How to get a domain for your personal website

1. Choose the name

Good personal domains are easy to say and spell.

• Your full name is the default: samrivera.com. It still fits if your job changes.
• Add a middle initial or your trade if it's taken: samjrivera.com, samriveradesign.com.
• Pick an ending people recognise. .com is the most familiar. Your country's ending (such as .co.uk or .de) suits local work. Newer endings such as .dev or .studio can work if they match what you do.
• Skip hyphens and numbers. They're easy to get wrong when someone types the address from a business card.

Say it out loud to a friend and ask them to type it. If they get it wrong, try another.

2. Register it

ICANN, which coordinates domain names, says names under endings like .com are sold by ICANN-accredited registrars or their resellers, and country endings through each country's operator. ICANN keeps a list of accredited registrars.

Registrations run in one-year steps, and ICANN's FAQ says the remaining term can't exceed ten years. When you buy:

• compare the renewal price, not just the first year;
• check whether privacy for your contact details is included;
• turn on auto-renew so the name doesn't lapse;
• decline extras you don't need, such as hosting you won't use.

3. Get the DNS records from your host

Your website host tells you which records to add. They're usually one of these:

• a CNAME record, which points a name such as www or links at another name the host gives you;
• an A record, which points a name at an IP address.

Copy them exactly from your host's dashboard. On Liite, open the site, then Domain & settings → Custom domain, enter the domain, and the dashboard shows the records to add. Custom domains are on Pro and up.

4. Add the records at your registrar

Every registrar's screen looks a little different, but the steps match:

1. Sign in and open your domain's DNS or host records settings. Namecheap calls this Advanced DNS; on Cloudflare it's the DNS Records page.
2. Choose Add record, pick the type (CNAME or A) and paste the name and value.
3. Save, and remove any old record for the same name that conflicts with it.

If you can't edit records there, your domain probably uses another company's nameservers. Namecheap's help notes that in that case you change the records at that DNS provider instead.

The root domain (samrivera.com without www) can't normally use a CNAME. Some DNS providers work around this: Cloudflare, for example, flattens a CNAME at the root into an address. Otherwise use the A record your host gives you, or put the site on www and redirect the root to it.

5. Wait, then check

DNS changes take time to spread. Liite's dashboard checks every 10 seconds while the domain is pending and shows Active once the records are right, then sets up the HTTPS certificate automatically. If you enter the root domain, www redirects to it, and the other way round.

When it's live, check that the old and new addresses send visitors where you expect:

Common problems

• Still not working after a day: compare the records character by character with your host's, and look for a trailing dot or a leftover old record.
• Certificate warning: wait a little longer; the certificate is issued after DNS points to the host.
• Email stopped working: you probably deleted the MX records. Add them back from your email provider's instructions.

Where your site lives

If you don't have a site yet, see how to make a personal website and how to host one. A domain makes moving hosts later painless: you change the records, and everyone keeps using the same address.