What is a subdomain?
A subdomain is an extra name placed in front of a domain you already own, separated by a dot — shop.example.com, booking.example.com. You create them yourself in the domain's settings at no extra cost, and each one can point at a different site or service.
Why it matters to a shop
Two practical uses. First, when the shop, the booking system or the blog runs on a different service, you do not have to buy a second domain — a subdomain reuses the name customers already know, for free. Second, it explains the free address a website builder hands you at launch: yourshop.provider.com is a subdomain of the provider's domain, not of yours. That is fine for opening — with Naratake you publish to a hosting address and can start trading straight away — and worth replacing with your own name once the business is steady, which both cloud plans allow.
When to use one, and how
- First ask whether you need one at all. A page inside the site — example.com/menu — is easier for a customer to remember and to type. Reach for a subdomain when the thing genuinely runs somewhere else.
- Create it as a DNS record at the registrar holding your domain. It is a row you add, not a purchase: there is no second registration and no second yearly fee.
- Test it on its own. Every subdomain needs its own HTTPS certificate and its own check on a phone — "the main site works" tells you nothing about shop.example.com.
Common mistake: Assuming each subdomain has to be bought separately — they are free on a domain you already hold; what does cost you is treating a builder's free address as your permanent one.