Pointing an existing domain at your new site
Your domain sits with one provider, your new site with us. Here's the whole process — and what you must not delete on the way.
A domain and a website are two separate things. The domain is just an address — a signpost that tells the browser where to go. The website is the actual content running on our hosting. Connecting them means repointing that signpost at us.
What we need from you
- The exact domain name you want to use — e.g.
yourcompany.com. - Whether the main version should be with
wwwor withoutwww. - Access to the domain's control panel at your provider — or a person who can make the changes there following our instructions.
What we'll send you
Once your domain is added to the project, we'll send you two values to enter into the domain's DNS settings:
| Record type | Name / Host | Value |
|---|---|---|
| A | @ | the IP address we send you |
| CNAME | www | the address we send you |
Step by step
- 1Log in to the control panel at your domain provider.
- 2Find the DNS records section (sometimes called “DNS”, “DNS management” or “Zone”).
- 3Take a screenshot of the whole zone. It's your safety net — if anything goes wrong you can restore the original state.
- 4Change the A record for
@to the IP address we sent you. - 5Change the CNAME record for
wwwto the value we sent you. - 6Delete any old A and AAAA records for
@andwwwthat point at the previous hosting. - 7Save, then let us know — we'll verify everything is configured correctly.
When it starts working
In most cases the change takes effect within minutes. Occasionally it takes up to 24 hours for the new address to propagate across the internet. During that window some visitors may still briefly see the old site — that's normal and can't be sped up.
Do we need to change the nameservers (NS)?
No. In most cases you leave the nameservers exactly as they are and change only the individual A and CNAME records. It's safer, because you don't touch email or any other service.
My provider won't let me set a CNAME on the main domain.
That's normal and correct — a CNAME can't be used on the bare domain (without www). That's why it takes an A record with an IP address. CNAME is only used for www.
Will the site work without www too?
Yes. We set up both versions and redirect one to the other automatically, so the site always works no matter what the visitor types.