When it is to make your website live with us, we will send you an email showing you how to point your domain name to our servers. Here are some situations that might describe your current domain name status.
Need to Purchase Your First Domain Name
If you have never had a website before, you probably don't have a domain name. We recommend you purchase one from Godaddy.com. Domain names cost about $10/year. You do not need the fancy extras that they try to sell you.
Keep Domain With Old Host/Developer
It is very common that your old web host or developer has control of your domain name. One easy option is to ask if you can continue to keep your domain name with this company. You won't need website hosting from them because our website package includes website hosting. But, you will need to keep your domain name. This is an easy solution if your old host is willing to do it.
Transfer Domain Name From Old Host
If your old domain name host is not willing to host your domain name or if you'd rather not maintain a connection with them any longer, the best thing to do is to transfer the domain name into your own account at Godaddy.com. If you already have domain names with another company such as 1and1.com, Network Solutions, or similar, then you can transfer the domain name into one of those accounts as well. It is usually easiest to call Godaddy or one of the companies mentioned and ask them to do the transfer work for you.
Get a New Domain Name
In some cases, it can be impossible to recover access to the domain name from the old host. In this scenarios, you'll have to purchase a new domain name as noted above.
Making the Website Live
When you finally have control of the domain name and you are ready to make the website live, let us know and we'll flip a switch on our end. Then, we'll send you an email with instructions on how to point your domain name to our web server.
Email
Remember to consider where your email is hosted. If your email is also hosted with your old host, you'll need to make sure the new company, such as Godaddy, knows about your email and can help you transfer that as well. Getting your email from the same company as your domain name is the easiest solution. Another solution is to use Google's G-Suite for email. This solution is free for non profits, but takes a little work to setup initially. Google's G-Suite can use your domain name for the email addresses so that you do have custom looking email addresses.
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