🔖 Domains

About Custom Domains

Let's say you want your website URL to be something that doesn't end in '.neocities.com'. This is called a custom domain. Generally, to get a custom domain, you need to buy one from a registrar, and keep paying for it annually in order to keep it active. The last part of the domain — for example, '.com', '.net', or '.xyz' — is called a TLD (top-level domain). Often, different TLDs will be priced differently; some are very expensive, while many common ones can be purchased for less than $20 USD per year.

Here are some common steps you'll need to follow in order to set up a custom domain for your site:

Choose a domain name (i.e. myexamplename.biz) and find a registrar that offers this name for sale.
- You will need to create an account and submit your payment to purchase the domain.
Edit the DNS settings for your domain in order to point it to your site.
- The exact steps can vary based on your web host and domain registrar, so check the instructions on their websites, but generally, you will need to add one or more DNS records so that when someone visits your domain, they will see your website.
- You can have a site on your root domain (i.e. myexamplename.biz), and you can also have as many sites as you want on subdomains of your domain (i.e. wow.myexamplename.biz, blog.myexamplename.biz, wiki.myexamplename.biz). You will want to choose which one to use before setting up DNS since the steps are different for root domains and subdomains.
Wait for it to propagate. If the DNS changes worked properly, you should be able to go to your domain and see your site within a few minutes; however, it can take up to 72 hours for the domain to properly point to your site everywhere in the world.

Domain Registrars

Here are a few registrars you can purchase a domain from. You might want to compare their prices for your chosen domain on a few different registrars before purchasing one.

Registrars we have heard are OK

Registrars to avoid

GoDaddy