Domains
That one distinction explains almost every domain problem people run into. Here's how names, nameservers, and records actually fit together — in plain English.
Part one
Read a domain right to left, not left to right. That's the order the internet reads it in, and once you see it that way the structure makes sense.
Once you own yourbusiness.com, you can create shop.yourbusiness.com, mail.yourbusiness.com, or anything.yourbusiness.com at no additional cost. There's no limit and nothing to buy. If someone quotes you for a subdomain, they're charging for the hosting behind it, not the name.
A .com is still the default expectation, and worth having if it's available. But .net, .org, and regional options work fine, and search engines don't rank you lower for using one. What matters more is that the name is short, spellable over the phone, and doesn't collide with a business that already exists in your area.
Part two
A domain name doesn't contain your website. It contains directions to it. Every visit starts with a lookup that takes a few thousandths of a second and involves four separate systems.
The confusion
This is the single most common misunderstanding, and the cause of most of the "I can't find my website" phone calls we get.
They can be the same company, and it's simpler when they are — one renewal date, one login, one place to call. But they don't have to be, and plenty of our clients keep a domain elsewhere and host here.
The practical test: if your site is down but your email works, it's usually the host. If everything vanished at once and you can't even get a "server not found" page, check the domain's renewal date first.
Part three
Your nameservers hold a list of records. There are dozens of types; five of them cover almost everything a business will ever need to touch.
| Record | What it does | When you'd change it |
|---|---|---|
| A | Points the domain at a server's numeric address. | Moving to a new host. |
| CNAME | Points one name at another name rather than at a number. | Making www follow the main domain, or connecting a third-party service. |
| MX | Says which server receives your email. | Switching email providers. Getting this wrong is how mail disappears. |
| TXT | Holds plain text, used for verification and mail authentication. | Setting up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC so your email isn't marked as spam. |
| NS | Names the nameservers themselves — the record above all the others. | Moving DNS management to a different company. |
When you change a record, the old answer is already cached on machines around the world. Each record carries a TTL — a time to live — that says how long caching is allowed. Until those expire, some visitors see the new answer and some see the old one.
Most changes settle within an hour or two. Nameserver changes can take up to 48. This is why a migration gets scheduled rather than improvised, and why we drop the TTL before the move rather than during it.
Moving a domain
Four steps, and your site stays online through all of them. The domain keeps working exactly as before — only the company billing you changes.
Registrars apply a transfer lock by default. You switch it off in the current registrar's control panel, or we walk you through where it's hidden.
A one-time password, sometimes called an EPP or authorization code. It proves you're the owner and it's yours to request at any time.
We start the transfer, and an approval email goes to the address on the domain's record. Which is why that address needs to be one you can still open.
Five to seven days, set by policy, not by us. Your site and email keep running the whole time. Nothing goes dark.
The 60-day rule. A domain can't transfer within 60 days of being registered, or within 60 days of a previous transfer. There's no way around it — it's an ICANN policy, not a registrar's preference. If you just bought the name, mark your calendar.
The email on the record. Approval goes to whatever address is listed in the domain's contact details. If that's an old employee's mailbox or an address at a domain you no longer control, fix it before starting anything else.
You also don't lose the time you paid for. A transfer adds a year to whatever remains, so nothing is wasted.
What we do
Tell us the name and we'll register it, or start the transfer if you already own it. We'll set the records, point it at wherever the site lives, and put the renewal somewhere you won't lose it.
Domains registered here can point anywhere. There's no requirement to host with us.
Very common. A domain registered years ago by someone who's moved on, renewing quietly to a card nobody recognizes, with nobody sure which company holds it.
We can find out who it's with, what state it's in, and how to get control back. Usually inside an afternoon.
Start here
Bring us the domain name — that's all we need to find out who holds it, when it renews, and what it's currently pointing at.