Sure, there are a few steps to the whole thing, but they aren’t complex or anxiety-inducing, especially not when you have a guide.  

In this post, we cover the A to Z of how to transfer a domain name. Keep reading, and you’ll learn the following information: 

• What does it mean to transfer a domain name? 
• Common reasons for transferring a domain name. 
• How to transfer a domain name. 
• Cost of transferring a domain name.  
• Whether or not your website and email will go down during a domain transfer. 
• And more! 

Use the table of contents below to jump to a particular section in this guide or start from the top for a comprehensive overview of transferring domain names.  

Domain Name Transfer FAQs 

Here’s everything you need to know about transferring domain names in one place.  

What does it mean to transfer a domain name? 

Transferring a domain name means moving a domain from the registrar where it is currently managed to a different registrar.  

Why transfer a domain name? 

You might want to transfer your domain name from one registrar to another for any number of reasons. Below, we’ve listed some of the most common reasons we hear from our domain registrants.  

• Cost and value.  
  • Registrars determine their own pricing based on the products and services they sell. Some registrars, like Domain.com, offer free perks with your domain registration (like email forwarding, URL forwarding, and more).  
  • If you’re not happy with the pricing structure of your current registrar and the features they offer, it may be time to make a change.  
• Domain management and user-friendliness.  
  • Managing your domain names shouldn’t be a hassle. Choose a registrar who prioritizes ease of use and offers all the features you need.  
  • Some registrars offer their own services and seamless integrations for things like email and hosting — while others offer clunky 3^rd party integrations that may slow you down.  
• Domain name is changing ownership.  
  • Did you sell a domain name? Or purchase one from someone else? That domain needs to be transferred to its new owner. 
• Customer support.  
  • If you run into a hiccup with your domain name, you’ll want to talk to an expert that can help. At Domain.com, our knowledge base and specialists are available 24/7.  

How long does it take to transfer a domain name? 

Transferring a domain name is a quick process. Once you’ve completed a few steps (like making sure the domain is unlocked, etc.), the rest of the process is taken care of by the registrars.  

You can complete your portion of the transfer process in one sitting (which we recommend for security reasons) It only takes an hour or two, max, and that’s being generous. Then, the registrars do their parts to complete your transfer which can take up to 5-7 business days.  

What do I need to transfer a domain name? 

To facilitate a successful domain name transfer, ensure the following four criteria are met: 

1. Domain(s) must be valid and registered with another registrar.  
2. The domain(s) must have been registered for at least 60 days and in unlock status.  
3. Admin contact and domain registrant information must be up-to-date.  
4. You have your transfer authorization, or EPP code, from the registrar you’re moving away from.  

Does transferring a domain name affect my custom email address? 

Moving your domain name doesn’t mean you have to move your email hosting. 

Are you using a third party to host your email? If so, it shouldn’t be affected by transferring a domain name. Domain.com does not make changes to the name servers for your domain during the transfer process.  

If your custom email address is hosted with your domain provider, a transfer could affect you. To avoid that, make sure to transfer your email account’s MX records to your new registrar while transferring your domain. By doing this, you’ll ensure your email account is linked to your domain name. However, you’ll continue to manage your email with your original provider. 

Want to transfer to Domain.com and manage your email with us? Create a Google Workspace account with Domain.com and migrate your email to that account.  

Will my website go down during a domain name transfer? 

Nope!  

When you transfer a domain name from one registrar to another, that’s literally all you’re doing. You’re not moving your email or hosting. During the domain transfer process, your nameservers don’t change — they’ll stay pointed to the same pre-transfer nameservers.  

Now, it’s another story if you’re changing your hosting provider along with your domain registrar. If you decide to change your website host, follow these steps to avoid site downtime: 

• Import your DNS records to your new hosting provider (it may be your new registrar.) 
• Double-check to make sure the DNS information is correct.  
• Change the nameservers at the originating registrar.  
  • You may have to wait for propagation; it could take 24-48 hours.  

Another scenario to consider is if you’re using the default nameservers of your current (pre-transfer) registrar. Many registrars offer access to free nameservers so long as your domain remains registered with them. If you decide to transfer your domain, you could lose access to those nameservers.  

If you’re unsure whether you’re using default nameservers, ask your registrar BEFORE you transfer your domain. We recommend keeping your domain pointed to your hosting provider’s nameservers.  

Will my website content transfer along with my domain name?  

No. Your website content will remain hosted wherever your site is hosted.  

Can I make changes to a domain while it’s being transferred? 

You cannot make any changes to a domain name when it’s actively in the transfer process.  

This means you’re unable to: 

• Update nameservers. 
• Change the WHOIS registration information.  
• Renew the domain registration.  

If you must make one of those edits, you’ll need to contact the originating registrar with a request to cancel the transfer. Otherwise, you’ll need to wait the standard 5-7 business days for the process to finish so you can make your edits.  

Can I transfer an expired or expiring domain name?  

Domain names must be in good standing for transferral.  

Attempting to transfer a domain that is on hold, expired, or expiring within 10 days can sometimes cause unexpected complications. If your domain is in one of those statuses and you’re looking to transfer it, call our transfer team for assistance at 800-403-3568.  

How do I prepare my domain name for transfer?  

Ready to transfer your domain name? Verify that you’ve got the following ducks in a row with your current registrar and you will be.

• Unlock your domain name.  
• Disable your domain’s privacy settings.  
• Ensure the admin contact information is updated and correct.  
• Get your transfer authorization code, also known as an EPP code.  
  • Depending on your registrar, you may need to contact them directly for your code.  
• Ensure your domain is at least 60 days old or opt-out of your domain lock. 
• Make sure your domain isn’t tangled up in any legal disputes as that’s a quick way to get it locked at the registry level.  

What is the 60-day domain lock? 

As of December 1, 2016, domain registrars are required to impose a lock that prevents a domain name from transfer for 60 days post-change to a registrant’s information.  

The good news? Registrars can provide a way to opt out of the 60-day lock. Not all registrars offer that ability upfront, which can make life difficult when managing domain names.  

At Domain.com, we believe you should have total management of your domain name, so we provide the option to unlock your domain right from your account dashboard. Simply toggle your domain lock on or off, depending on your needs.

How much does it cost to transfer a domain name?  

ICANN, the non-profit organization that oversees domains, requires that domain names be renewed for an additional year when transferred.  

At Domain.com, you can transfer your domain name for as low as $9.99. We don’t charge additional fees for domain name transfers, though the same can’t necessarily be said for all domain registrars.  

Transferring domain names to Domain.com 

Looking to transfer your domain name to Domain.com? Thanks for your consideration! Here’s what you need to know.  

Why should I transfer my domain name to Domain.com? 

Domain names are our bread and butter, and we’ve been a leader in the industry since 2000.  

However, it isn’t our age that makes us a great fit for your domains; it’s the fact that we’re designed to make managing your domains a breeze. Here’s how we do it… 

Straightforward domain management. 

Your domain dashboard lets you quickly and easily manage your domain names. That means no hunting around for hidden tools — toggle the most important features on or off as you need them.  

Once logged in, you can manage additional domain features (like pointers and subdomains) from the menu immediately to the left of your summary dashboard.  

Plentiful hosting options. 

We’re here to make your life easier when it comes to domains and to help you create and build your online presence.  

We don’t just offer over 300 TLDs for registration; we offer various website hosting and builder services, email, and more! 

Automatic domain name renewal.  

Your claim to your domain name has an expiration date.  

When your domain registration period runs out, so does your ownership of that domain name. You can leave yourself a reminder on your calendar to manually renew it, or you can use Domain.com’s Auto Renewal feature so that it’s one less thing to worry about.  

Cost-conscious pricing.  

We offer some of the most competitive pricing available in the domain name industry. Don’t believe us? Check it out for yourself. We’re not in the business of hiding our pricing and making it difficult to find.  

24/7 customer support.  

Sometimes, we all need a little help. Our teams are there for you 24/7.  

You can reach our teams by phone or live chat, and you have a comprehensive Knowledge Base chock-full of FAQs and step-by-step guidance at your disposal.  

How to transfer your domain from GoDaddy to Domain.com. 

Ready to make the move to Domain.com from GoDaddy? Here are the steps you’ll take to transfer your domain name to Domain.com.  

1. Log into your GoDaddy Account Manager.  
2. In the “My Products” section, find and click “Domain Manager.” 
3. Use the checkbox(es) to select the domain name(s) you want to modify.  
4. Above the list of your domain names, select “Locking.” 
5. To unlock the domain(s), clear the lock domains checkbox.  
6. Select “OK.” 
7. Click “OK” again. 

To retrieve your transfer authorization code from GoDaddy, follow these steps:

1. Log into your GoDaddy Account Manager.  
2. In the “My Products” section, click “Domain Manager.” 
3. Select the domain name whose authorization code you want.  
4. In the “Authorization Code” field, click the “Send by Email” hyperlink. 
5. Select “OK.” 
6. Click “OK” again. 

After submitting your transfer request to Domain.com, we’ll then send you an email confirming your transfer. Make sure to confirm your transfer via that email. Within it, we provide a link to your account so you can log in and enter your transfer authorization code.  

And that’s it! 

