Your website on your own domain, without knowing what DNS is
By GuestChat Team ·
Your own address, with the name of your home or your brand, builds trust and is easier to remember than any other. If you already bought a domain, pointing it to your website takes three steps. And even if the word DNS sounds scary, the dashboard guide tells you exactly where to click, depending on where you bought it.
First: you already have an address that works
In My website, in the Web address step, you'll see Your free address. It works from day one, with nothing to set up. While you get your domain ready, your website keeps working at that address: no one is left without a page.
What you're going to do
A domain is like a name in an address book. You're going to tell that address book that your name points to your booking website. You do that on the DNS page of the site where you bought the domain, by adding two lines.
The three steps
In Use your own domain, type your domain and choose where you bought it. The guide has the exact steps for the most common providers, such as GoDaddy, IONOS, OVH, Hostinger, Namecheap, Cloudflare or dondominio, plus an option for any other provider.
- Go to your domain's DNS page. If you see a list with columns like Type, Name and Value, you're in the right place.
- Add the two lines the dashboard shows you, copying each value exactly as it is.
- Save and come back. The dashboard stays on Waiting for DNS until the change comes through, and then tells you your domain now points here.
The details that cause trouble
The guide warns you about them, but it's good to keep them in mind:
- With some providers, for the main domain the name field is left empty; with others you put @. What you never put there is the full domain.
- If there's a TTL box, leave it as it is.
- If there's already a record of the same type with that name, edit that one instead of adding another.
- If your provider has its own content delivery network turned on, turn it off first: while it's on, it takes over and your record isn't applied.
- In some dashboards you have to save with a specific icon; if you leave without clicking it, nothing is saved.
The padlock is added on its own
The padlock, the https that browsers ask for, is added on its own as soon as the domain responds. You don't have to buy or install anything. One thing, though: your website has to be published. If you haven't clicked Publish website, the padlock can't be issued and browsers will show a security warning even if the DNS is perfect.
How long it takes
Sometimes minutes, sometimes a few hours. Don't delete anything or repeat the steps just because it doesn't show up right away. If it's still waiting the next day, check that you copied the values without spaces.
Checklist
- Website published before you point the domain.
- Two lines added, copied exactly as shown.
- Name left empty or set to @ depending on your provider, never the full domain.
- Wait without touching anything.
- When the dashboard says it now points here, open your domain on your phone and check the padlock.
- Update the domain in your email signature and in your messages: a website no one knows about gets no bookings.