Domain Management
Purchasing and registering a domain
Domain Rule #1 - Manage your domains separately from other systems
I recommend registering your domain with company that specializes in domain management. GoDaddy is a good example, but there are dozens of others such as NameCheap. These places are really good at domain management, but not so much at other stuff such as web hosting or email hosting.
Host your website somewhere besides your registrar
RESIST the offers from your web hosting provider to TRANSFER your domain management to them. This can only make things more difficult in your future if you decide to change to a new web host.
Using multiple subdomains
Most small companies start off with a single Domain such as smalltechstack.com
You can split your email across multiple subdomains which can each have their own SPF and DMARC handling (and DKIM). For example, your email domain landscape might look like this:
smalltechstack.com : Your primary email domain used for “human” email such as GSuite or Office 365 (email comes from [email protected])
mail.smalltechstack.com : Used by account-based marketing (ABM) platform (email comes from [email protected])
support.smalltechstack.com : Used by support ticketing system such as Zendesk. (email comes from [email protected])
Benefits of spanning your email across multiple subdomains
Your SPF records become shorter and easier to manage if separate email “channels” are used. This can be a way to avoid the SPF 10-lookup DNS limit.
Each subdomain will build its own email reputation on the internet. This can avoid problems when your marketing team inadvertently “poisons the well” by ruining the email reputation of your primary email domain.
