Just bought a domain? What to do in the first week
Congratulations on your new domain. Whether you registered it fresh or bought it from someone else, a few minutes of setup in the first week prevents most of the problems people run into later.
Day one: make sure it's really yours
If you bought the domain from another owner, check that the transfer is complete:
- The domain appears in your registrar account.
- The registrant name and email are yours, not the seller's.
- You can open the domain's settings and change things.
If anything still shows the previous owner, sort it out now, while the sale is fresh and the seller is easy to reach.
Secure the account
Your domain is only as safe as the account that controls it.
- Turn on two-factor authentication for your registrar account.
- Use a strong, unique password, ideally from a password manager.
- Turn on the registrar lock, sometimes called transfer lock, so the domain can't be moved without your action.
- Check the account's email address. If it's on the domain you've just bought and that email isn't working yet, use a different address for now, so you don't lock yourself out.
Make sure it won't expire by accident
Expired domains are a surprisingly common way to lose a name.
- Check the expiry date.
- Turn on auto-renew and make sure the payment card on file is valid.
- Consider renewing for several years, especially for an important domain.
- Put a reminder in your own calendar a few weeks before expiry, in case auto-renew fails.
Update the contact details
Registrars and registries use the registrant contact details for important messages, including renewal reminders and transfer approvals. Make sure they're accurate. Most registrars offer privacy protection that keeps those details out of public records, often free of charge.
Decide where the domain should point
A domain on its own doesn't do anything until you connect it to something:
- A website. Point the domain at your hosting provider, either by changing the nameservers or by adding records your host gives you.
- Email. Set up mailboxes with an email provider and add the records they give you.
- Nothing yet. It's fine to leave it parked while you plan. Just don't let it expire.
If the domain had a previous owner
A domain that's been used before may still have traces of its past:
- Old DNS records. Remove any records that point to the previous owner's servers.
- Search engine listings. Old pages may still appear in search results for a while. If you set up a site, register it with the search engines' webmaster tools so they recrawl it.
- Email for the old owner. You may receive stray messages meant for the previous owner. Don't use them, and consider not setting up a catch-all mailbox at first.
Keep the paperwork
Save the receipt, the confirmation email and any agreement with the seller. If there's ever a question about when or how you acquired the domain, you'll be glad you did.
Done is better than perfect
You don't need to launch a full website in the first week. Securing the account, preventing expiry and making sure you control the settings is what matters most. The rest can follow when you're ready. And if you ever decide the name isn't for you after all, you can list it for sale for free.