Custom domain names & DNS
If you haven't already registered a domain name for your website you can do so through a domain name registrar.
Registering a domain name is easy, and should only take a few minutes and will cost anywhere between $3 and $20 (depending on the domain name that you choose).
We recommend GoDaddy for domain registration. Click here to register your domain name with GoDaddy now.
Once you've got your domain name and are ready to launch your website, you can follow the steps shown below to go live.
Entering your custom domain into your account
If you want your website to appear at www.yourdomainname.com
Click 'your account' from the menu and then the 'domain names'.
Scroll down the page to the 'your live domain name' section...
Enter your domain name into the 'domain name' box (as shown in the example above). Do not enter www or http:// at the start of the domain name.
Click the 'save domain name' button beneath the box.
If you want your website to appear at a subdomain name, e.g. shop.yourdomainname.com...
Enter the subdomain name into the 'domain name' box. Don't enter with http:// at the start of the domain name.
You'll also need to tick the box 'tick if it is a subdomain...'
Changing the DNS of your domain name
Next, you'll need to change some settings on your domain name called 'DNS' - this will 'point' the domain name at your account. These settings need to be made with the company that you registered your domain name with.
You'll need to either create (or edit) a CNAME record on your domain name.
Where your website appears at www.yourdomainname.com, www is treated as a subdomain, so you'll need to create a CNAME record for that subdomain.
The CNAME needs to be set to point to dns.shopwired.io
Once you've made your changes, they can take up to 24 hours to process.
If you're using a subdomain for your website, like shop.yourdomainname.com, then you'll need to create a CNAME record for the subdomain to point to dns.shopwired.io (not a CNAME for www.yourdomainname.com). If you need help contact us.
Redirecting yourdomainname.com to www.yourdomainname.com
Its best practice to point the top level of your domain name (e.g. yourdomainname.com) to automatically forward to www.yourdomainname.com.
You can be penalised in search engine rankings if you don't do this.
Your domain registrar may allow you to do this through your domain name control panel but if you can't then you can create an A record for yourdomainname.com (without the www.) to point to 54.247.109.89.
Our DNS service will then automatically redirect it to the www. subdomain.
You do not need to perform this step if you are using another type of subdomain (like shop.yourdomainname.com).
Other records
Once you've added your A & CNAME records to your domain name, you'll also need to create more records to verify your sending emails, see our instructions here.