My domain, my website, my hosting and my email: who does what?

Your website is made up of separate parts, and they can each be with a different company. Knowing which is which tells you who to contact and what a change will affect.

The parts

Part What it is Where it is Who can help
Domain name Your address, such as yourbusiness.com The company where you bought or renew it (your registrar) That company. If you bought it from us, we can help
Live website The copy of your site people see online Your hosting company: EverWeb Hosting or another web host Your hosting company
Project file The copy you edit in EverWeb Your own computer You. We can't see it unless you send it to us
Email Your addresses, such as [email protected] EverWeb Hosting, or a service such as Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 Whoever provides your email

Nameservers connect these together. They are two addresses that tell the internet which company runs your domain. They are set at your registrar.

What happens when something changes

If you... What happens
Buy a domain or hosting Your site doesn't go online by itself. You still need to publish from EverWeb, and your domain needs to point to your hosting.
Change your nameservers Your website and your email can both move to the new company. If your email is somewhere else, contact us before you change anything.
Want your email with us but your website elsewhere Your website can stay where it is, and your nameservers don't have to change. All the email addresses at your domain move together, so back up your existing mail first. Contact us and we'll send the records to add.
Transfer your domain You change who you renew your domain with. Your website and email don't need to move, unless you change them too.
Cancel your hosting Your live website and any email hosted with it go offline. Your domain is separate, so check whether you want to keep it. Your project file stays on your computer.
Let your domain expire Your website and email at that address stop working, even if your hosting is paid.
Publish from EverWeb Your live website is updated. Your domain and email don't change.
Move to a new computer Your live website and email aren't affected. You need to move your project file so that you can keep editing.

Who do I contact?

Problem Start with
Renewing or transferring a domain The company where you bought it
My website is down or not showing Your hosting company
I can't send or receive email Whoever provides your email
I can't find my website to edit it Where is my website?
I'm not sure who any of these are Us. Send your domain name and we'll tell you where each part is

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