# Choosing and buying domains

> Why cold email needs its own domains, how to name them, how many your plan needs and where to buy them.

Source: https://docs.maildeck.co/domains-dns/domains/

Your cold emails go out from **separate sending domains**, not from your main company domain. You buy these domains
yourself at a registrar (the shop where web addresses are sold), then connect them to Maildeck in Quick Start. We set
up everything on them from there.

## Why not use your main domain?

A domain has a reputation, a bit like a credit score. Email providers such as Gmail and Outlook watch how people react
to mail from it. Cold email always carries some risk: a few spam reports or bounced addresses can lower that score.

If that happens on a separate sending domain, you replace the domain and carry on. If it happens on your main domain,
your everyday email (to clients, suppliers, your accountant) can start landing in spam too.

> **Caution: Never use your main company domain**
> Keep your real domain for normal business email. Use brand variations for cold email.

## How to name them

Good sending domains look like a real company that is clearly connected to yours. The usual approach is a
**brand variation**: your brand name with a short word added in front or behind.

| Your brand | Good sending domains | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| yourbrand.com | `getyourbrand.com`, `tryyourbrand.com`, `yourbrandhq.com` | `yourbrand.com` itself |
| acme.com | `getacme.com`, `tryacme.com`, `acmehq.com` | `buy-cheap-deals-now.com` |

A few tips:

- **Prefer .com.** It is the most trusted ending, and it is what Quick Start suggests by default.
  
- **Keep it short and easy to read.** No long strings of hyphens or numbers.
- **Avoid spammy words** like "deals", "cheap" or "free".
- **Turn on WHOIS privacy** at your registrar if it offers it, so your personal details aren't public.

## How many domains you need

Each inbox type fits a different number of inboxes on one domain:

- **Outlook:** one tenant (a Microsoft 365 account for one domain) per domain, with up to 100 mailboxes on it.
- **Google Workspace:** 5 inboxes per domain.
- **SMTP:** 5 inboxes per domain.

That gives these totals for each plan:

| Plan | Domains to bring | Split |
|---|---|---|
| Diversified Starter | 5 | 2 Outlook, 2 SMTP, 1 Google |
| Diversified Growth | 36 | 10 Outlook, 20 SMTP, 6 Google |
| Diversified Enterprise | 360 | 100 Outlook, 200 SMTP, 60 Google |
| Google Workspace Starter | 2 | 10 mailbox slots, 5 per domain |
| Google Workspace Growth | 6 | 30 mailbox slots, 5 per domain |
| Google Workspace Enterprise | 20 | 100 mailbox slots, 5 per domain |

Buying individual products instead? Use one domain per Outlook tenant, and one domain for every 5 Google or SMTP
inboxes. For example, 50 Google inboxes need 10 domains.

> **Tip: Need to start without domains?**
> We sometimes have pre-warmed Outlook tenants that run on our own, already-warmed domains, so you don't bring any.
> Availability varies, so ask the team.

## Where to buy

Any normal registrar works. In Quick Start you can pick **Porkbun**, **Namecheap**, **GoDaddy** or **Other** (and type
the registrar's name). Porkbun is a popular choice because it is inexpensive and has an API (a way for software to
make changes for you).

> **Caution: Not Cloudflare**
> Don't use domains registered at Cloudflare. Cloudflare doesn't let you change nameservers, so we can't set those
> domains up for email. Use a registrar that allows custom nameservers.

You can't buy domains inside the Maildeck app at the moment, so buy them at your registrar first.

## What you'll give Maildeck

1. **Buy your domains** at your registrar and keep a list of them.
2. **Open Quick Start** in the app sidebar and go to the **Domains** step.
3. **Paste your domains**, one per line or separated by commas.
4. **Pick your registrar** and enter your registrar login. If your registrar gave you an API key, you can add it too.
   [Connect your registrar](https://docs.maildeck.co/domains-dns/connect-your-registrar/) explains what each field is for.

That's it. Our team sets up the DNS records, builds the inboxes and starts warmup.

## Next

  - [Connect your registrar](https://docs.maildeck.co/domains-dns/connect-your-registrar/): Login vs API key, and how to keep access safe.
  - [SPF, DKIM and DMARC](https://docs.maildeck.co/domains-dns/spf-dkim-dmarc/): The records we set on your domains, in plain words.
  - [Inbox types](https://docs.maildeck.co/plans/inbox-types/): Outlook, Google and SMTP compared.
  - [Your first order](https://docs.maildeck.co/getting-started/your-first-order/): Quick Start, screen by screen.