Domains

When your site design is finished and your content is in place the only thing left to do is connect your domain! Domains come in a variety of extensions including .com, .net, .org and many more.

Domain Hosts

Domain hosts are an internet service that manages your domain name. Some popular domain hosts are: Wix, Domains(dot)com, GoDaddy, Google Domains, Blue Host, Host Gator, 1&1, Namecheap and lots of others.

Domain Options for your New Site

There are a few different options for your new site. The first is, if you don't have a domain yet, you can simply buy a new domain from Wix and they will host it for you. Many Wix Premium plans even come with a free domain for the first year. If you already have a domain somewhere else, the second option is a Domain Connection, which leaves your domain with an external host and links it to your new site. The third option is a Domain Transfer, which moves your domain from the external host to Wix, which makes Wix the new host. Let's take a closer look at what these options mean.

Domain Connection

To connect a domain to Wix you'll need to sign in to your domain host account and go to your DNS or name server settings. Next, replace your current name servers with the following Wix name servers:

ns4.wixdns.net

ns5.wixdns.net

Once you've updated your domain's name servers, inform your designer so they can verify the connection. It may take up to 48 hours for your domain's new DNS records to process and the site to appear live, but typically this only takes a few hours. Once the change is verified and processed that's it! When it's time to renew, you'll need to pay your external domain host and Wix Premium plan separately to keep your domain active.

Domain Transfer

It's important to prelude -- When you purchase a new domain or transfer a domain, it becomes locked for 60 days. This is part of the transfer policy from ICANN and applies to all registrars. This means you must own the domain for at least 60 days before you can transfer it to Wix.

When you transfer your domain to Wix, Wix becomes your domain host. This means your domain's contact information, DNS settings, and registration payments are all managed from within your Wix account. This is more convenient for most people since they only need to pay one service instead of several each renewal period. It's recommended that you connect your domain to Wix before you transfer it for fastest results. This is because connecting a domain takes less than 48 hours while transferring can take up to 7 days.

To start the transfer you'll log in to your domain host account where your domain was purchased. Go to your domain settings and look for the option to Unlock Your Domain. Some domain hosts will have a section to streamline the process such as 'Transfer your domain to another host'. This may be in the general settings or the DNS settings. Once the domain is unlocked, you'll also need to get an authorization code, which should be in the same place where you unlocked the domain.

Inform your designer that the domain has been unlocked and send them the authorization code. It may take up to 7 days for your domain transfer to complete.