Transfer your domain name and build your online presence  

Transferring a domain name shouldn’t be a complicated process. At Domain.com, our goal is to make your domain name transfer as painless and intuitive as possible.  

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to our teams, leave a comment down below, or check out this Knowledge Base article to learn more about transferring a domain name to your account.

According to Deloitte, that’s the percentage of female representation technology firms will achieve in 2022 (and even that’s up a couple of points from 2019). When it comes to the percentage of women filling technical roles at those technology firms, that number drops by 8 percentage points to a mere 25%. Considering women makeup 47% of the total labor force, it stands as no surprise that there could be more representation in the technology sector.  

So, why is it that women aren’t equally represented across a range of technological industries?  

The history of women’s employment is fascinating, especially since the inception of the Internet. (Former Palestinian Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, called it “the great equalizer,” in a speech at the International Women’s Leadership Forum in 1997.)  

As we mark National Women’s History Month this March, we’re focusing on a small slice of the tech sector: the domain name industry. 

Domain names (and by extension the domain name industry) are practically inseparable from the Internet itself. In simple terms, domain names help us and our computers make sense of the World Wide Web. When you enter a domain name into your browser, one server talks to another, points to and resolves in your intended destination, whether that be a website or an online program.  

In today’s post, we’re continuing our Women in Domaining series and sitting down with Domain.com’s very own Senior Vice President of Marketing, Karen Dixon. Keep reading to learn about her reluctant entry into the domain industry and hear what she has to say about being a woman in a historically male-dominated industry.  

Women in Domains: An Interview with Karen Dixon  

It’s February in New England. We’re halfway through winter, and as you can imagine, the days are short and cold.  

But even the freezing temperatures don’t discourage Karen from taking care of herself and her responsibilities. Before starting her long and busy days, she’s outside on a run with her Vizsla, Cisco. Then, it’s time for breakfast and to sign on to her computer and start her day working from home, or to take a quick drive into the (now mostly-empty) office.  

That’s where we found her, tea in hand, when we sat down to talk about her career and insights into the domain name industry. 

Hi Karen, thanks for sitting down with us today to discuss women in the domain industry. We appreciate you taking the time to explore this topic with us!

To help us get started, can you describe your current company and role there?  

Thanks for having me as a subject for this interview! I’m more often on the other side of the equation, so it’s fun to get to answer some questions for you.  

I work for Newfold Digital, which is the company that was formed when Web.com and Endurance International Group merged in February 2021.  

I held the role as head of marketing for Domain.com and BuyDomains at Endurance for about 7 years; when Web.com and Endurance joined together I was given the opportunity to continue in that role, overseeing all domain-leading brands (Network Solutions, Register.com, Domain.com, and some others). I’m also responsible for the marketing of domains across our entire portfolio of brands.  

This has been an incredible opportunity for me as it requires differentiation of how we position our various domain brands in the market. Our portfolio of domain brands has very different strategies regarding growth and retention, and I’ve had to rely on many skills and those of my team to ensure we continue to build value for our customers.  At the core of everything we do is the mission to help our customers be successful, whatever that means to them.   

Where did you study and what do you hold your degree in?  

I studied psychology at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont. I considered continuing my degree in psychology after college, but I decided to take a job at an advertising agency instead.  I learned that I was more interested in human behavior as it relates to advertising than I was in counseling.  Human behavior, after all, is very much linked to psychology.  

What did you do prior to joining the domain name industry?  

I held a few roles prior to my time in the domain industry. I worked as a marketing manager, then as a consultant who developed and managed research and marketing strategies that provided insight into my clients’ marketing communications programs. 

I consulted with an early-stage financial/social networking company to build a new brand and implement multichannel and partner marketing programs.  

And before joining the domain industry, I held the role of Group Product Manager at a law firm. There, I was responsible for the growth and management of legal products, where I was able to apply my extensive marketing knowledge and background.   

How did you get started in the domain industry and how long have you been in it?  

I’ve been in the domain business for 10 years. I was hired by Jason Miner, then Chief Operating Officer of BuyDomains (NameMedia), to join the company to help reposition and rebrand Afternic and BuyDomains. Afternic was sold to GoDaddy in 2013, and BuyDomains was acquired by Endurance in 2014.    

I joined the domain business somewhat reluctantly, as I didn’t quite understand the value of domain names and what the domain industry represented.   

I quickly realized that the domain business is fun and fascinating and the individuals that I’ve met and worked with over the years, from registries to registrars and aftermarket providers, have become more than partners, they are friends and make up a community like no other.  

I joined the domain business somewhat reluctantly, as I didn’t quite understand the value of domain names and what the domain industry represented.   

Karen Dixon

As we look back over the past two years, the world of business has undoubtedly changed due to the pandemic. Do you believe it’s affected the domain industry?  

The pandemic has definitely affected the domain industry and we saw that in the rise of demand for domains shortly after the pandemic started, and it continued throughout most of 2021.   

The domain industry continues to grow, as the pandemic solidified for most businesses the need to be able to connect with your customer — a need that does not rely on physical space or location.   

We see our customers use domain names to offer their products online, connect communities, offering services and support to individuals affected by Covid, and so much more.  It’s inspirational to me to play a very small part in enabling our customers to do some really great work through their websites.   

Do you think the pandemic has affected women in the workplace?  

The pandemic has absolutely affected women in the workplace, as it has been well documented that women who are mothers are more likely to be the primary parent handling childcare, taking time off to care for children while schools and daycares are closed, and overall caring for the well-being of their families.   

I am hopeful that the flexibility in remote working that the pandemic has enabled will ultimately be positive in women’s and mothers’ lives. At Newfold Digital, we are hiring most positions remotely and are very flexible about in-person office requirements. If these trends continue, it will benefit women and mothers who need more flexibility in their day to handle childcare responsibilities and disruptions.   

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on that, Karen. As a mother of two, we know that you’ve experienced many of these changes firsthand. And as your employees and coworkers, we appreciate your flexibility and that of Newfold when it comes to those matters.  

We’d like to circle back to something you mentioned earlier about the effects of the pandemic on the domain business. You said that we saw a rise in the demand for domain names, and it made us think about domain name availability. A great number of .com domain names have already been registered, so it can be difficult to find a good primary registration .com domain name. That being said, there are a multitude of additional domain extensions that the general public isn’t as familiar with.  

You’ve been in the domain business for over a decade now, what are your thoughts on these newer TLDs and domain extensions?  

I’m excited about what the new TLDs have brought to customers.  More choice is almost always a good thing.  

In an environment where 65% of exact match domains are unavailable in search results, we need to find more ways to offer good alternatives to individuals who are starting an online presence. The adoption of the new TLDs was slow initially, but I think we are in a place of more universal acceptance of alternative TLDs as a primary domain and their value in brand protection.   

Great insights, thank you!  

Earlier you also mentioned the domain community – made up of individuals, registries, registrars, aftermarket providers, and others. In this “community like no other,” do you feel represented as a woman? 

I feel somewhat represented in the domain community.  

It is still very heavily dominated by men; however, there has been a shift towards more women in leadership roles at domain businesses in the past 10 years. I like to think that I am an example of that, as a senior leader at Newfold which is one of the largest registrars in the world.   

Domain investing still seems to be dominated by men, and I would like to see more women and diversity represented in the domainer community.    

What might you change to make the industry even more welcoming to women and diversity?  

A continuation of promoting women and people of color to leadership roles is essential to achieving equality and representation in this industry.  

Newfold is committed to diversity and inclusion in our recruiting, and these steps are very important to continue our progress of being better representative of the changing demographics of our world.   

What advice would you give to women looking to start a career in domains?   

I would start by encouraging women to look into careers in the domain industry. I think there is low awareness of domains as a career path, and there is a lot of opportunity and room for growth for both men and women who are interested in learning about the industry and motivated to grow their careers.   

Networking is the best way to meet a lot of people and learn about open positions, and there are lots of opportunities for networking in the domain industry.  Events like ICANN meetings and domainer conferences like Namescon are excellent places to start.  

Thank you for sharing your advice, Karen, and for joining us today to discuss women in domaining! We’ve enjoyed learning about your experiences in the domain business and wish you the best with your future endeavors. 

Interested in reading more of our Women in Domaining interviews with leading women in the domain industry? Check out our sit-down with Kelly Hardy, Head of Registry Policy at Centralnic here, and our interview with Neha Naik, Senior Director of Channel Partnerships at Radix Registry here. 

We don’t mean to intrude, but you’ve just landed on the perfect blog post for such a state of mind.

If you’ve had enough of punching time cards, having your meal times determined by a scheduling program, and answering to middle-management, then perhaps there’s no better time than now to turn those daydreams into reality.

There’s a lot to consider and plan for when becoming your own boss and starting an online business — like what kind of business will you start?

How to Start an Online Business

We live in a connected world, with the internet and technology enabling ample opportunities to start successful businesses online. If you decide to give up the office or retail life and become a digital entrepreneur, you’ll be in good company.

Online, home-based businesses are on the rise and are valuable sources of income for many. Depending on your needs and goals, your business may be a part-time side hustle or it could be your full-time venture.

