Point a Web3 name to a website
A Web3 name can open a website in software that supports it. There are three ways to set that up, and one of them suits most people.
A Web3 name can open a website in software that supports it. There are three ways to set that up, and one of them suits most people.
The website record tells supporting browsers and extensions what to open when someone visits your Web3 name. It does not create a website and does not include hosting. It only points to something that already exists.
That matters for planning. If you have no website yet, the Web3 name will not give you one. If you already run a site on a normal domain, the Web3 name can lead to it within a few minutes.
The simplest choice and the one we suggest for most people. Set the record to the address of the site you already run. Visitors whose software opens Web3 names land on the same page as everyone else, and you maintain one website instead of two.
Some holders publish a site on decentralised storage, where files are found by their content rather than by a server. The record then holds that content address. It suits people who want a site not tied to one host, and it needs more care: every update produces a new address that has to be set again.
Some providers show a basic page for a name built from its profile records: a picture, a line of text and links. It needs no website at all, and is a reasonable start for a creator or a small seller.
Visit the name in a browser or extension that supports its naming system and confirm the right page loads.
Try the phone and the browser your customers are likely to use. In most browsers without an extension the name will not open, which is expected.
On anything printed, put the normal domain next to the Web3 name, so readers whose software cannot open the Web3 name still reach you.
Search engines link to normal domains, email needs a normal domain, and most browsers do not open Web3 names without help. Keep your normal domain renewed. Letting it lapse because you now have a Web3 name would cut off most of your visitors.
Search engines index sites on normal domains. If your Web3 name forwards to your normal domain, the site is indexed there as usual. The Web3 name does not appear as a separate result.
Only if you want it to open a website and do not already have one. Hosting is never included with the name.
Yes. Edit the record in the provider’s dashboard, signed in with the wallet that holds the name. Each change is a small transaction.
The name keeps pointing to the same address, so visitors see whatever that address shows. Update the record if the site moves.
The use where a Web3 name works best today: being paid to it.