Going live · one change

Put your new site on your domain.

Your website is built and already running. The last step is one small change where your domain name is registered, so that typing your address shows the new site instead of the old one.

It takes about five minutes. Hosting and care clients who would rather not touch it get a ten-minute call, you drive, I talk. If you took the free download, your own host's support covers this step.

Show me the change Book ten minutes

What you are actually doing

Your domain name (for example yourbusiness.com) is like an entry in a phone book. Right now it points at wherever your old site lives. You are changing that entry to point at the new site. Your domain stays yours, at the same company, on the same renewal. Only the pointer changes.

Your email does not move. Email uses different entries in the same list, and we leave every one of them alone.

The change itself

In your domain's DNS settings you set two lines. The exact values are in the email I sent you. They usually look like this:

Type	Name	Value
A	@	216.198.79.1
CNAME	www	the value in your email, ending in vercel-dns.com

If a line with the same Type and Name already exists, edit it to the new value rather than adding a second one. If "@" is not accepted, leave the Name empty or type your bare domain.

Leave everything else exactly as it is. Do not touch MX, TXT, SPF, DKIM, DMARC or autodiscover lines. Those are your email. Do not change nameservers. Only the two lines above.

Where to find it, by company

Not sure who your domain is with? Look for the renewal email you get once a year, or ask me and I will check.

GoDaddy

Sign in at godaddy.com, then open My Products.
Next to your domain, choose DNS (or Manage DNS).
Find the row A with name @. Click the pencil, set the value to the A value from your email, save.
Find the row CNAME with name www. Edit it to the CNAME value from your email, save. If there is no www row, choose Add, type CNAME, www, the value.
GoDaddy emails or texts you a six-digit code for every save. Enter it each time. Three wrong codes locks the account for a day, so take it slowly.

If a row says "Website Builder" or "Parked", that is the old site. Editing it is correct.

Squarespace Domains (this is where Google Domains moved)

Sign in at account.squarespace.com, then Domains, then your domain.
Open DNS, then DNS Settings.
Under Custom Records, add or edit: Host @, Type A, Data the A value. Then Host www, Type CNAME, Data the CNAME value.
Delete any existing Squarespace A or CNAME rows for @ and www that point at the old site. Leave Google Workspace MX rows alone.

Wix

Sign in at wix.com, open your Account, then Domains.
Next to the domain choose Manage DNS Records (the three dots).
In the A section, edit the @ row to the A value. In the CNAME section, edit the www row to the CNAME value.
Wix will warn that your Wix site will stop showing at this domain. That is the point. Confirm.

If your domain was bought elsewhere and only connected to Wix, make the change at that other company instead.

Namecheap

Sign in, open Domain List, click Manage next to the domain.
Open the Advanced DNS tab.
Edit or add: Type A Record, Host @, Value the A value. Type CNAME Record, Host www, Value the CNAME value.
Remove any URL Redirect or Parking rows for @ and www.

Cloudflare

Sign in, choose the domain, open DNS, then Records.
Edit the A record for @ (shown as your domain name) to the A value. Edit the CNAME for www to the CNAME value.
Set the cloud icon on both rows to DNS only (grey), not proxied, so the certificate can issue.

123-reg

Sign in, open Control Panel, choose the domain, then Manage DNS (Advanced DNS).
Edit the A row with hostname @ to the A value. Edit the CNAME row with hostname www to the CNAME value.
If there is a "Web forwarding" set up, switch it off.

IONOS (1&1)

Sign in, open Domains & SSL, click the domain, then DNS.
Edit the A record for @ to the A value. Edit or add the CNAME for www to the CNAME value.
If IONOS asks whether to disconnect the domain from an IONOS website, say yes.

Bluehost, HostGator, SiteGround and other cPanel hosts

Sign in to the hosting account and open cPanel.
Find Zone Editor (sometimes Advanced DNS Zone Editor) and choose the domain.
Edit the A record for the bare domain to the A value. Edit the CNAME for www to the CNAME value.
Leave the hosting account running for now. Your email may still live there.

Somewhere else, or not sure

Every company has the same two settings under a name like DNS, DNS Management, Zone Editor or Advanced DNS. If you find that page and it looks like a wall of letters, stop there and book ten minutes. You read me the screen, I tell you what to click. I never need your password.

If your current site has forms, bookings or a member login

Pointing the domain at the new site switches off the old one at that address. Pages people use to book, pay, donate or sign in need a home before the switch. Usually we keep them at an address like old.yourbusiness.com and the new site links to them, or we rebuild the form on the new site first.

If this is you, reply to my email with a list of what people actually use on the old site, and we sort it before you touch DNS. Online shops on their own address (Shopify, Create, Square) are unaffected.

How you will know it worked

Within about an hour, typing your domain shows the new site. Occasionally it takes longer, up to a day in the worst case.
The padlock appears in the address bar by itself. If it is missing after an hour, tell me and I switch it on by hand.
Your email keeps arriving as normal. If it does not, something other than the two lines was changed. Tell me straight away and we put it back.

Then reply "done" to my email, or just send the first change you want made to the site.

Do it together, ten minutes Email me a question