Publish Your Website On a Domain

When your website is ready to go live, it's time to launch your site on a live domain. You will first need to add your domain(s) to your Domain Settings dashboard, then you will log in to your domain registrar to point your domain to the Websites 360® IP address.

• Part 1: Add your domain to your website
• Part 2: Point your domain to the Websites 360® IP address
• Troubleshooting domain issues
  • Understanding DNS statuses
  • Domain not coming up when I type www.
  • CAA record errors
  • Factors affecting DNS propagation time

Part 1: Add your domain to your website

You will first want to add your domain name(s) to your website's Domain Settings dashboard:

1. Select the Settings tab at the top of your Websites app.
2. Select Domains on the left-hand sidebar.
   
3. Click Add Custom Domain at the top of the page. Enter your domain without the www. in front (i.e. websites360.com), then click Save.
4. Click Add Custom Domain again, but this time, enter your domain name with the www. included (i.e. www.websites360.com) , then click Save.
   
   Note: If your domain is already added to another Websites 360® site, then you'll see a message saying "This domain name is not available". You will need to remove it from the other site first.
5. Select which version of your domain you'd like to be the "Primary domain" by selecting the toggle switch in the Primary column next to the desired domain.
6. Click the Activate Domains button to confirm your domains.
   
   

Tip: Make sure you allow search engines to crawl your site by following this tutorial to submit your website's sitemap to search engines. This is what allows users to find you in their online searches!

Part 2: Point your domain to the Websites 360® IP address

Your website's domain name (the address that users type in their address bar to access your website) is hosted by a domain registrar; this is usually the company that you purchased your domain name through.

To connect your domain name to your website:

1. Log in to your domain registrar.
2. Once you are logged in, find your domain's DNS Manager page. This is the dashboard where you can add or edit DNS records.
   Note: If you run into any issues locating the DNS Manager, we recommend you contact your domain registrar’s support team, as they will likely be able to help you add the following record as well.
3. In the DNS Manager, you will want to edit the 'A' Record. If you don't yet have an 'A Record' set up, then you will want to create a new 'A' Record.
   Tip: take screenshot of old DNS records so you can always revert them if there are issues.
   
   Below are the details that you will enter for your 'A' Record:
   

   Setting	What you will enter
   Record Type	A
   Host or Name	@ (if that option is not available, enter your domain name without the www. i.e. websites360.com)
   Value or Points To	34.95.85.224
   TTL	600 or 3600 (depending on what your domain registrar allows - if you are unsure, or do not have these options, then stick with the default setting)

4. Save your changes.

Important: DNS changes typically take 24 to 48 hours for the change to fully take place. If you have any email setup on the domain, take note of your current MX records in order to not interrupt your email service.

Common support topics on popular registrars are listed below:

GoDaddy: Add an A record

Network Solutions: Managing Advanced DNS Records

Enom: Change Host Records - Forward, Redirect or Point Your Domain/Sub-Domain

Troubleshooting domain issues

Understanding DNS statuses

Your DNS status will give you an idea of what steps to take if there are any issues with setup. The different statuses, as well as their meanings, are as followed:

Domain not coming up when I type www.

Depending on your DNS registrar, a CNAME record isn’t always included in your records. If you are able to access your domain without “www.”, but not with “www.”, this indicates that you are missing a CNAME record.

To resolve your site not working when typing www.:

1. Log in to your domain registrar.
2. Once you are logged in, find your domain's DNS Manager page. This is the dashboard where you can add or edit DNS records.
   Note: If you run into any issues locating the DNS Manager, we recommend you contact your domain registrar’s support team, as they will likely be able to help you add the following record as well.
3. In the DNS Manager, add a new record. The CNAME record you need to add into your domain registrar's DNS Manager is as follows:
   

   Setting	What you will enter
   Record Type	CNAME
   Host or Name	www
   Value or Points To	Enter your domain name without the www. i.e. websites360.com
   TTL	600 or 3600 (depending on what your domain registrar allows - if you are unsure, or do not have these options, then stick with the default setting)

Important: DNS changes typically take 24 to 48 hours for the change to fully take place. 

CAA record errors

To ensure a proper HTTPS setup on your domain, our certificate provider requires a CAA record to the domain. While most domain registrars include this by default, there may be occasions when you will see a "CAA Error" under your DNS Status; this means that you will need to add your own CAA record to your domain. Note: Not all DNS service providers support the CAA record type.

To add the CAA record:

1. Log in to your domain registrar.
2. Once you are logged in, find your domain's DNS Manager page. This is the dashboard where you can add or edit DNS records.
   Note: If you run into any issues locating the DNS Manager, we recommend you contact your domain registrar’s support team, as they will likely be able to help you add the following record as well.
3. In the DNS Manager, add a new record. The CAA record you need to add into your domain registrar's DNS Manager is as follows:
   

   Setting	What you will enter
   Record Type	CAA
   Host or Name	@ (if that option is not available, enter your domain name without the www. i.e. websites360.com)
   Value or Points To	letsencrypt.org
   TTL	600 or 3600 (depending on what your domain registrar allows - if you are unsure, or do not have these options, then stick with the default setting)

Important: DNS changes typically take 24 to 48 hours for the change to fully take place. 

To test whether your CAA Record is set up correctly, you can enter your site details in the DNS CAA Tester.

Factors affecting DNS propagation time

When you update your DNS (Domain Name System) records in your domain registrar, the rest of the Internet must catch up to the changes. This period is known as "propagation". Usually, DNS changes will propagate within a few minutes, but it can take up to 48 hours for everything to propagate across the Internet.

There are a few factors that can explain why some domains propagate faster than others:

• Your TTL (Time to Live) settings: Every DNS record has a TTL setting. TTL is the amount of time servers cache the information for your DNS records. For example, if you set the TTL to "One Hour", the servers will store the record details for an hour before retrieving updated information from your nameservers. Shorter TTL settings may increase propagation speed. However, they can also increase the number of times your nameserver is queried, decreasing your site's performance.
• Your ISP (Internet Service Provider): Your ISP caches DNS records by storing the data locally instead of retrieving fresh data from your DNS server. This speeds up web browsing, but it may slow your propagation time. Some ISPs ignore TTL settings and only update their cached records every two to three days.
• Your domain's registry: When you change your domain's nameservers, the change request is sent to the domain registry within minutes, and they publish your NS (nameserver) records to their root zone. Most registries update their zones promptly, but some can take several hours or even days.

In most cases, your DNS updates will propagate within a few minutes. Due to these factors, however, you should allow up to 48 hours for any DNS changes to fully propagate across the Internet. If it's been more than 48 hours and your changes aren't reflecting correctly, there may be a different cause of the issue, such as incorrect DNS settings.