Custom Domain FAQ

Check out our BrandYourself University guide, “Register a Personal Domain Name”, for a step-by-step tutorial on how to register your domain, change the nameservers, and apply it to your BrandYourself profile.

Why should I add a custom domain to my BrandYourself profile?

Your domain is one of the most important places to have your name. If a search engine sees that a domain is your name, it knows the link is extremely relevant to your name, helping it to rank higher.

Custom domains are also easier for people to remember if you wanted to put yourname.com on your business card or your resume.

How do I add a custom domain to my BrandYourself profile?

If you already own a custom domain, it’s easy to apply it to your BrandYourself profile.

To apply a custom domain:

  1. Log into your account with your domain registrar (where you purchased your domain from).
  2. Change the name servers to ns1.brandyourself.com and ns2.brandyourself.com, respectively. If the registrar does not accept or offer a domain name system, use our IP address 50.116.56.61.
  3. Once these steps are complete, add the domain to your BrandYourself profile.

If you need assistance with this, email [email protected] and provide the following information:

  1. The site where you purchased the domain.
  2. Login credentials to your domain registrar.
  3. The custom domain you purchased for your BrandYourself profile.

Can I use an email address with the custom domain?

Unfortunately, you cannot use an email address with your BrandYourself profile. If you already own a custom domain with an existing email address, refer to the answer below.

I completed all the steps, why isn’t it working?

There might be a few reasons why your BrandYourself profile is not showing up when you go to your custom domain:

  1. You added the domain to your BrandYourself profile, but forgot to update your DNS to ns1.brandyourself.com and ns2.brandyourself.
  2. You changed your DNS over to ns1.brandyourself.com and ns2.brandyourself.com, but forgot to add your domain to your BrandYourself profile here.
  3. It can take up to 24 hours for your custom domain to switch over to our nameservers. If this problem persists for more than 24 hours, email our Support team at [email protected].

If you need assistance with this, email [email protected] They can assist with any domain issues.

What happens when I switch my domain from my personal website to my BrandYourself profile?

If you switch your domain over to our nameservers, your previous website will no longer appear at yourname.com. Since you changed the domain on that site, it will fall in results before Google indexes the new domain and re-ranks your results.

I have a personal website with a custom domain, why should I add a custom domain to my BrandYourself profile?

Your domain is one of the most important places to have your name. If a search engine sees that a domain is your name, it knows the link is extremely relevant to your name, helping it to rank higher.

Custom domains are also easier for people to remember if you wanted to put yourname.com on your business card or your resume.

You can purchase a new custom domain for your BrandYourself profile like yourname.info, yourname.net, yournameonline.com, etc. Any variation that includes your full name is an authoritative domain that is search engine friendly and more likely to rank high for your name when people Google you.

Can I purchase a domain through BrandYourself?

BrandYourself does not sell custom domains. You can purchase one at a domain registrar – for example: Hover.

Here’s how to register a custom domain:

  1. Go to your domain registrar.
  2. Enter “yourname.com” into their Search box; click “Search” to see if it’s available, then register it. If it’s taken: try a variation that includes your full name, like yourname.info or yournameonline.com.
  3. Submit your custom domain.

If you have any questions or need assistance, call our Support team at 646-863-8226.

Can I apply a custom domain as a Free user?

Unfortunately, no. You can only add a custom domain to your BrandYourself profile as a Premium user.

What happens to my custom domain when I downgrade?

When you downgrade from a Premium subscription, you will not be able to apply or keep a custom domain on your BrandYourself profile. Your profile will no longer show up at yourname.com – it will revert back to name.brandyourself.com.

This can affect your results in a number of ways:

  1. Since a custom domain is a powerful way to boost your profile, your profile will become less search engine friendly and may fall in Google results once you lose your domain.
  2. If you currently link to yourname.com from other sites, you’ll have to update those links as well.