When we manage the name, we renew it and we know how it is set up. Keeping it elsewhere is possible, but it is more work and more risk, because renewing it and keeping it safe stay with you.
If you already have a domain name
You can use it with your ArtSites website. In most cases we transfer it to our registrar and keep you out of the process as much as we can. The steps differ from one registrar to the next and a transfer can take up to a week, so we usually make your domain name work with your website before the transfer finishes, with no gap in service. See Bringing Your Domain Name to ArtSites for what we need from you.
If you prefer to keep managing your own domain name, you can. Its registration and renewals then stay your responsibility, and we may ask you to change a setting on it, such as the nameservers, so that it works with your website. Your website works at your domain name with or without the www. in front.
A name registered elsewhere that points at your address
A domain name registered somewhere else can lead to your ArtSites address without being moved. It renews separately, at the company where it is registered, and you keep it renewed there. If it lapses, it stops leading to your website.
Moving your domain name away
You can take your domain name to another company at any time. See Moving Your Domain Name Away from ArtSites.
More than one domain name
Several domain names can lead to the same website, for example JaneDoeArt.ca and JaneDoeArt.com, or a second name such as PaintingsByJane.com. Domain names beyond the one included may cost extra, and our pricing page is where to check. To add one, contact us.
Changing your domain name
See Changing Your Domain Name. If you already have email addresses at your domain name, see Your Email at Your Domain Name.
See also
- If Your Website Won't Open for Someone
- Closing Your Website
- If Your Website Is Suspended