Is starting an online business a good idea? Online businesses may require fewer investments as compared to brick-and-mortar businesses that require external facilities or a hired staff, and they offer a flexible work-life balance as it’s dictated by you. However, keep in mind that you may need to convert part of your home and living space to support your business, especially as it grows.

Let’s explore some online business ideas that you can launch with a little business planning and a website (and that aren’t MLMs.)

15 Online Business Ideas

Ready to be your own boss? With these business ideas, you can be.

1. Web designer

Web designers are in demand.

As brick-and-mortar businesses convert into online retailers, they all need websites. Business owners often don’t have the time to create and design beautiful, functional websites. Even with the advent of easy-to-use website builders, they seek outside counsel and assistance.

And it isn’t just small businesses that need web design help, large companies frequently hire design consultants to assist with their needs.

Web design is all about creating an intuitive, beautiful experience for the end-user, so if helping others and designing are your passions, this is a great business idea to consider starting from home.

2. Personal fitness trainer

The pandemic has shown us that traditionally in-person businesses can be successful online. You may be accustomed to going to a gym or studio to learn and instruct, but there’s nothing stopping you from doing that online, too.

A website, camera, and open floor space are all you really need to get started if you’re knowledgeable about proper exercise, motivation, and healthy living. Once you build your reputation and your business grows, you may find that you’ll want to start making house calls or letting your clients come to you.

Before starting a personal fitness training business, make sure to research local guidelines to determine if any special licensing is required.

3. Copywriter

Do you have a way with words? The ability to sway people by pen or keyboard? If yes, it’s time to give serious consideration to becoming a copywriter.

Great copy helps convert website visitors into customers, so website owners everywhere seek help writing content like FAQs and blog posts.

To attract those website owners and convince them to hire you, you’ll need to put your skills to work. Start by creating a website to showcase your strengths. Make sure to include an “About” page where prospective clients can learn about you, samples of your work, and make it easy for them to contact you — a “Contact Us” page is great, but your contact information should be discoverable from every page.

4. Interior Designer

Some people have an eye for style, and some don’t. If you do, why not help others create the living or workspaces of their dreams?

Someone, somewhere, doesn’t understand that houndstooth can’t be matched with plaid, or what color walls best pair with their flooring. Your stylistic expertise is what they need and they’ll be happy to pay for a consultation.

As with any business, social proof is important, so you’ll want to showcase your work on your website. Consider adding a blog to your site to keep your readers up-to-date with trends and inform them of what you’ve been working on.

5. Dropshipper

Have you thought about starting an online retail business, only to abandon your dream because you don’t have the funds to invest in a large inventory of products?

Dropshipping solves that issue for you. With dropshipping, you can sell products on your site without worrying about stocking and inventory. It works like this: When you sell a product on your site it’s purchased from a third party who fulfills shipping, so you never have to touch the product. These third-party sellers are normally wholesalers or manufacturers, and you’ll still make a profit from the sales.

Dropshipping means low overhead. You don’t have to purchase any products unless you’ve made a sale and it’s been paid for by the customer. This also gives you great control and flexibility when it comes to testing new products in your market. 

6. Personal chef

Does everyone rave about your cooking? Perhaps now is the time to turn your culinary prowess into a profitable business.

Depending on local regulations and guidelines, you can use your home kitchen to create nutritious, enjoyable meals for your clients. As your business grows, you may need to find a commercial kitchen and hire helpers, but the majority of your marketing, planning, and business work can be done from the comfort of your own home.

Happy clients and referrals will help your business grow, so don’t hesitate to create a website to show off your delicious meals and share information about your offerings.

7. Grant writer

Non-profit organizations rely on donations to fund their goodwill initiatives. There are many opportunities for them to apply for grants to receive funding, but oftentimes, the people behind the scenes are juggling many roles, and don’t have the time to write the incredible grant proposals they need to secure funds.

This is where you come in. Are you a master of pen and keyboard? Do you have a knack for laying information out concisely and persuasively? There are so many organizations vying for a limited amount of grants, that it’s imperative for proposals to be well-formatted and well-written.

There are many free resources online that can help you learn how to write the perfect proposal. Once you’ve nailed it, pitch your services to different organizations and create a website where people seeking grant writers can contact you.

8. Life coach

Does everyone in your friend group rely on you for advice? Do they seek you out for your sage wisdom on love, work, and any other number of personal and professional issues?

Sounds like you might already be a bit of a life coach. Life coaches aren’t therapists, but they do help individuals focus on the life they want, provide guidance and counsel, and help people to achieve their goals.

Some life coaches prefer to coach and speak to big crowds, but it’s a career that can easily be done from your home. While life coaches don’t technically need a license to operate, there are programs designed to help you become a life coach that offer certifications. As with any business, you’ll need to invest in your online presence to build your audience of prospective customers.

9. Blogger

Blogs and websites have democratized the information age, letting anyone who has an interest or is an expert on a topic hold court. Blogging is one of the most popular ways that people share information, and you can manage your blog from home or anywhere!

To be a blogger, you undoubtedly have to have your own site. To be successful, you’ll need to create fresh, interesting content that appeals to your audience. Encourage your readers to share your posts with their friends and on social media to grow your following.

As your blog gains more and more engaged readers, you can offer advertising space on your blog for additional income. If you’re seriously considering becoming a blogger, check out this post about what you need to know when starting a blog.

10.  Virtual assistant

Are you an organizational powerhouse? Have you been called “Type A” more than once? A virtual assistant position may be perfect for you.

Busy executives and business owners can reach a point where they’re inundated with responsibilities and don’t have the time to manage all their tasks. Appointments, emails, video calls — all of these things add up and are time-consuming.

As a virtual assistant, you’d be stepping in to provide the help and organization they so desperately need. You’d carry your tasks out at home, from scheduling meetings and appointments to replying to emails, fielding phone calls, and managing documents. And all of these things are easily achievable using cloud-based solutions. 

So, if you’re the type who plans everything from morning to sundown, you can have a lot of fun and find fulfillment as a Virtual Assistant. 

11.  Consultant

Someone, somewhere, needs your expertise. Consultants are experts in their fields, and they are paid to advise others in their field or to address specific issues others are facing. It’s not the same as a coach, who provides advice and motivation so you meet your goals.

Usually, consultants offer their services to businesses, although individuals sometimes seek out consultants, too. As a home-based consultant, you have the flexibility to determine your own schedule and rates, and there isn’t much overhead when starting your business. However, it takes time to build your clientele, so make sure you highlight your expertise and other relevant information on your site and include social proof where possible. 

12.  Instructor/Tutor

Covid-19 has changed the face of education, and now is a great time to start an online tutoring business. Parents everywhere are struggling to run their households, manage their careers, and act as secondary (or primary) teachers as their kids attend remote schooling.

If you’re knowledgeable and have a gift for teaching, why not help out in this time of increased need and get paid for it? All that’s required are a computer, a website, and a camera. You can conduct online lessons and tutoring sessions, and add helpful content to your site.

If you do well, your students’ parents will be your best advocates — touting your expertise and sharing your information with other parents in similar situations, and word-of-mouth is a powerful marketing tool.

13. Podcaster

Podcasts are insanely popular. In fact, almost 60% of U.S. consumers listen to podcasts.

If you like the sound of your own voice and think others may, too, then consider starting a podcast. All of us have stories to share and knowledge that we can impart to others.

To get started with podcasting, you’ll need the following:

• A quality microphone
• Software or tools to record audio
• Audio editing tools
• A website

To gain more listeners, try partnering with other more well-known podcasters or thought leaders as you get started. And don’t forget to encourage your listeners to leave reviews!

14. Domain Investor

You’ve heard of real estate investors, but did you know that domain investing is a thing?

Just like real estate properties, domains are great investments because a good domain name will only increase in value. Domain investing means buying domain names and then selling them for a greater amount.

Good domain names have to meet certain criteria, like being short, memorable, and brandable. Business owners will pay for the right domain name because domains are the core of a business’ digital identity. You’ll need to do your research before jumping into the world of domain investing, as you’ll be using your own funds to get started, and you don’t want to lose your money.

Luckily, there are many online resources that can help you get started with domain investing, and there are plenty of sites, like BuyDomains.com, that offer reasonably priced premium domain names which you can resell.

15.  Freelance Editor

Does the thought of correcting someone’s diction and syntax excite you? Do you have fond memories of red pens in the pre-digital era? Are you the person your friends rely on for reviewing and improving important documents?

Sounds like you’ll make a mighty fine freelance editor. Freelance editors take on many roles, from editing grammar to content, and even SEO.

To get started, you’ll want to create a site to showcase your work. Ask friends and family that have relied on you for editing services to provide testimonials, and reach out to businesses you think could benefit from your services. Your work as a freelance editor can be done from anywhere — at home, while traveling, or in a rented space, whatever you prefer.

Ready to start your online business?

There’s no better time than now to launch an online business. We hope these ideas have inspired you to get started and pursue your dreams!

Before investing your time and money in a new venture, it’s always a good idea to take the time to validate your business idea and create a business plan. This way, you’ll know exactly who your audience is, and the best way to conduct your enterprise.

Do you have any other online business ideas you’d like to share? Comment below!

