Connect a custom domain
Serve your host site on your own domain, and point your root domain at it.
Use your own web address for your Eventship host site, like www.yourbrand.com instead of yourbrand.eventship.com. You set this up from your host settings under Website, then Domain. This guide covers the records to add, how to point your root domain at your site, and how to avoid the one mistake that breaks things.
How it works
Eventship serves your site on a subdomain, usually www.yourbrand.com. You connect it by adding a few DNS records wherever your domain's DNS lives (your registrar, such as GoDaddy, Wix, Squarespace, or Cloudflare). Once the records are in place, Eventship issues an SSL certificate for you automatically and your site goes live on your domain.
If you enter a root domain like yourbrand.com, Eventship uses www.yourbrand.com for you. Root domains (also called "apex" domains) cannot be served directly, so www is the address your site lives on. You can still send visitors who type the bare yourbrand.com to www with a redirect, covered in Step 2.
Step 1: Add the records shown on your Domain tab
Open host settings, go to Website, then Domain, and enter your domain. Eventship shows you the exact records to add. There are usually three:
- A CNAME for the host shown on the tab, usually
www, pointing tocname.eventship.com. This routes your site to us. - A TXT record (starting with
_cf-custom-hostname) that proves you own the domain. - A second CNAME (starting with
_acme-challenge) that lets us issue and auto-renew your SSL certificate.
Always use the host name exactly as the Domain tab shows it. It is usually www, but if you connected a different subdomain, such as events.yourbrand.com, the records use that name instead.
Copy each value exactly as shown, because the TXT and certificate values are unique to your domain. Add them in your registrar's DNS settings, then come back and click Check DNS. Updates can take a few minutes to a few hours to take effect.
If your DNS is on Cloudflare, set every record above to DNS only (the grey cloud), not proxied (the orange cloud). A proxied record hides its real value from our checks, and your certificate will never finish issuing.
Important: only remove records at the exact name you are adding
If your registrar warns about a conflict, only remove or replace the record at the exact host name you are setting up, for example www. A single name can hold a CNAME or an A record, not both, so an old www record has to be removed for the new one to work.
Do not delete records at other names. In particular:
- Leave your root domain (shown as
@) records alone, unless you are intentionally setting up the redirect in Step 2. They may point your bare domain to another website or service. - Never touch your email records. That means
MXrecords andTXTrecords like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Removing these stops your email from working.
When in doubt, change only the one www record and leave everything else as it is.
Step 2 (optional): send your root domain to www
So that someone who types yourbrand.com without the www still reaches your site, add a redirect from the root to www. Where you do this depends on your registrar:
- GoDaddy: use Domain Forwarding to forward
yourbrand.comtohttps://www.yourbrand.comas a permanent (301) redirect. Leave yourwwwCNAME as it is. - Cloudflare: add a Redirect Rule sending
yourbrand.comtohttps://www.yourbrand.com. Cloudflare also needs a proxied placeholder record at the root so the rule can run. - Wix: add an A record at the root pointing to
185.230.63.107. That is Wix's own address, not an Eventship one. It lets Wix's built-in redirect send your root domain towww, which is where your Eventship site lives. Keep yourwwwrecord pointing to Eventship. Your domain needs to be connected to a Wix site for this to work, because that is what gives your root domain its SSL certificate. - Squarespace, Porkbun, and others: look for "domain forwarding" or "URL redirect" and forward the root to
https://www.yourbrand.com.
This step is optional. Your site works on www either way. The redirect only changes what happens when someone leaves off the www.
Troubleshooting
- Stuck on issuing the certificate and your DNS is on Cloudflare: this is the most common cause. Open the
_acme-challengerecord and switch it from proxied (orange cloud) to DNS only (grey cloud). While it is proxied, Cloudflare hides the record's real value, so the certificate check never sees it and never completes. Do the same for yourwwwrecord. - Still shows pending after a while: DNS changes take time to spread. Click Check DNS again, and double-check that each record matches what the Domain tab shows, character for character.
- A conflict warning: an old A record may be sitting at the same host name you are connecting. Remove it, keeping only the CNAME to
cname.eventship.com. - The bare domain does not load: that is your root domain. Set up the redirect in Step 2, or simply share the
wwwaddress. - You do not see a Domain tab: custom domains may not be included on your current plan. Email [email protected] and we will help.
Questions?
Email [email protected] and our team will help you get connected.
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