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Using your own domain name

Pointing your own domain at your site, step by step for the common registrars, and what each message from the DNS check means.

What you need

A domain name you have bought, such as example.com, from a registrar (the company that sells domains) and access to its DNS settings. Your site works without one, at {handle}.draftmargin.com; a domain is for looking professional on a book cover, a business card or a bookmark. It is free here: you only pay your registrar for the name.

Once your domain is live, your old address sends visitors to it, so no link breaks.

Setting it up

  1. Open Domain in the side menu, type your domain, and choose whether visitors see example.com or www.example.com. The other one sends them to your choice. Press Use this domain.
  2. The page shows the records to add: an A record and, for a name like example.com, a CNAME record for www. Add them at your registrar (the guides below show where).
  3. Press Check DNS, the button next to where Use this domain was. A new record can take a few minutes, and sometimes up to an hour, to spread; press it again until it passes.
  4. When it passes, we get your domain its padlock (an HTTPS certificate), which usually takes a few minutes. The page turns to Your domain is live by itself.

A name with more than two parts, such as blog.example.com or example.co.uk, is served as exactly that name, with the A record only and no www twin. If you want www.example.co.uk, enter that instead.

Where to add the records

In every registrar you are looking for the DNS records of the domain. Delete any existing A record for @ and CNAME for www (usually a “parked” page), then add ours exactly as the Domain page shows them. “@” means the bare domain itself.

Namecheap

Domain List → Manage next to your domain → Advanced DNS → under Host Records, Add New Record. Choose A Record with Host @, and CNAME Record with Host www. Save each with the green tick. The nameservers must be “Namecheap BasicDNS”.

GoDaddy

My Products → DNS next to your domain → Add New Record. Type A with Name @, then type CNAME with Name www. Edit the existing “Parked” A record rather than adding a second one.

Cloudflare

Select your domain → DNS → Records → Add record. Type A with Name @, and type CNAME with Name www. Set the Proxy status to DNS only (the grey cloud) on both: with the orange cloud on, we cannot see that your domain points at us and the certificate fails.

OVH

Web Cloud → Domain names → your domain → DNS zone → Add an entry. Choose A (leave the sub-domain empty) and CNAME (sub-domain www). Delete the A and CNAME OVH put there for its own parking page first.

IONOS

Domains & SSL → your domain → DNS → Add record. A with Host name @, and CNAME with Host name www. Remove the existing A and AAAA records for @ first: an AAAA record sends visitors who use IPv6 elsewhere.

Anywhere else

The words are the same everywhere: add an A record for the bare domain and a CNAME for www. If your registrar offers a “redirect” or “URL forwarding” for the domain, turn it off: it sits in the way.

What the DNS check tells you

“has no record yet … check again in a few minutes”
You added it in the last hour, and it has not spread yet. Wait a few minutes and press Check DNS again.
“has no record, expected …”
Over an hour on, there is still nothing there. Open your registrar’s DNS page and check the record is saved, with the Name exactly as shown (@ or www, not the whole domain twice).
“has an A record for …, expected an A record for …”
There is a record, but it points somewhere else: usually the registrar’s parking page, or a previous host. Replace its value with ours. On Cloudflare, also switch the cloud to grey.
“has a CNAME to …, expected …”
The www CNAME points at another name. Change its value to the one shown.
“Let’s Encrypt could not issue the certificate”
The padlock company could not reach your domain at our server. Check Cloudflare is on grey, wait ten minutes and press Check DNS to try again.
“Securing your domain took over an hour”
Press Check DNS to try again. If it fails twice, write to us.
“… safety limit …”
Your site has had 5 tries in a day; the padlock company refuses domains that fail too often. Try again tomorrow, and see safety limits.

Changing or removing it

Once chosen, the domain and the www choice are locked. To use another, press Remove domain and start again. Your site is back on its address here at once. We also check live domains every day: if one stops pointing at us (say the registration lapsed) we email you, and if it stays that way for 3 days the domain is removed from your site.

Still stuck, or found something wrong on this page? Contact support.