It can be overwhelming to keep tabs on everything necessary for your website. But it’s essential to ensure the back part of the website is operating and to know what people see when they use their browser.

You’ve lined up great images, simple navigation, and excellent content. Here’s a checklist to use to make sure you haven’t missed any necessary details so your online presence will shine.

20-Point Website Pre-Launch Checklist

1. Bring in Beta Testers

Whether you get them from a team of outside talent or your staff, have multiple people run through the functional aspects of your website to make sure everything works. Some of the most important elements include:

• Confirming images are optimized for quick loading.
• Testing that all fillable forms work as intended.
• Running through any logins and credentials.
• Confirming autoresponders respond automatically.
• Ensuring your shopping carts and payment processing work smoothly and quickly.

Have your testers also review each page to ensure it’s attractive, easy to navigate, and overall high-quality.

Your testers should be people who haven’t worked on the site. You want fresh eyes at this stage since the people who built it have levels of both familiarity and burnout that will make them terrible at this task.

2. Make Sure Calls to Action Are Clear

Look at each page on your site and ask yourself what consumers will do when they’re done reading it. It needs a clear call to action (CTA).

Some CTAs are apparent and intuitive. For example, a product page should have a button to purchase items. Others might lead to a contact form, educational content, or a product video.

Best results usually come from having two CTAs. Put one near the top of the page visible to users before they scroll. The other goes at the bottom, where they can see it when they’re done reading. These can be calls to the same action or opportunities to do different things.

3. Check Grammar, Spelling, and Formatting

Do not have a typo on your front page, the wrong model number in the title of a product video, or a messy grammar mistake in your educational content. Those kinds of errors cost you authority, trust, and sales.

It’s not the most fun task in this process but review every page carefully for typos, spelling, and grammar. While you’re at it, review font size, use of white space, image placement, and similar factors that make your page easy and enjoyable to read.

Hire outside professionals for this if you can. If that’s not in the budget, assign two team members to each page. Neither will likely catch everything, but they should spot all the major issues between them.

4. Configure Permalinks

A permalink is a specific URL for a page on your site. It’s what the press includes in their writeup when referencing a page, what shows up when you link via social media, and what Google uses to index your content.

WordPress and most other site-building tools assign randomized, automatic names for these links. For example, a blog post about flower arranging for a florist’s site might initially be set as http://www.flowersforeverybody/blog/post129587. That’s not memorable or easy to remember.

It’s easy to manually change that to something memorable, like http://www.flowersforeverybody/blog/flowerarrangingfordummies. You will need to do this manually for every page.

5. Confirm It Works on Mobile

Recent research by Oberlo found that more than half of internet users shop on their mobile devices, and that number grows every year. Six out of 10 report that mobile functionality on a website impacts their opinion of a brand.

Use the tools in your web building suite to optimize every page for mobile, then have people run through it on every kind of phone and tablet they can find.

6. Create a Contact Page

You need a dedicated contact page for two reasons.

First, it creates a clear place for customers, leads, and potential partners to get in touch with you. Many of your calls to action will do the same, but some users want to find you directly. This lets them do that.

Second, contact pages add real and virtual credibility and trust. Not being easy and intuitive to reach makes people suspicious that you might hide from complaints and problems. This is so important that the presence of a contact page gives you a small but meaningful bump on many search engine algorithms.

7. Delete Unused Plugins

Websites built with a design suite typically have three kinds of plugins:

• Plugins you installed and still use
• Plugins you installed but no longer use
• Plugins that were installed automatically or accidentally that you never used

Only the first category of plugins belongs on your site. The other two eat up resources, slow down browsing, and contribute nothing in exchange.

Perform a plugin audit before going live. Uninstall and delete any plugin you don’t use.

8. Do an Accessibility Check

Making sure everybody, regardless of disability, can use your website isn’t just good karma. Increasingly, countries and smaller jurisdictions worldwide are mandating this by law. So, do an accessibility audit before your site goes live.

This is a complex task to perform a la carte, but fortunately, tools like WAVE (Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool) can check your site for issues and identify changes you need.

If you’re reading this post early in the process, consider choosing a theme for your site that’s built from the ground up for accessibility. It will save you time later.

9. Double-Check the Time Zone

This is small, easy, and important. Go into the time zone settings for your design suite and confirm the best choice for your company. This is usually the time zone where you’re located, but it might instead be the one where most of your customers live.

Because updates and automated maintenance are set according to the identified time zone, having this off-kilter can create problems at surprisingly inconvenient times.

10. Format Your Images

Images are vital for websites, resulting in significantly better engagement than text alone. But they can cause problems if you don’t set them up correctly. For every image on your site:

• Confirm its location works with other design elements across all platforms
• Enter ALT text for SEO and accessibility
• Make sure captions are compelling, error-free, and spaced well on the page
• Make sure the resolution is good enough to still look great on large monitors

Like your website overall, the only thing worse than no images is terrible images. Time spent on this step pays dividends over the lifetime of your site.

11. Install an SEO Plugin

Unless you have an in-house SEO expert working with every piece of online content, you need an SEO plugin. These consistently updated web tools scan your work for keyword usage, titling, meta description, and similar factors to make it competitive on search engines.

Yoast is the most-used SEO plugin and gets good reviews, but you have dozens of other options to choose from.

12. Install Security

Because your website is public-facing, it’s vulnerable to hacking, spam, and other exploitations. At best, these are annoying to your customers and time-consuming to clean up. At worst, they can mean a data breach or ransomware threats to your entire operation.

This is a complex topic well beyond the scope of a line item in a list. Login protection, anti-spam measures, secure SSL, and staff training are just four of the most critical factors you will need to see about this. If you don’t have an expert on staff, it’s worth hiring outside help for this vital protection.

Not doing this is like never installing locks on your front door.

13. Make a 404 Page

If you have a broken link or a visitor mistypes a permalink, they’ll get a 404 message, and one of two things will happen:

• They’ll see the default 404 screen for their browser.
• They’ll go to a custom 404 page with your branding.

The second is always more memorable and enjoyable than the first. Set up something on-brand, even a fun message letting the consumer know how to remedy the problem.

While you’re at it, set up email alerts to let your team know when people encounter a 404 error. That way, you can fix problems as soon as they appear.

14. Perfect the robots.txt File

This small but vital file helps search engines work through your content more quickly and efficiently. Setting one up is another job for an expert, but it’s worth the small investment.

15. Review It On Different Browsers

Different browsers interpret certain lines of code differently, so a page that’s beautiful on Chrome might work poorly on Edge. Just like you checked the site on mobile devices, use a desktop and a laptop to navigate through each page on the major browsers:

• Google Chrome
• Apple Safari
• Firefox
• Microsoft Edge

There are dozens of other off-brand browsers, but the market share on those is small enough you don’t need to worry about them unless your customer base is passionate about one.

16. Run Through the Navigation

Somebody needs to go through every page on your site, list every link on each page, and confirm all the links go where they’re supposed to go. The best virtual customer journey ever built does little good if a typo or copy/paste error derails the process halfway through.

It might be tempting to fold this step in with other page audits mentioned earlier in this article. Resist that temptation. Do this as its own dedicated task to keep the focus where it needs to be.

Consider making this a late step in your process.

17. Streamline Social Media

Websites are vital for business. Social media is a robust business tool. When you combine the two efficiently, they add up to much more than the sum of their parts.

Check your social icons to make sure they work correctly and link to the correct pages. Test your social sharing widgets and plugins to confirm they share the way you want them to share. Test drive several pages through the sharing process and make notes of any place problems pop up.

Social media buttons and functionality may take up only a fraction of your page’s real estate, but they represent a massive opportunity for free engagement and promotion. Give them the attention they deserve.

18. Triple-Check Your Backup

Before you hit the launch button, have a backup solution stored away from your main version. Test it to confirm it functions, and leave it alone.

Many things can go wrong with a site after launch, so the ability to restore to a stable and functional version can save time, resources, and stress. Make creating, protecting, and accessing this emergency tool a priority.

19. Update Your URLs

Priorities, structure, and preferences can change between the beginning of a web design product and launch day. Sometimes your team learns something during the design stage and makes changes in real-time. This means the URLs you assigned early in the process might not match the parameters you settled on by the end.

Go through your list of pages and check them one by one. Update those that need updating. Remember to update related links to match.

20. Ask Your Lawyers

Once you go live, you’ll be on the hook for legal liabilities. That’s why you’ll want to run everything by your lawyers.

Every business and industry has its own set of legal needs, but most companies should check for the following things:

• Licensing and copyright for images, fonts, audio, video, and similar content you didn’t create in-house.
• Language and instantiation of terms of service or end-user license agreement (EULA).
• Terms and conditions for any purchases made through the site.
• A privacy policy announcing how you use any data your site collects.
• Cookie warnings as required in your jurisdiction.

Like any other legal situation, these details seem small but can lead to big problems if not handled early and effectively.

Final Thought

Keep in mind that, even once you’ve run through this checklist, your job is far from done. The best, most profitable websites are eternal works in progress. You should tweak, adjust to feedback, add content, cycle promotions, update staff pages, and a seemingly endless array of other tasks to keep your site attractive, up to date, and attention-getting.

