A new website. Same domain, same email.
Yes — you can redesign your website and keep your web address and business email. I check how everything is connected, build the new site separately and plan the switch so your email keeps working.
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By Ivan Golovach · I design and build your site myself. Updated
Four things that look like one.
Your web address, website and email feel like one thing, but they are usually separate services.
- Your domain
- The name you bought, like yourbusiness.com, registered with a company such as GoDaddy, Namecheap or Squarespace.
- Your DNS settings
- The settings that tell the internet where your website is and where your email goes. Usually managed where you bought the domain.
- Your website
- The pages people see, hosted by a hosting company or a builder like Wix.
- Your email
- Often its own service, like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, or included with your old web hosting.
A redesign changes the website. The domain stays where it is, and your email settings stay in place.
Which situation are you in?
Not sure? Think about how you open your business email. I check all of this before anything changes.
Your email is with Google or Microsoft.
You sign in to Gmail or Outlook with your business address. This is the simplest case: your email doesn’t move, and its settings stay exactly as they are.
Your email came with your old hosting.
You read mail through your hosting company’s webmail, or the address was set up with your old website. Then the email needs care: it stays exactly where it is until we agree what to keep.
Your site and domain are on Wix or Squarespace.
The domain is still yours. It can stay with the builder and point to the new site, or move to a provider you choose. Wix, for example, lets you connect a domain bought there to a site hosted elsewhere.
How the switch works.
Check what runs where.
I find out who manages your domain, website and email, and which forms, bookings and pages your business relies on.
Build next to your current site.
You review the new site at a separate preview address. Your current site stays live the whole time.
Plan the switch.
We agree on the scope and price. I keep important page addresses and map any changed ones to their new pages.
Launch and check.
I connect the new site, test every form and confirm with you that email still sends and arrives. You pay after launch.
Your part: approve the preview, and give me access to your domain account when it’s time to launch.
What can go wrong — and how I prevent it.
- Email stops arriving.
- Usually because email settings were lost when the domain’s settings moved to a new provider. I record your current settings first and change only the ones that point to the website.
- Contact forms go quiet.
- Forms and booking confirmations often send mail through the old hosting and can fail without anyone noticing. On launch day I test every form from start to finish.
- Someone else controls the domain.
- If a past designer registered it, you may not be able to sign in. Below is how to check and what to ask for.
- Old links lead nowhere.
- Pages people found on Google or saved in emails go missing. I keep useful addresses or redirect them to the matching new page.
- Something is cancelled too early.
- Old hosting can also run your email or your domain settings. Keep everything until the new site is live and checked.
If someone else controls your domain.
Your domain should be registered in your name, in an account you can sign in to. To see where it’s registered, look it up for free at lookup.icann.org — the “Registrar” line shows the company.
If a past designer or agency holds the account, ask them to give you access, or to move the domain into an account of yours at the same company. You don’t need to move it to another registrar for a redesign — only its settings change.
I’ll help you work out exactly what to ask for.
Look up your domain at lookup.icann.org. More in ICANN’s FAQ for domain owners.
Your Google rankings.
Keeping your domain keeps what Google already knows about your business. I keep important page addresses and redirect any that change to the matching new page.
When a site moves to new hosting, Google says a temporary drop in crawling right after launch is normal, followed by a steady increase over the next few days. I set up Search Console so we can watch the new site get picked up.
No one can promise unchanged rankings after any change. Careful planning avoids the problems that are preventable.
Google explains this in its guides to moving to new hosting and moves that change page addresses.
For whoever manages your tech.
Show the technical details
- Website: only the records that point to the website change — the A/AAAA records for the root domain and the CNAME for www.
- Email: your email records (MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC) stay exactly as your provider set them up. I don’t change them, and I check delivery after launch.
- Nameservers: changing them moves every DNS record to a new provider. I avoid that unless every email and verification record has been copied first.
- Timing: lower the TTL in advance — Google suggests at least a week before a hosting move. DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to reach everyone.
- Old hosting: Google’s advice is to shut it down only once traffic to it has reached zero.
Sources: Google Workspace — MX records · Cloudflare — email DNS records · Wix — connecting a domain to an external site · Google — moving to new hosting
Questions about the switch.
- Do I need to transfer my domain?
- Usually not. It can stay with your current provider; only the website settings change. You stay the owner.
- Where will the new site live?
- Wherever is simplest for you. I look at your current setup and suggest the easiest option before you agree to anything.
- Will my site go offline during the switch?
- Your current site stays live while I build. At launch, the change can take from a few hours to a couple of days to reach everyone; meanwhile some visitors still see the old site, which keeps working.
Let’s build your new website.Questions about your preview?
Send your link. I’ll reply within 24 hours. See a working preview and a fixed price before you decide.Reply to my email, or write a note here — I answer within 24 hours.
Prefer email?
ivan@citrusgate.com