Solved: Does it matter to have a .com or square.site as a ...

Waist_Beads · ‎04-27-2022

Should I invest in a website domain name with .com or is it ok to keep the one from square (square.site) as my website address?

londontea · ‎04-27-2022

If being found on web searches is important then I recommend getting a custom domain. This is based on my personal preference: when I Google something and see a website using the default domain – whether it's square.site, myshopify.com, or something else – I tend to think they're less professional and may scroll past it in the results. I may be in the minority on this, I'm sure others aren't quite as picky as I am.

If you're using Square Online's professional tier, which is $12/month, then I would definitely recommend getting a custom domain as it's included in the plan.

If you're using the free version of Square Online then I recommend getting a domain from Google as it's just $12/year. It's relatively easy to set up, though it does take some time.

Whatever you decide, if you want to be found on web searches then the best thing to do is ensure that you've updated the search engine optimization (SEO) settings for your pages and items. Square has a good resource on this because I'm not the best at explaining SEO.

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londontea · ‎04-27-2022

I just had this same discussion with a friend who recently opened her own online business, mainly because she can't get a .com domain that's anything close to her business name. Here's what I asked her:

Are your potential customers going to be typing your website address into their browser, or will they be clicking on link to get to your website?

My friend decided to keep the square.site domain because she expects all of her customers will come from social media, where they can click a link in her profile or on the post to get to her website. If she was going to do any type of non-web advertising then she would have gotten a custom domain because few people would remember a website like "my-business-name.square.site", much less be willing to type that into a browser (though QR codes are a solution in some cases).

LomasGlassTint · ‎04-27-2022

I was going to give this exact answer. I believe it all comes down to if you website will be manually entered/searched all the time OR if it will be directly linked everywhere a customer could need (like social media). Since my shop has a physical location we utilize google business quite a bit and customers just search for our website on there. I'm a huge fan of Square and keeping everything as flawless and smooth as possible. I believe utilizing square.site makes things a bit smoother for us as business owners.

Waist_Beads · ‎04-27-2022

Thank you both so much. I run my business from home and my customers mainly come from social media but I would also love to be found via google searches as well. Do you have any recommendations?

londontea · ‎04-27-2022

If being found on web searches is important then I recommend getting a custom domain. This is based on my personal preference: when I Google something and see a website using the default domain – whether it's square.site, myshopify.com, or something else – I tend to think they're less professional and may scroll past it in the results. I may be in the minority on this, I'm sure others aren't quite as picky as I am.

If you're using Square Online's professional tier, which is $12/month, then I would definitely recommend getting a custom domain as it's included in the plan.

If you're using the free version of Square Online then I recommend getting a domain from Google as it's just $12/year. It's relatively easy to set up, though it does take some time.

Whatever you decide, if you want to be found on web searches then the best thing to do is ensure that you've updated the search engine optimization (SEO) settings for your pages and items. Square has a good resource on this because I'm not the best at explaining SEO.

CannedFresh · ‎04-30-2022

Hello !! I am certainly NOT an expert, but can only give you what has worked for us.

Our business: Canned Fresh by Lois is a "canning" business that makes jams and savory items (salsa, soups etc).

I personally find a custom domain works better. Customers are going to type in (or ask Alexa !!) for a listing. If your domain is short, precise or has "key" words when Google searched it will come up faster and closer to the top. In our case, when someone types in for instance: canning, canned, canned jam, or anything close to this, Google always says....did you mean CANNED FRESH ? and Wa La.....there you are. If your domain name is too long, people wont remember it and the spelling issue is huge. I will check your site and see if I have another recommendation. Waist-Beads is a very WIDE catagory.......a request for YOU may end up giving thousands of answers that aren't even close. Good Luck

Waist_Beads · ‎04-30-2022

Very wide! Thank you so much for your feedback. This was extremely helpful 🙂

Thevioletfox · ‎05-02-2022

I'm still operating on a .square.site website 1.5 years after opening. I started that way because it was free (THANK YOU SQUARE for that option!) because I started from nothing. At this point, I'm just waiting to have the time to make the switch. Updating my website everywhere, getting new biz cards, etc. feels daunting right now.

Emily ( she / her )
The Violet Fox Bookshop
https://thevioletfoxbookshop.square.site

Does it matter to have a .com or square.site as a domain name?