It sounds daunting, but it’s worth it. As long as you start strong, your website can be the advantage you leverage to beat your competition and thrive.

Lilly Johnstown is a web designer in Montana and has crafted many strategies to help small businesses bolster their content marketing strategies on their websites.

That’s a great question.

And more often than not, the answer is yes. 

Purchasing more than one domain name is an excellent investment when done sensibly. When done right, owning multiple domain names is synonymous with brand protection and business security. We’ll explain exactly why that is in this blog post. 

Yes, You Should Buy Multiple Domain Names

Owning more than one domain is a smart business decision. However, that doesn’t mean you should go out and buy every domain name that strikes your fancy. Instead, approach purchasing multiple domain names with a strategy and plan like any other business move. 

The Importance of Domain Names

When someone asks, “What’s a domain name?” It’s easy to answer with “an online address” because it’s accurate and concise. A domain name is an intelligible, readable address for any web server on the Internet. It’s certainly easier than typing a long-stringed IP address into your browser every time you want to navigate somewhere online. 

But, to leave the answer at that would be a disservice to both domains and your brand. The former is vital to the latter. Often, a domain name is the first exposure someone has to a brand — they type it in their browser and consciously or not make a judgment about the name. 

Building a brand is about building relationships with your audience. You can help to reinforce your brand with strategic domain name purchases and usage. Two opportunities to do this are opening new locations for your business or launching new product lines. Many large companies are known to purchase hundreds if not thousands of domains to build their brand. 

There are other reasons those big companies own multiple domain names, too. When those businesses purchase many names, they do so for brand protection. What are they protecting against? Typosquatting, cybersquatting, and the unfair and illegitimate use of their trademarks.

What is Cybersquatting?

Cybersquatting is a broad term that includes typosquatting. It’s what happens when someone registers or uses a domain name in bad faith. 

Cybersquatting can negatively affect a business, especially one that’s still growing and defining its brand in the market. When someone registers a domain name that uses trademarked words, they’re trying to take legitimate website traffic away from those sites or ransom the names for more money. For example, someone registering a domain name like shophere.amazon.com would be committing an act of cybersquatting against Amazon.com. 

Typosquatting is another form of cybersquatting that involves purchasing domain names that are popular misspellings of other domains or clever spellings and using those names in bad faith. Ultimately, cyber and typosquatters are just looking to make a buck and profit from your name. You can prevent this, and protect your brand, by purchasing those misspelled variations of your domain name before someone else does. 

Though brand protection is vitally important as we mentioned earlier, it’s not the only reason to own multiple domain names. Sometimes, owning more than one domain is in an attempt to help our audience.

User Error and Misspellings

Not everyone is a grate speller. 

Some of us won blue ribbons in our local spelling bees growing up, and some of us certainly didn’t. 

Whether or not you’re a decent speller shouldn’t factor into whether or not you arrive at the website you’re trying to reach. But it often does, and this is something to think about when purchasing multiple domains. 

Once you’ve decided on your ultimate domain name, stop to think about different ways it could be spelled. Is there a phonetic spelling? Can you come up with any possible misspellings? These are the types of domain names you’re looking to register. 

Once you register those domains, just redirect them to your primary domain. This way, you’re ensuring that no matter what, those bad spellers and accidental typos still arrive at your website. 

Leveraging Multiple Domain Extensions

New domain extensions are released frequently, so it’s a good idea to keep an eye out for any that make sense for your business domain name. Names that are sensible purchases would include those relative to your industry or business model, like .yoga for a yoga studio or .online for an online store.

Protect Your Business with Multiple Domains

At the end of the day, purchasing and owning multiple domain names is in the best interest of your business. By owning more than one name, you’re ensuring that your brand grows and those names stay out of the hands of cybersquatters. 

Register the domain names you need to protect and grow your brand today with Domain.com. 

But if that’s true, why does it feel so stressful?

As a business owner, you’ve likely been planning for the holidays for months. Everything from decorations and website updates to deciding what sales to run and deals to offer falls on your shoulders. Then, you have to think of your home life and buying gifts for your nearest and dearest without breaking the bank. 

By the time the holiday season actually arrives and carols commandeer our radio stations, odds are good you’ve been overwhelmed for a while. 

It doesn’t have to be that way. You deserve relaxation and to be shown care and concern, and that starts with self-love and appreciation. 

Though you wear a lot of hats and time is tight, self-care is vital, especially during the holidays. Below, we’re exploring 10 ways you can practice showing yourself gratitude. Keep reading for our best holiday self-care tips. 

10 Holiday Self-Care Tips

Ah, the holidays… 

The weather (and responsibilities) outside could be frightful, but inside? Your mind could be a calm oasis, a place to find refuge during the holiday storm. When business, social expectations, and life seem too much to handle, take a step back and refer to the self-care tips below. 

1. Plan your downtime

When you have a million things to do and tasks of all sizes await your attention, it seems difficult to justify taking a break. Adding to that, we live in a world where busyness is glorified. Silvia Bellezza and other researchers at the Columbia Business School “…argue that a busy and overworked lifestyle, rather than a leisurely lifestyle, has become an aspirational status symbol.”

Breaks are essential to a healthy lifestyle, and it’s time to reframe the way you think about them. Taking a break isn’t a sign of laziness; instead, it’s an opportunity for you to refresh and promotes productivity and improved creativity. 

Moving forward, make a point to carve a few minutes out of each day for a bit of downtime. 

2. Define and delegate

When you started your business, you did it with a vision. You know how you want your business to grow and what needs to be done to get there, and it can be difficult to let others into your plans. In an effort to “do it all,” we resort to multitasking. Multitasking seems fruitful but consider the following passage… 

“Research suggests that ‘multitasking, which many have embraced as the key to success, is instead a formula for shoddy work, mismanaged time, rote solutions, stress, and forgetfulness,'” says author Kimberly Himes. 

If you feel like the best way to get everything done is to do it yourself, and if you’re drowning in responsibilities, we’ve got one word for you: Delegate!

Defining what needs to be done and delegating those tasks “helps leaders manage their workload and maximize productivity while also helping employees build skills.“

Learning to delegate helps relieve stress. You can rest easier knowing that delegation prepares your team to handle whatever happens if you are unavailable due to an emergency, or just taking a break.  

3. Breathe 

Have you ever had someone tell you to “calm down” during a time when you were visibly stressed?

It didn’t help much, did it?

When you’re stressed, your prefrontal cortex is impaired. That’s the part of your brain responsible for rational thinking, so following a simple instruction like “calm down” seems nigh impossible. 

Stress impacts your decision-making and ability to interpret information related to your business, too. 

So, what can you do to minimize the effects of stress and regain mastery over your mind? 

Breathe.

The Harvard Business Review reports that “different emotions are associated with different forms of breathing, and so changing how we breathe can change how we feel.”

The critical thing to remember is this: When you exhale, your heart rate slows down, and when you inhale, it speeds up. A popular breathing technique to combat stress is inhaling to a count of four then exhaling to a count of eight. Try that for a few minutes the next time you feel stressed.

4. Prioritize what matters

When you’re running a business and trying to make a profit, it can be hard to remember what the holiday season is truly about. Keeping your business afloat and successful is, without a doubt, important. Still, it isn’t the only important thing in your life. 

If the pressures are mounting, turn to your loved ones and favorite activities to help ease the burden. Whether you find comfort with your family or pets, or close friends, remember that the holiday season is about coming together with those you love. 

Make time for a holiday movie with your kids after a day at work. Or call up a friend and snuggle on the couch with your dog as you rewatch “The Grinch” for the first time in years. 

If coming together with family and friends sounds more stressful than relaxing, then make time for what does relax you. Is it playing a league sport in the evenings? Do arts and crafts warm your heart? Whatever it is that makes you happy — make time for it!

5. Eat good food

It’s the holiday season and cookies, crackers, and assortments of baked goods abound. We don’t think you should restrict yourself from the sweet treats the holidays offer; just enjoy them in moderation. 

Here’s why: Good food equals a good mood.

The next time stress has you feeling blah, combat it via your plate. According to the Cleveland Clinic, “The best meal to enhance your mood is one that combines complex carbohydrates with lean proteins and colorful produce.”  

Complex carbohydrates, like those found in sweet potatoes or quinoa, can increase the availability of serotonin, a “feel-good” chemical, in your brain. Proteins have been associated with increased levels of the chemicals dopamine and norepinephrine, both of which influence a person’s mood and concentration. 

And fruits and vegetables? There’s evidence “that people who eat more fruits and vegetables have a lower incidence of mental disorders, including lower rates of depression, perceived stress, and negative mood.”

6. Don’t skimp on sleep

A smoothly running business isn’t usually accomplished by short work. Depending on the situation and what needs to be completed, that might mean burning the midnight oil and forgoing sleep. While you can probably get away with a poor night’s sleep every now and again, don’t make a habit out of it. 

The American Psychological Association says that “sleep is a necessary human function — it allows our brains to recharge and our bodies to rest.” And missing out on sleep is more detrimental than you might think. “Sleep is so crucial that even slight sleep deprivation or poor sleep can affect memory, judgment and mood.”

