Your Website Essentials: Domain, Hosting, DNS, Email and Security

Objectives

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Explain what the domain name, DNS, hosting and email each do, and say which provider holds each one for your site
• Find your domain’s registrant, registrar and expiry date, and keep your “My Website” sheet up to date
• Check that your domain is in your name, in an account you own, renewed automatically, locked and protected
• Recognize a fake renewal invoice or email
• Read a DNS zone, add, change or delete a record without cutting off the site or the email, then check the result
• Connect your domain to your website’s platform by following its official documentation
• Connect a business email service to your domain and set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC
• Secure the accounts your website depends on: two-step verification, one access per person, removing an access
• Get a backup, test restoring it, and know what to do the day the site goes down
• Prepare a domain transfer or a change of provider with no interruption, and run your site’s yearly check

Course outline

An introduction lesson, then four modules: 20 lessons in all. Open a module to see its lessons.

1. Module 0Introduction lesson1 lesson · 7 min

   1. Is Your Domain Really Yours? The Four Parts of Your Website Free sample lesson7 min
2. Module 1Your domain name: in your name, renewed, protected5 lessons · 30 min

   1. Choose a name and buy it in your own name5 min
   2. The real price of a domain, and a renewal you won’t forget7 min
   3. Protect the domain: personal data, lock, up-to-date contacts5 min
   4. Fake renewal emails: spotting the scam4 min
   5. Transfer a domain without cutting off the website or email8 min
3. Module 2DNS without the mystery: read, change, connect5 lessons · 28 min

   1. DNS in one picture: name servers, zone, records, TTL5 min
   2. Six records to know: A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT and NS6 min
   3. Change a record at GoDaddy without breaking anything6 min
   4. Connect your domain to Shopify, Wix, WordPress, Squarespace or Firebase6 min
   5. Propagation, checking and common mistakes5 min
4. Module 3Professional email: in your name, and recognized as such4 lessons · 27 min

   1. Your professional address: Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, your host’s offer or simple email forwarding6 min
   2. Connect your email to your domain: verification and MX records6 min
   3. SPF, DKIM, DMARC: three proofs that your messages really come from you8 min
   4. Set up, check, and what Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook require7 min
5. Module 4Protect your website, and change providers without losing anything5 lessons · 30 min

   1. HTTPS, certificates and everything that expires: no more surprises5 min
   2. The accounts that hold your website: passwords, two-step verification, one access per person6 min
   3. Backups that work: the 3-2-1 rule and the restore test6 min
   4. The day your website goes down or is hacked: diagnose, respond, notify the right people7 min
   5. Changing providers without losing anything: the order of operations7 min

Who it is for

Website owners (shops, practices, trades, freelancers, small businesses, nonprofits) and the person who runs the site for them. Your site already exists, built by an agency, a freelancer or yourself, on WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace or another platform. Also for anyone preparing a site who wants to buy their domain the right way from the start. The course uses the real terms (registrar, DNS zone, MX record) and explains each one the first time it comes up. You need a browser and access to the account where your domain is registered, or the will to find it: that is what the introduction lesson is about. Nothing to install.