In our digital age, owning different domain names that lead to your main website can be a handy trick. This is done through something called "domain aliases". In a nutshell, domain aliases are alternate names for your main website. Let's say your main website is named "cooldogs.com". By setting up domain aliases, you can make sure that anyone typing "cooldogsfan.com" or "lovedogs.com" in their browser will be directed to your main website, "cooldogs.com".
With Smilii, you can create an unlimited number of these domain aliases and they don't count towards your plan's domain limit.
Common use-case:
- You own cooldogs.com and to protect your brand's digital presence, you also buy cooldogs.net, cooldogs.org, cooldogs.ca, etc. Buying the common variations of your domain is a smart choice that reduces the risk of copy-cat competition or bad actors. Buy additional domains →
Sounds cool, right? Now, let's see how you can do this in easy-to-follow steps:
Step 1: Begin the Add Domain Alias Wizard
Go to the section labeled "Websites & Domains". Look for the option that says "Add Domain Alias". Click on it. This will start a helpful step-by-step wizard to guide you.
Step 2: Specify the Primary and Alias Domains
Next, you need to tell the wizard two things:
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The name of your main website, or your "primary domain". This is the main site you want people to visit. For example, "cooldogs.com".
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The name of your "alias" or the new, alternate name. For example, "lovedogs.com".
Common use-case:- You own cooldogs.com and to protect your brand's digital presence, you also buy cooldogs.net, cooldogs.org, cooldogs.ca, etc. Buying the common variations of your domain is a smart choice that reduces the risk of copy-cat competition or bad actors. Buy additional domains →
Step 3: Set Up Important Settings
Here are the settings you need to decide on:
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DNS Zone Synchronization: Think of this as keeping two lists of contacts in sync. When you add a new friend on one list, it will automatically appear on the other one. Similarly, if you add a new feature to your main website, enabling this will ensure that the feature is also available when someone uses the alias domain.
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Mail Service: Smilii doesn't allow creating separate mailboxes for alias domains. Instead, it uses the mailboxes of the primary domain. If you turn on this setting, emails sent to mailboxes under the alias domain will be redirected to the corresponding mailboxes under the primary domain. So, for example, emails sent to "[email protected]" will show up in "[email protected]".
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Web Service: If you turn this on, when people type in the alias domain into their browsers, your website will open. If you don't turn this on, the alias will only be used for email.
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HTTP 301 Redirect: This is a technical way of saying "tell search engines that my alias domain and my primary domain are actually the same site". This is good because it can help improve your website's search engine ranking. If this is what you want, select the option "Redirect with the HTTP 301 code".
Once you have gone through these steps, your domain alias will be set up. People who type in your alias domain will now be redirected to your main website. Now you can reach a wider audience and improve your website's visibility. Great job!