To sleep better, try to establish a nighttime routine. This routine can include meditation, breathing techniques, reading, or other relaxing activities. Additionally, try to stay off your phone and turn off your TV before starting your bedtime routine. 

7. Understand your emotions

The holidays are a time when most of us feel pretty strongly. Whether those emotions are good or bad depends on our personal histories, external influences, and much more.

Around the holidays, many people resort to overworking, overeating, or drinking as ways to compensate for feelings they don’t know how to manage. Instead of burying your emotions and feeling the resultant stress, explore and acknowledge them. You can do this by journaling or seeking outside advice on how to manage your feelings and emotions.

When you begin to feel stressed and overwhelmed, sit down with a notebook and a pen and try to determine why you’re feeling the way you are. The more you practice acknowledging your feelings and understanding where they come from, the less control they’ll have over you.

8. Disconnect

When the stress of the holiday season gets to be too much, take a step back. It’s okay to disconnect if you need to.

Disconnecting looks different depending on your situation and needs. Maybe it means turning your phone off for set amounts of time each day or muting notifications. Or perhaps your version of disconnecting includes meditation, a literal forgetting of self.

Taking a step back from it all doesn’t mean you’re a failure or don’t know how to cope. Sometimes, life is just that busy and you need to find a quiet refuge where you can collect yourself and rebuild momentum.

Looking for ideas on how to take a break from the Internet and other stress-inducers this holiday season? Take a look at this curated list of ideas on how to disconnect from social media and more.

9. Talk about it

We’ve all been there — so stressed out that we get lost in our own heads and ways of thinking. When that happens, turn to someone you trust and talk it out. Getting an outsider’s view can offer perspectives on your issues and stressors that you likely wouldn’t reach on your own.

Eva Stubits is a Houston-based clinical psychologist specializing in stress management. She says “that talking about how stressed you are can help you get it out of your system.“

“It’s kind of like the pressure cooker analogy: If you don’t open a lid periodically, the steam can build up and cause you to feel even more stressed. If you let it out, it can help you process whatever it is you’re worried about.”

10. Work it out

You’ve heard it before, exercise helps keep you healthy. That doesn’t mean that exercise only keeps your body in good form, it keeps your mind healthy, too.

Exercise in almost any form helps your body to reduce stress and its effects. Whether you choose to walk, run, or perform burpees and wall squats in your office, the important thing is that you get moving. Physical activity increases the number of endorphins in your body, producing a “feel good” effect in your brain. You may have heard this phenomenon referred to as a “runner’s high,” but any good aerobic exercise can lead to the same result.

If you’d like to learn more about the effects of stress on your body, and how to implement an effective workout routine, check out this article from the Mayo Clinic.

Making the Most of the Holiday Season

We hope these self-care tips help you make the most of the holiday season. Let us know what else you do to manage stress during the holidays in the comments below.

So, are you ready to get your piece of the holiday pie? 

If not, don’t worry; we’ve got you covered and can help you get there.  

Today, we’re discussing five Black Friday ideas you can leverage to drive more sales and provide additional value to your customers. We’ll also cover some tips that can help you do more this holiday season.  

5 Black Friday Ideas for Your Business 

Join Forces with Local Businesses 

Hey, maverick … you don’t have to do it alone.  

Instead of stressing out over every detail of Black Friday by yourself, consider teaming up with other local small businesses. Work with other small business owners to highlight each other’s sales and best-selling items. If a customer asks if you carry a particular item and you don’t, point them in the direction of another local store that does have what they need.  

Keep the Mystery Alive 

“Keep the mystery alive…” It’s advice you might expect to hear from a relationship therapist, not so much advice given to your small business. But before you roll your eyes, hear us out.  

Advertising mystery sales and gifts is a great way to get foot traffic into your brick-and-mortar or visitors to your eCommerce website. Think of these mystery gifts as “rewards” that you’re offering your customers for doing business with you. Humans, funny creatures that we are, love rewards, and the positive reinforcement can keep them coming back to do business with you time and time again.  

What should these rewards or mystery gifts look like? That’s entirely up to you! Could you offer a $15 gift card with every purchase over $50? How about a free consultation with booking if you trade in services and not products? You know your customers better than anyone else, and if you really aren’t sure, ASK THEM. Find loyal customers and get their feedback. That way, you have a good idea of what little gestures and gifts significantly impact them.  

At the end of the day, your customers are going to remember the way your business made them feel when you surprised them with that mystery offer. “When we get a reward, special pathways in our brain become activated. Not only does this feel good, but the activation also leads us to seek out more rewarding stimuli.” It’ll endear them to you and help build your customer relationships.  

Reward Customer Loyalty 

Black Friday sales attract folks from every corner. Some of the people who transact with you that day will be regular, loyal customers, and others are strangers who might never again do business with you. (Though, we’d certainly like to see them become your regulars.) 

Treat your loyal customers to an additional discount or bonus gift. For example, you could consider implementing a program that provides a deal after a certain number of purchases. That could look something like offering 25% off their next purchase after making five non-discounted purchases.  

Create FOMO Moments 

FOMO, or “fear of missing out,” is an effective marketing tactic.  

To create a sense of FOMO and drive urgency, you want to structure your sales and announcements in a specific way. Highlight your limited-time discounts and make sure to emphasize that they won’t last long! Use pop-ups or other features on your site so your visitors and shoppers are aware of the deals.  

You can also consider creating limited amounts of coupon codes. This way, customers want to prioritize shopping with you, so they don’t miss out on your sales.  

Don’t Just Discount, Add Value  

We spend so much time focusing on the transactional side of Black Friday that we forget to use the day for building customer relationships.  

When advertising your Black Friday deals, entice customers to shop with you by providing them with curated gift guides or customized gift sections in your store. Your customers are busy — they’re working, managing their households, and trying to make sure they get a gift for everyone on their list. But sometimes, they need ideas. After all, who really knows what to get for Uncle Joe — you know, the man who’s impossible to buy for but expects a gift nonetheless?  

 Help your customers efficiently complete their holiday shopping lists. They’ll think of you fondly, which is always a good thing, and can entice them to do business with you again in the future. Creating gift guides works whether you’re a physical retailer or an online eCommerce business. 

Making the Most of Black Friday and the Holidays 

We hope these ideas help you prepare for a successful holiday shopping season. We wish you many sales and repeat business! 

And don’t forget, these ideas aren’t just good for Black Friday. Try them on Small Business Saturday, the day after Black Friday, or at random intervals throughout the year to increase your sales and surprise your customers.  

What else are you doing to help your business do more business this holiday season? Let us know in the comments below! 

After all, you don’t have a marketing budget like the big box stores and digital retailers. So, how are you to compete and get your share of the holiday sales?

In this guide to Black Friday for small businesses, we’re breaking down what you can do to give your small business a chance to succeed on Black Friday and throughout the entire holiday season. 

Black Friday for Small Businesses

What is Black Friday?

The Friday immediately after Thanksgiving traditionally represents the start of the holiday shopping season. The term “Black Friday” as we know it, meaning a day when businesses move from the red into the black, has only been around since the 1980s. When it was first coined in the 1860s, it referred to a manipulated crash in the stock market due to the inflated price of gold. 

For many consumers, Black Friday means staying up late to be the first in line for dibs on the most significant discounts. And some digital retailers attempt to recreate that experience digitally. They create a sense of urgency that potentially drives sales using clever tactics. Some design digital “wait lines” and provide staggered access to their sites, and thus, to their discounts. Others go so far as to limit the amount of time shoppers have on their sites, hoping to drive those impulse buys. 

The Evolution of Black Friday

A single day of deep discounts and flash sales may have sufficed in the 1980s, but not anymore. Black Friday now kicks off a series of big shopping days. 

Small Business Saturday immediately follows Black Friday and, for obvious reasons, shouldn’t be ignored by small businesses. Then comes Cyber Monday, a day full of digital sales, and finally, Giving Tuesday, a day dedicated to non-profits and their appeals in hopes of driving donations. 

So, as a small business, how can you participate in the biggest shopping season of the year in ways that make both you and your customers happy? 

Tips to Guide Your Black Friday Success

Many small businesses can’t afford to offer discounts as deep as 50% on their products and services. If you can’t beat the big chain department stores and digital retailers at their own game, then don’t. 

Use the following tips to plan your Black Friday and holiday shopping season goals, events, and discounts, and learn how you can offer value to your customers throughout the season. 

Create a Holiday Marketing Plan

A marketing plan is essential to help you plan your goals and create the relevant supporting strategy, tactics, and offers. You can read all about how to make a holiday marketing plan right here. 

Create Relevant Moments and Offers that Entice

As we mentioned above, many small businesses can’t compete with larger retailers when discounting products and services, and that’s okay. 

While many consumers hunt for the best deals on Black Friday, others don’t want to be part of the shopping hordes and eschew the long lines. In fact, according to Finder’s research, as many as 54% of Americans may not be participating in Black Friday shopping. 

With that in mind, instead of flaunting crazily discounted items to draw foot or online traffic to your store, consider offering something else of value to your customers. 

For example, you could provide complimentary gift wrapping to those who shop at your store on Black Friday and during the holiday season. By doing this, you’re providing added value to your customers by saving them time and from the hassle of wrapping their purchases. 

