Click the link above in the box that says "Start Here". This will load your new website into your ShinePages account!

Note that you are already "registered" for ShinePages - so if prompted to Register, you can instead use the small "Login" link to login to the ShinePages builder and access your website. 

(Yes, you will register twice - once for the Website Training Portal and once for the ShinePages builder)

Upon registration your template of choice will be loaded into your ShinePages builder where you can customize to your business and brand, using simple editing tools and following along with the videos within the Website Training Portal. 

Once you have your business niche and have finalized your name, it's a good idea to ensure you can secure a domain name to match.  

While you can purchase your domain from any domain registrar (domains.com, google domains, godaddy.com, etc.) we like and recommend NameCheap as a domain registrar.  

Go to NameCheap (or your domain registrar of choice) and search for the name you want. We recommend buying your exact business name with a .com ending whenever possible.  

You can go ahead and purchase your domain name in order to "hold it" for you while you customize your website.

Note that you do NOT need to actually connect your domain to your website until you are ready to launch your site. 

P.s. -  if you already own your domain name - great! No need to do anything.  You will be able to point that domain name to the new website you create on ShinePages in 2 easy steps.  Those steps are outlined for you within the Website Training Portal. 

If you have a DBA, if you have other names for your business or if there is a chance that someone could find you (either by mistake or on purpose) using a similar name - it may make sense to purchase additional "close to your name" domains, if it is within your budget to do so.  

This is more of a marketing decision than anything else, for example if your ACTUAL domain for your website will be: oakparkkidsrunclub.com but you know that many people in the area abbreviate "oak park" to OP - you may also want to purchase: opkidsrunclub.com if it is available. 

Another idea is to buy the "mis-spellings" of your domain name - such as: oakparkidsrunclub.com (*note the missing K) if you think that people might have a hard time typing any part of your name.

IMPORTANT: You will not actually be building sites for these different domains, but instead you can go into the settings of your domain (within NameCheap or wherever you purchased your domain) and "Forward" these "alternate" domain names to your actual domain name - the one that is actually connected to your website. 

Again, this is not a necessity, but for the relatively low cost of a domain name ($8-15 a year) it may be worth your peace of mind knowing that no other business will own those other domains that are "similar" to yours in any way.  

 Short answer, no. :)  With your ShinePages site, an SSL certificate is included. 

And you shouldn't need to purchase additional security or protection for your domain name.  While some domain registrar's promote the "full privacy and protection" plan - we do not believe it is fully necessary and the threat of piracy of a domain name is very, very low.  

Whenever you can purchase the exact business name as a domain name with a .com extension - that is ideal.  

However, sometimes your name is already taken OR you want to purchase additional domains in order to forward "common search" phrases for your domain name or "misspellings" of your domain name in order to FORWARD them to the correct, real domain name. 

If your exact business name does not have a matching domain name because someone is already using it for THEIR website - we recommend changing up your domain name slightly to differentiate and not cause confusion.  You might add the name of your area to the domain name or abbreviate part of your domain name. 

We do not recommend using a different extension (ie: .co,  .rehab, .net) if an existing website is already out there with yourexactname.com.   However, you COULD purchase a different extension of that domain and FORWARD it to your actual domain name.  

If you have questions about your exact name and what you could tweak about it to secure a domain name that works for your business, be sure to ask on one of your program's coaching calls. 

Just like you purchase domain name hosting (typically for a year or more at a time), you will probably also want to purchase business email hosting.  This looks like yourname@yourdomainname.com and shows others that you are a legitimate business. 

Typically your business email will be yourname@yourdomain.com, admin@, hello@, or support@.

One option for purchasing a business email address is thru Google Workspace (formerly G Suite).  

Similar to G Suite, all Google Workspace plans provide a custom email for your business and include collaboration tools like Gmail, Calendar, Meet, Chat, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites, and more.

Many people like that everything is connected and in one place with Google Workspace.  You also will need a google email address (either a paid business email or a free google email) in order to set up a Google My Business business listing, Google Analytics & Google Search Console. 

Here is a link to sign up for Google Workspace: 

https://workspace.google.com/pricing.html

*Another option if you do not want or need all that the Google Workspace offers or are having issues with it and you'd like a cheaper option, you can purchase your business email hosting thru your domain registrar.  For example - NameCheap.com offers inexpensive business email hosting. 

NOTE: If you DO decide to go with a non-google business email - you should ALSO set up a basic, free Gmail email address ie: yourbusinessnamehere@gmail.com in order to take advantage of the Google tools I mentioned above - Analytics, Search Console, etc.   This will not be an email address you publicize, rather just one you will use to get access to these tools. 

If you already have an existing website, you can easily transfer your domain name (or "URL) to the new site you will recreate on ShinePages in 2 simple steps.  These steps are outlined in the "Connect a Domain" section of your Website Training Portal. 

In terms of CONTENT - copy and images - unfortunately, there is no "one-click" way to migrate your content from one platform to another.  However, we hope that you will find it simple to copy and paste text and upload photos to your new ShinePages site, making the transfer process relatively easy. 

No matter where you purchased your domain name, it is simple to "disconnect" it from your old site and "connect" it to your new ShinePages site whenever you are ready to launch your site. 

Please note that you do not have to transfer your domain from one site to the other until your ShinePages site is ready to launch.  Your ShinePages trial can be extended to allow you plenty of time to transfer any content and get your new site customized and ready to launch.