What is a custom domain? (and how to pick one)
A custom domain is your own web address, like yourbrand.in, as opposed to an address that carries the platform's name, and the best ones are short and easy to spell.
A domain is the address people type to reach your store. A platform subdomain looks like `yourbrand.someplatform.com`, where the platform's name is part of your address. A custom domain looks like `yourbrand.in`, and the name is entirely yours.
Why it matters
Your address appears everywhere: on packaging, in your Instagram bio, on invoices, on visiting cards, in WhatsApp forwards. A custom domain tells people the brand is yours. It also moves with you. If you ever change tools, you can point the same domain somewhere else, and customers keep using the address they know.
I have more on this idea in own your domain, own your brand and your brand on its own domain.
Picking a name
Think about someone hearing your brand name once, on a reel or from a friend, and trying to type it. These tests help:
- Can they spell it? "Kaveri Handlooms" is easy to type. "Kavveree Hndlms" is not.
- Is it short? Fewer characters mean fewer typos and an easier time on a visiting card.
- Can you say it over a phone call? If you have to explain "that's with a double e and a hyphen," it is too complicated.
- Is it close to your brand name? Match your Instagram handle and shop name where you can.
- Does it avoid awkward lookalikes? Watch out for a name that becomes a different word when joined together.
- Does it avoid hyphens and numbers? These are easy to forget or mistype.
Which ending to choose
You will see choices such as .in or .com. Pick what suits your customers and your brand. If your buyers are all in India, .in feels natural. I will not tell you which is better for rankings or trust, since I have no evidence for either. Choose what you can hold onto for years.
Buying one
You buy a domain from a registrar, and it is renewed on a regular basis. I will not quote prices here, since they vary and change. Whether a particular name is free is only something a search at a registrar can tell you, and I cannot claim availability of any name. Check a few options so that you are not left without a second choice.
When you register, put it in your own name or your business's name, with an email address you control. Losing access to the account that holds the domain is a painful problem to fix.
What about Varchas
The Varchas project routes a brand domain to the store through its hosting setup, and the platform's own materials describe the store living on your own address. Because setup is done together with you, the exact steps for connecting a domain are handled during onboarding; how setup together works explains that process. Do not guess at the technical records yourself without guidance.
A short checklist
- Write down three name options.
- Say each aloud to a friend and ask them to write it.
- Check that the handle is free on Instagram too.
- Prefer the one they spell right the first time.
Next step
Do the friend test today. It takes two minutes and saves you from a name you will regret printing on a thousand boxes.