Putting your online store on a subdomain of your website

You can keep your main website where it is and run your online store at shop.yourdomain.com on Shopify, Square Online, BigCommerce or a similar platform. You add one record to your domain's DNS, tell the store platform to use that address, and the store appears under your name with its own checkout. It suits a business whose website is mainly about the shop, the restaurant or the service, with online sales as one part of it. The work that makes it feel right is less the record and more the links, the look and the policies between the two sites.

Why put the store on a subdomain at all

The alternative is to move your whole website onto the store platform, so one system runs everything. That works for businesses that are mostly online stores. For many small businesses, it is a poor trade:

• Your main website might already be good, easy to edit and paid for.
• Store platforms charge monthly and are built for product listings, not for a bakery's story, a garden center's opening hours or a gunsmith's services.
• Switching the main site to a store platform changes every page address and design at once.

A subdomain lets each part do what it is good at. The website tells people who you are and how to reach you; the store takes orders and payments.

The setup, step by step

The exact screens differ by platform, but the steps are the same.

1. Build the store first on the platform's own temporary address, something like yourshop.myshopify.com. Add products, shipping, taxes and payment settings, and place a test order.
2. In the store's settings, find the domains section. Shopify calls it Settings, then Domains, then Connect existing domain. Type shop.yourdomain.com.
3. The platform shows you a record to add. For a subdomain it is nearly always a CNAME (a record that says "this name is really that name"). For Shopify, the target is usually shops.myshopify.com. Square Online, BigCommerce and others give their own value.
4. Sign in where your DNS is managed, usually your registrar or your website host. Add a new record: Type CNAME, Name shop, Value exactly as given. Do not change any existing records for the bare domain, www or email.
5. Go back to the store platform and click verify. It may take from a few minutes to a few hours. Once it sees the record, it issues a security certificate so the store works on https.
6. Make the subdomain the store's primary address in the platform's domain settings, so its own temporary address redirects to shop.yourdomain.com.

Your main domain, its website and its email are untouched. Subdomains in general are explained in subdomains explained.

Some platforms do not support it

Not every store service lets you use your own subdomain:

• Etsy, eBay and Amazon shops live on their own sites; you link to them, but you cannot put them at shop.yourdomain.com.
• Facebook and Instagram shops are the same.
• Free or entry plans of some store builders only allow their own address. Check the plan before you count on it.

In those cases, a clear "Shop online" button on your website linking to the store is the honest alternative. If you only sell a few things, you may not need a store at all; adding a PayPal or Stripe button to your website covers that simpler route.

Making two sites feel like one business

Customers should not feel they have left your business when they click "Shop".

Links both ways

• Put Shop in your main website's menu, linking to shop.yourdomain.com.
• Link from relevant pages too: the gift card section, the product you mention on the home page.
• In the store's theme settings, set the logo to link back to your main website, and add menu links for Home, About and Contact pointing at the main site's pages.

The same look

• Use the same logo file on both.
• Copy your main site's two or three colors into the store's theme.
• Pick the closest fonts the store offers.
• Use the same photo style: if the website has bright natural photos of your shop, do not use dark studio shots in the store.

One set of facts

Hours, address, phone number, return policy and shipping details should match on both sites. Store platforms have their own policy pages; write your real policies there and link to them from the main site rather than writing them twice in different words.

Email, Google and payments

• Order emails. The platform sends order confirmations. Set the sender to your business address, and add the platform's records to your domain's SPF and DKIM settings when it offers them, so receipts do not land in spam.
• Google Business Profile. Keep your main website as the website link. If Google Business Profile lets you add a separate "order" or "shop" link for your type of business, use the store's address there.
• Search engines treat the store subdomain somewhat like its own site. Write proper product descriptions in your own words; do not leave the platform's sample text.
• Payments are handled by the store's checkout. Your main website never touches card details, which keeps it simple.

When the main website changes later

A store on a subdomain survives website changes well. If you rebuild your main site or move it to another host, the shop record stays as it is and the store keeps working. Just make sure:

• The new website's menu still links to the store.
• Whoever moves the main site knows the shop record exists and must not be deleted. Many website moves involve copying DNS records to a new company; a forgotten CNAME takes the store offline.

Before you launch

• Place a real order on the live subdomain with your own card, then refund it.
• Open shop.yourdomain.com and yourdomain.com on a phone and click back and forth.
• Check the order email arrives in your customer-side inbox, not spam.
• Read every policy page once.

If your main website no longer matches the store you are putting next to it, you can see your site rebuilt first, with a clear Shop link pointing at your store.