Another idea to consider is partnering with other local stores or businesses. If you’re a brick-and-mortar, you could participate in a shopping event with other like-minded business owners. Set up tables at a holiday sales event with your best-selling wares or offer curated gift selections to make your customers’ shopping experience is a breeze. 

Make it Easy for Your Customers to Shop from Anywhere

Few people want to get up at 4 am to stand in line outside and wait for your store’s physical doors to open, but that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on their sales.

Instead of having people cater to your business hours, allow them to shop on their own time. Someone may not want to wait in line at 4 am, but they may be up feeding their baby and shopping from their phone. Meet your customers where they are by creating an eCommerce website to capture digital traffic and sales. 

Communicate Your Offers to Your Audience

Suppose your customers don’t know about your special deals and offers this holiday season. In that case, they won’t be taking advantage of them. 

You can communicate your memorable holiday offers in a variety of ways:

• Updated information on your website.
• Email marketing communications. 
  • Pro tip: Use a custom, professional email address that matches your domain name to increase your customer’s trust in the inbox. They aren’t likely to open an email from an unrecognized sender. 
• Social media notices and posts. 
• Physical mailers. 
• Local advertising on TV or radio. 

Don’t Stop at Black Friday

Small Business Saturday

When it comes to having a successful holiday shopping season, you can’t leave all your hopes pinned to one calendar day like Black Friday. 

As a small business, you have to consider the shopping days that follow Black Friday and determine how to participate in them. The Saturday after Black Friday is known as “Small Business Saturday,” and that’s a fantastic opportunity for you.

“Founded by American Express in 2010 and officially cosponsored by SBA since 2011, Small Business Saturday has become an important part of small businesses’ busiest shopping season.” According to research done by American Express, there was record spending on Small Business Saturday in 2020. Last year, spending reached an estimated $19.8 billion USD. Don’t you want your piece of that holiday pie this year?

Make the most out of Small Business Saturday by leveraging the tools and marketing materials provided to you here by the Small Business Administration, or SBA. 

Cyber Monday

The term “Cyber Monday” officially entered our lexicon in 2005. It was coined to describe the increase in online sales that occurred on the Monday after Thanksgiving. 

In 2020, Cyber Monday sales reached $10.8 billlion USD, becoming the single biggest eCommerce selling day of all time. 

To participate, you must have an eCommerce website where your customers can make purchases directly from you. Having a website is no longer a “nice to have” in today’s age; it’s necessary to compete in a digital market. 

If you have yet to create a website for your business, set some time aside to do it today. Building a website isn’t a complicated process requiring coding knowledge; instead, many website builders make the process fast and straightforward. 

No time to create a website, even with a website builder? That’s okay; there are plenty of professionals who can help you get online quickly and with a great-looking and functioning site. Check out Domain.com’s Website Design and Marketing Services to get the assistance and guidance you need to get online fast. 

Making the Most of Black Friday for Your Small Business

You don’t have to compete with large retailers for your small business to have a successful Black Friday.

Instead, think of Black Friday as the kickoff to a holiday shopping season where you’ll do well because you’re providing the correct offers and value to your customers. You can promote things like complimentary gift-wrapping or customized gift guides to bring in traffic and sales while building customer relationships.

Have you run any Black Friday specials in the past? Let us know what has and hasn’t worked for you in the comments below!

Yes, it’s that time of year already.

If you’re a business owner or immersed in eCommerce, the holidays take on extra importance. It’s not just about making your wish lists and spending time with family and friends, but about increasing business and getting your slice of the holiday pie during the year’s biggest spending season.

So, how do you go about maximizing the holiday season for your business? It all starts with a holiday marketing plan and that’s what we’re diving into in this post. We’ll start by looking at essential dates, discuss planning goals and offers, and look at the channels you can use to communicate with your customers.

Creating a Holiday Marketing Plan

Knowing what dates to plan for helps create the foundation of your holiday marketing plan, so we’ve shared some of the bigger ones below. Your responsibility is to select the dates that make the most sense for your business and focus on those.

Dates to Include in Your Holiday Marketing Plan

• Thanksgiving, November 25, 2021
• Black Friday, November 26, 2021
  • This date marks the beginning of the holiday shopping and spending season. Consumers are very familiar with Black Friday and anticipate hearing about Black Friday deals from their favorite retailers and businesses.
• Small Business Saturday, November 27, 2021
  • Small Business Saturday was created by American Express “on the Saturday after Thanksgiving to encourage people to Shop Small and bring more holiday shopping to small businesses.”
• Cyber Monday, November 29, 2021
  • Cyber Monday is observed the Monday after Thanksgiving. This day focuses on eCommerce and encourages consumers to go online for their shopping needs.
• Giving Tuesday, November 30, 2021
  • Any nonprofits out there? This date is for you! Giving Tuesday officially kicks off the end-of-the-year charitable giving season. This is a great time to make an appeal for funds and donations.
• Hanukkah, November 28 – December 6, 2021
• Christmas, December 25, 2021
• Kwanzaa, December 26, 2021 – January 1, 2022
• New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2021
• New Year’s Day, January 1, 2022

After selecting the dates that make the most sense for your business, it’s time to think about what you want to achieve (More foot traffic? More online sales?) and the supporting offers you’ll present to your customers and prospects.

Decide on Your Goals and Supporting Holiday Marketing Offers

Now that you know what days are important to highlight in your marketing materials, it’s time to decide on your goals and your supporting offers. Looking to increase sales by 10% this holiday season? Don’t ignore Black Friday. Consider offering a more traditional discount on goods or services as that’s what many consumers have come to expect for Black Friday.

Depending on your goal and what you’re trying to achieve, your offers may vary — you don’t have to restrict yourself to discounts and coupon codes. When it comes to giving your customers something of value, a little creativity can go a long way. Take a look at the ideas below and start thinking about what your business can offer.

• Gift Guides
  • Help those indecisive shoppers find the perfect gift with a holiday gift guide. No one ever knows what to buy for Aunt Brenda and Cousin Kevin, but with your input and advice, their names can get crossed off the shopping list early this year.
  • Include a variety of gift ideas catered to different budgets and family members so there’s a little something for everyone.
• Free Gift Wrapping
  • Want to attract foot traffic to your business on Small Business Saturday? How about offering free gift wrapping with every purchase of a certain value?
• Offer Free Shipping
  • Drive online orders this Cyber Monday by offering free shipping. You can offer free shipping across all orders or only on orders of a certain amount. The latter option entices customers to add more goods to their shopping carts.
• Tips, Tricks, & Advice
  • The holidays aren’t just about shopping and spending. Provide value to your customers by giving them relevant tips and advice to help make the holidays less stressful. For example, if you’re a salon you can offer tips on how to pamper yourself during the holidays. This is also a great way to highlight the services you offer and include a way for people to book them.
• Holiday Recipes
  • Share a favorite holiday recipe from your family (or restaurant if that’s your industry) with your customers to provide value and make a connection without offering a discount.
• Holiday Photo Contest
  • Ask your customers to share their holiday photos with your business online. You can ask them to tag you on social media or use specific hashtags to make sure you see their posts.
  • You can offer a prize for “best photo” or provide a discount to those who engage with your business online.
• Gift Cards + Bonus Value
  • Want your customers to buy more in gift cards? Offer a bonus amount with each gift card purchase! For example, every time someone purchases $50 in gift cards you can give them an additional $10 for free.
• Promote Holiday Events
  • If your business hosts events, whether virtual on in-person, you’ll want your customers to know about them and attend. Drive interest in your events by marketing them to your audience and offering a discount on tickets.

Leverage the Best Marketing Channels for Your Business

The holidays are often a busy, hectic time. With that in mind, it’s important that you get your message to the right audience and at the right time. So, stop and think about all the different ways your customers and prospects interact and communicate with your business. Depending on your business model, it could be in-person, online, via telephone, or any combination thereof.

Below, we’ve listed some of the most popular channels and methods for communicating with your audience. Review them and decide what works best for your business. Just as with the dates we mentioned above, you don’t have to use each and every method of communication. You don’t want to burden your audience during this busy time — just provide value and get your message in front of them so you stay top of mind.

• Social Media
  • Social media is a valuable tool and almost everyone has a social media account on one platform or another. It’s not important that your business be on every social media platform, just the ones where your customers are.
    • Facebook is a great platform to engage with your customers and audience throughout the year and especially during the holidays. Update your business page’s cover photo with a holiday image to reflect the festive season and post about your special events, discounts, and offers. Most Facebook users access the app through their mobile devices, so it’s a fantastic way to target local consumers.
    • Twitter’s platform works wonders for engaging with your audience and sharing bite-sized content that’s both helpful and insightful. Consider sharing your tips and advice on this platform, and don’t forget to share your offers. If your customers reply to you, engage them in conversation on this fun channel.
    • Instagram is heavy on visuals — which is perfect for styling and showcasing the items you mentioned in your gift guide. Share photos of your staff at your annual holiday party or behind the scenes clips as your business preps for the season.
    • YouTube’s popularity isn’t going anywhere. People love engaging with videos and absorbing content in that medium. Consider “unboxing” a popular product and sharing it with your audience.
• Website
  • Your website is your business’s home base online. Update the images and text on your site to reflect the holiday season and any special events or offers you may be running.
  • No website? Get started today with Domain.com.

