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Using Your Custom Domain (URL) With Simplero

Custom domains make it easier for customers to find your website, help increase brand awareness, make your website more memorable, and more! If you've purchased a domain name, you can use it with your Simplero site.

In this guide, we'll show you how to configure a custom domain name, for example - www.yourcustomdomain.com or courses.yourcustomdomain.com.

How to Configure a Custom Domain With Simplero

First, you need to access your DNS records.

Go to your domain registrar (wherever you purchased your domain - Google Domains, GoDaddy, Namecheap, Bluehost, Hover, etc.) or to the service that hosts your nameservers, if that's different. Then you'll create settings there that say Simplero will now be your host. 

Each domain registrar has a different interface, but every single one has an area to configure the site's DNS. Find that. :)

Once you've found that area, follow these steps: 

Step 1: Add an A Record

In your domain registrar, set up an A record pointing to 52.2.195.208. That's a super special static IP address that Simplero uses just to handle these redirects.  

You want to set up this A record on your root domain. Your root domain is something like yourcustomdomain.com. There's no prefix like www or anything else before it. Most registrars represent this with an @ sign, like below. 

Note: Only do this step if you want your root domain to send traffic to the subdomain you're about to use. You'll want to do this if you're going to modify your www subdomain. 

You may not need to do this if you're using your www for another site and are only modifying your courses or another subdomain.


Step 2: Add a CNAME

Then you want to add a new CNAME record where host (name) = www (or whatever subdomain you want, like courses) and Points to = your Simplero site URL, like this:


In the host (name) field, you do NOT need the full website URL - just the www (or another subdomain, i.e. shop). 

You can only have one record with www (or another subdomain). If you try to add a second one, the domain registrar will present an error stating that www is already used. Remove or edit the original. 

You can leave TTL (Time to Live) as the default or update it to something smaller, like 30 minutes. This setting tells the browser to look at your Simplero site if someone enters your domain. 


Step 3: Turn off SiteLock or Proxy Status

If your Hosting Provider integrates with SiteLock or offers a ‘Proxy Status’ feature, you'll need to turn It off. Those are great features when a system runs PHP, SQL or 3rd party plugins since all of those are likely to be hacked. But in Simplero, you’re in a managed hosting environment so these things aren’t an issue. Leaving Sitelock or Proxy status on may interfere with the stability of your DNS records.


Step 4: Add the Custom Domain in Simplero

 In your Simplero admin, go to Settings >> Change Your URL >> Custom Domains

Click on Add Domain and add your domain - be sure to include the www (or another subdomain). 



Click the blue Save changes button. 

If you haven’t added the DNS records to your domain settings yet (Step 1 and 2), you can check the box to Ignore DNS configuration problem until you do :)

If the DNS is set up properly, you'll see a checkmark. Sometimes it takes 15-60 minutes for everything to take effect. 

After the DNS is set up, you have to set the "Points To." You can have this domain point to: 

  • Your main site

  • A membership site

  • A landing page

You can even set up multiple custom domain points at different sites.  

SSL configuration (https security) is automatically handled by Simplero. It takes about 24-36 hours to successfully configure, so check back if you don't see the checkmark right away. 

While SSL is waiting to configure, your site's internal links will automatically redirect to the Simplero site.

Tech Tip! >>> When your computer has an old answer for DNS records, but the records are set correctly, you can speed up getting the right answer by flushing the operating system-level DNS cache on your local machine.


https://dnschecker.org/flush-dns.php


That's it! Now you have a custom domain showing your Simplero site! 

Facebook Integration

When using a custom domain and the Facebook Integration (for example sharing buttons on the Site Builder) you’ll also need to bring your own Facebook App ID.

If you don’t have one yet, check out Facebook developer resources to know where to find it.

SSL Certificate

Occasionally, your customers might experience issues related to SSL Certificates. When loading a site, they will be presented with the message below on their browser:

 

If this happens we high recommend checking your DNS records with your domain registrar and ensuring that your A record and CNAME record are properly setup.

If they are, please reach out to our support team to get further assistance!

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Notice anything wacky in this guide? Contact support by clicking the "?" button in your account, and we'll help you out. 

Last updated 30 Dec 2022.
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