Chapter 1: Setting Up Your Online Store
October 29, 2024
10 min read time
A simple search on the internet would show you that companies shell out thousands and millions of dollars for a few letters of the alphabet, which when strung together becomes the custom domain for your e-commerce store.
In fact, Gordon Companies, retailers, and wholesalers of Christmas-related accessories purchased ‘christmas.com’ for $3,150,000.
But why do companies pay thousands and millions of dollars? What is a custom domain? Why is it important for your e-commerce store? Let’s break it down.
Custom domain names link human-readable characters to IP addresses, which helps you locate websites easily. It becomes a unique branded label for your e-commerce store
For example, if you’re looking for the Vitals website, it would be impossible to remember the string of numbers (IP address). Instead, shoppers can type in the custom domain name - vitals.app, to easily locate the website.
Apart from ease of access, domain names help establish ownership over the website address. Once you claim a custom domain, nobody else can use it.
Shopify offers a default myshopify.com URL when you set up an e-commerce store. But setting up a custom domain is a better idea for your business. If you have multiple Shopify stores, then each store requires its own domain name. Here’s why:
Buying a domain is not tricky, but it cannot be a hasty decision. Here is a list of things that you need to keep in mind before you click the purchase button:
The custom domain should be the name of your company or associated with your product. Keep the spelling and pronunciation simple, so that it is easy to remember.
When people try to remember a URL, they’re 3.8 times more likely to assume it ends in .com; making it the top choice. But if it is unavailable or too pricey try other extensions like .io, .net, .co, .org, etc.
You need to make sure that your custom domain name does not infringe on any existing copyrights or trademarks. Such cases can be easily avoided with the help of AI tools like tmsearch.ai, husky.ai, etc. They combine AI, ML, and big data analytics to identify potential trademark conflicts, saving both time and effort.
But what if your choice of domain wasn’t available? Pardon our language, but that sucks. But here’s what you can do instead:
Think of short words that could differentiate your brand, or you could always take the help of AI tools like Claude, Chat GPT, or Gemini; for alternatives. For example, Oscar, an insurance company did not get their choice of domain (hello film awards!), so they added a prefix of hi; and their current domain name reads as hioscar.com
You can try negotiating with the current owner to transfer ownership over to you. Only do this, if they are willing to sell it at a reasonable price. You could look up their contact information on the ICANN’s lookup tool. However, the caveat is that some domain owners keep their information private, while some domains could be purchased via LLC or any other business entity.
With the help of AI domain name generators, you can generate unique names in less than 10 seconds. User inputs like product, industry, personality etc allow extensive data analysis to generate options quickly. It also offers real-time checks on domain availability. Namelix’s free AI business name generator helps you in 3 simple steps. Watch this loom video to find out how:
How to AI domain name generators
Now that you have settled on a domain name, here are 10 easy steps to buy a custom domain from Shopify:
Remember, we told you that buying a custom domain cannot be a hasty decision? Here are a few things that you need to keep in mind:
While you can obviously buy a domain from Shopify, you may have a custom domain already. Here’s what you can do then:
Here are the steps to connect your domain to Shopify:
Domain prices may vary, depending on the domain's desirability. Sometimes they may cost between $10 and $20 per year (subscription) or sometimes premium domains like
“business.com”—can sell for thousands of dollars too.
Now why does such a huge difference exist?
The price of a domain is dependent on multiple factors including:
Pro tip: Make sure that you are ready to bear the domain subscription cost yearly, or opt for multi-year plans, since they will be significantly cheaper. Also, claim this as a business expense to offset your taxes.