• Email
  • Reach your customers where they are every single day: Their inbox. A few well-crafted emails to highlight your holiday offerings and events can do a lot to drive business. Include easy-to-click buttons that take your readers directly to your online store and the products you’re looking to sell. Don’t forget to include your discounts along with a clever subject line to entice your audience to open your emails.
  • Help your customers recognize you in their inboxes. Get a professional email address that matches your domain name so you don’t get sent to the spam folder.
  • You can perform a quick online search to find a reputable Email Service Provider to help with your email marketing needs.
• Text/SMS
  • SMS marketing has grown in popularity over the years and there’s good reason for that. Gartner reports that “98% of SMS messages get opened” and Omnisend found that “SMS marketing’s conversion rate rose 102% in 2020.”
  • A quick online search can help you identify the perfect SMS marketing vendor to help you reach your customers.
• Paid Advertising
  • Not all businesses have the budget for paid advertising, but if you do, you should consider leveraging it during the holiday season to get in front of the right audience. Paid advertising can be done on Google to appear higher in the search results, on social media, and various other online platforms.
  • Concert your efforts on the platforms where your audience spends their time.

Once you’ve decided on the channels you’ll use to communicate with your customers, think about when to start sending your messages. Too soon and you may be forgotten by the time the holiday rolls around. Too late and your message may get lost among many others. Plan to send a series of communications starting a week or two before the holiday occurs and culminating on the holiday itself to stay top of mind with your audience.

Holiday Marketing

The holidays are a joyous time, and we hope that your business is prepared to join in the festivities with this beginner’s guide to holiday marketing. As you create your plan and design your communications, keep the spirit of the season in mind. With a little creativity and some elbow grease, you can create the perfect offers to attract your audience and provide value all the while building relationships with your customers.

As you market your business this holiday season, keep track of what efforts are successful and which ones aren’t. You’ll want to have this information handy for the following holiday season so you can tweak and iterate your future marketing messages.  

Do you have any other holiday marketing ideas for businesses? Let us know in the comments below!

As women continue to be underrepresented in the tech field, we want to learn about their challenges and experiences and grow from them. Neha has had quite the journey through the domain landscape over the years and brings a wealth of expertise and knowledge to the table. 

We’re delighted that she’s taken the time to sit down with us to share her insights and lived experiences, and thankful that we get to share them with you, too. 

Women in Domaining with Neha Naik of Radix Registry

Hi Neha, thanks for sitting down with us today to discuss women in domaining. To start, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Thanks for having me here, Natalie!

I happened to land in the domains industry over 15 years ago, not really knowing that a WHOLE WORLD exists associated with these words you type in your browser! It still blows my mind that most people out there are actually unaware of the existence of this thriving industry that really powers presence on the Internet.

15 years ago, Directi, our parent company, decided to recruit students as a campus batch. And there I was, among the first batch of campus recruits, never imagining that I’d be spending the next years of my career in this industry. There has been no looking back though.

Over the course of my domain industry journey, I’ve worked with a cross-section of partners – registrars, registries, and web hosts across the globe, and in varied roles that cut across sales and account management as my primary role, but also many other aspects.

It still blows my mind that most people out there are actually unaware of the existence of this thriving [domain] industry that really powers presence on the Internet.

Neha naik

I think that’s the beauty of working in a startup environment – you get to wear multiple hats and learn so much. I’ve had the opportunity to plan TLD launches, business migrations, work on policy and product management, and really get a very rounded understanding of the multiple facets of the industry.

We started with Radix in 2012, and I’ve been with the team since its inception. We have come such a long way from spending countless days writing out TLD applications to today, running some of the best new Top Level Domains out there.

While the line between work and other things I do is a little bit of a blur, when I’m not doing ‘domain things’, you’ll find me taking yogi breaks on my yoga mat. Through lockdowns and everything else in the last year, that has been my constant.

Can you describe your company and your role there?

Radix is one of the world’s largest new domain registries with a portfolio of 10 nTLDs and over 5.5 Million domains under management.

We have carefully chosen domain extensions that are semantically relevant and have broad applications. Our portfolio boasts of a good mix of TLDs that have an inherent appeal to a wide audience.

At Radix, our motto isn’t merely to increase our sales numbers; we are focused on helping businesses get good-quality domain names so they can build a strong online brand.

The last year has in fact reinforced the strength and value of the TLDs to really help businesses establish a quality online presence. With TLDs like .store for eCommerce businesses, .tech for startups, and .online for any business or individual looking to go online, the TLDs really cater to some of the most popular themes of what users are seeking when they go online.

Currently, I lead channel partnerships and channel marketing at Radix. We have a team of brilliant folks and we’ve organized ourselves to focus on different geographies. The geo-distributed approach helps us stay better connected with our partners and really cater to what each market needs most.

We have often been called the Radix Radicals, a team of passionate, super-focused people motivated to make a difference, and never shying away from trying new approaches to make that happen.

How long have you been in domaining? How did you get your start?

Like I mentioned before, I chanced upon the industry and I’m so glad I did. I’ve been a part of the domain industry for over 15 years now. I came in straight from college; joined LogicBoxes in 2005, which focused on the Registrar market, and was a part of the Directi Group.

As the first campus recruited batch, they put us through intense training to learn everything about the domain industry – those fundamentals, I’m sure I’ll never forget. I moved on to lead the Account Management team at LogicBoxes.

In 2012, Radix started in parallel and that was my shift from the registrar to the registry side.

As a woman, do you feel represented in the domain community? Why or why not?

Over the years, I’ve been fortunate enough to interact with some great, accomplished women in the domain community across different companies and roles. There has been a gradual shift, and we can definitely see more women take up leadership positions across the board. And it is very visibly happening more today than it did before.

One amazing thing about the domain industry is the camaraderie that we share. I haven’t heard of any other industry that is as close-knit and as helpful to each other as ours is. It is where competitors are friends and that’s very rare to see. We have known so many people for so many years now that it is a mini-extended family in a way.

As far as being represented, I do still think we have ways to go before we see adequate representation, but it is very encouraging to see that shift happen and I’m hopeful of what we have ahead of us.

What are your thoughts on newer TLDs / domain extensions?

Call me biased coming from a company that runs new TLDs, but I believe new domain extensions expand the horizons of what people can do with their online identities.

The 2020 pandemic proved just how important it is for businesses and individuals to have a strong online presence. Domain names can help people cross that bridge from offline to online.

There are so many examples of businesses that are making the most of new domain extensions to stand out and build a strong online brand. For example, campus.site, a remote platform, started as a result of the pandemic. There were many such use-cases like one.fun, building.online, homeoffice.store, and more.

The 2020 pandemic proved just how important it is for businesses and individuals to have a strong online presence. Domain names can help people cross that bridge from offline to online.

neha naik

Awareness for new domains is still something that needs work, but you do see the shift and you do see innovation in the space. As online businesses need better names to stand out and be unique, I think new domains present them with meaningful domain choices that are available today.

We have several businesses on .tech and .online that have established themselves, and have raised funding cumulating to over $3.5 Bn – these are the future movers and shakers. And with the efforts across the industry, new TLDs will become more mainstream and more commonplace.

Do you have any predictions for what will happen and change within the domain community in the next year? Five years?

The domain industry is moving at a rapid pace and there’s a lot that we can hope to see in the coming years. In some ways the industry also seems to be contracting, more consolidating really across the registry and registrars/web service provider space. So we’ll see how it all comes together and impacts the industry dynamics.

Other than that, meeting in person at events and conferences every year was a big part of the domain community and 2020 brought that to a complete halt. But the good thing was that it didn’t stop us from staying connected and doing business.

While meetings were different, they were still productive. And on the social side, we had some great happy hours and group hangouts virtually.

The domain community is quite long-lived — people tend to stay within the industry and once you’ve made a connection with someone, they take you with them to all the places they go; and that’s great because it opens you up to so many new opportunities.

There are a few things that I’m expecting to see in the coming years as far as the domain community is concerned:

• New people coming into the domain industry from related fields. We all know the domain boom in 2020 has really accelerated the movement of businesses online and with that, it will no doubt bring in newcomers and keep the community thriving.
• Conferences and events will have both the offline and online components to them even after things go back to normal.
• The acceleration that the pandemic brought isn’t over yet and we’ll see its true impact in the coming years. It’ll bring in people from other industries and make “being online” absolutely vital for any business.

What advice would you give to women looking to start a career in domains?

My only advice would be to take the plunge. The domain industry offers opportunities across tech, product, sales, marketing, legal, compliance, data analytics, and more. Find what you love and jump in. There are companies of all shapes and sizes, from large corporations to nimble startups.

The domain community is extremely welcoming and you’ll get to connect and interact with some of the best minds from different parts of the world.

And if you do join us, give me a shout-out, and I’ll be more than happy to introduce you to our community.

Thank you so much for joining us and sharing your insights on the domain industry, Neha. We’re excited to see how the domain industry continues to grow and look forward to hearing more about your contributions to the industry.