Connecting your own domain

Module 5: Going live and your own domain · Reading time: 10 minutes

Learning objective: After this lesson you can choose how to get an AI Builder package with your own domain, publish your site on it, check whether the DNS points to your package and explain how https and the waiting times work.

Key concepts: AI Builder package, Add a package, Switch package, Put on your own domain, transferring a domain, nameservers, A record, www, Let's Encrypt, https redirect

Why your own domain

An address like schildersbedrijf-example-123.weboke.site is fine for showing what you have made, but not for a business. Customers remember example.com more easily, your email can use the same domain (lesson 5.3), and only on your own domain will you appear in Google. The domain stays yours, even if you later move on to a different site builder.

Your own domain in the AI Builder requires an AI Builder package. Technically, this is a web hosting package for one website on one domain, with email on your domain, 20 GB of storage for site and mail, a certificate for https and 50 edits per month (100 in the first month). On your invoice and in My Products the package may be called "AI Bouwer"; that is the same thing. The hosting is included in the package; you pay for the domain name itself (registration or transfer) separately. The current prices are on the product page, which you will find under Further reading. For a second website on its own domain, you take a second package.

Three routes to a package with your domain

1. Add a package

You order a new package from within the builder, for example with the Get the package button in the Go live window or via the block with your packages on the start screen.

The window is called Add a package. Under For which domain? you choose:

• A domain I already have: an active domain that is registered in your name at WebOké and is not yet in a hosting package;
• Register a new domain: you type the name, click Check and see whether it is available and what it costs;
• Transfer my domain: your domain is with another provider and is moving to WebOké. You enter a transfer code straight away or send it later; you get it from your current provider.

Then under Term you choose Per month or Per year and click Order. You receive an invoice (Open invoice); once it is paid, the package is ready and a new domain is registered or the transfer is started.

2. Switching an existing hosting package

If you already have a web hosting package with one domain at WebOké, for example because your old site runs on it, you do not take a second package but switch that package instead. The Go live window then shows Switch package, and the start screen shows Switch to AI Builder. Your domain and your email addresses keep working as normal. Your current website stays online until you publish a site from the AI Builder on that domain.

Pay attention to what the builder tells you here: if a website is already running on the domain, it will be overwritten as soon as you publish. Make a backup first if you want to keep the old site. If your domain is in a package with several domains, switching is not possible; you first take the domain out of that package.

3. Put on your own domain

If your free site is already online, you will see Put on your own domain next to that site in My websites. If you have a package with a free slot, the builder opens with the Go live window already open. If you do not, the order window from route 1 opens.

Publishing on your domain

Once the package is active, choose the row with your domain in the Go live window ("Own domain, in" followed by the name of your package) and click Go live. The builder places your site as ordinary HTML files in the web folder of the domain (public_html).

You will notice two things:

• If there is already a website on the domain, the builder first asks: "There is already a website on example.com. Do you want to replace it with this site? The existing files will be overwritten." It only continues after you confirm.
• If your site was on the free address first, the window shows beforehand: "Please note: your site is currently at ... As soon as it is on your own domain, we will remove that address; one website counts once." After publishing you will read "Your site has moved to example.com". This frees up your free slot.

The DNS: does your domain point to your package?

Publishing puts the files on the server. Whether visitors actually end up there depends on the DNS of your domain: the phone book that looks up the server's address for example.com. You need two concepts:

• Nameservers determine who manages the DNS of your domain. If they are set to WebOké's nameservers, WebOké manages the records.
• An A record links a name to the IP address of a server. A website needs two: one for example.com itself (the bare name) and one for www.example.com.

Which situation applies to you?

Your domain is at WebOké and uses our nameservers. Then you do not need to do anything. When the package is created, the records for your domain and for www are automatically pointed to your package's server. The same applies after a transfer to WebOké with our nameservers.

Your DNS is somewhere else, for example at Cloudflare or at your old provider because you want to keep the nameservers as they are. Then you add two A records there yourself, pointing to the IP address of your package: one for the bare name (@) and one for www. The IP address is in your package's welcome email. Alternatively, set the domain's nameservers to WebOké's; WebOké then takes care of the records. If your old provider also has an AAAA record (the IPv6 address of the old server), remove or change it. Otherwise some visitors will still end up on the old site.

The painter at Schildersbedrijf Example had example.com with another provider, along with his email. He chose Transfer my domain with the transfer code. After the transfer, the domain used WebOké's nameservers and the records for site and mail were set correctly automatically.

The DNS course explains this in much more detail: A records, www, nameservers and what happens during a transfer. See Further reading.

Https and the right redirect

A site on your own domain gets a free Let's Encrypt certificate, so it can be reached via https:// with a padlock. This happens automatically. It is usually active within a few hours, sometimes only after a day. The certificate can only be requested once the DNS of your domain points to your package's server; until then you will see a security warning. If you do not want to wait, request it yourself in DirectAdmin under SSL/TLS certificates (the DirectAdmin button is next to your site in My websites).

After that, you want every visitor to end up on one address. You set this up in DirectAdmin, for your domain:

• Force SSL with https redirect: anyone who types http:// is automatically sent to https://;
• Force redirect: choose whether visitors always go to the address with or without www.

In your sitemap and in the reference to the main version of each page (the canonical), the builder uses the address without www, for example https://example.com/. So preferably choose "without www" as well. Use only one redirect; two settings that contradict each other result in the message "too many redirects".

How long does it take?

• A nameserver or DNS change is visible everywhere after about 12 hours on average, and after 24 hours at most. This is because providers remember answers for a while.
• The certificate only follows once the DNS is correct: allow a few hours, sometimes a day.
• A transfer depends on your old provider and the transfer code, and usually takes the longest.

Can you already see your new site while your neighbour still sees the old one? Then it is almost always this waiting time.

In the builder: how to do it

1. In the Go live window, click Get the package (or Switch package), or click Put on your own domain in My websites.
2. Under For which domain? choose your route, click Check for a new domain or one to transfer, choose the Term and click Order.
3. Pay the invoice and wait until the package is active.
4. Open the builder, click Go live, choose your domain and click Go live.
5. If your DNS is elsewhere, point the A records for the bare name and www to the IP address of your package.
6. After a few hours, check https://example.com and https://www.example.com, and set up the https redirect and your www choice in DirectAdmin.

Summary

• Your own domain in the AI Builder requires an AI Builder package: one website on one domain, with email and https.
• You get one through Add a package (a domain you already have, registering a new one or transferring), through Switch package, or via Put on your own domain.
• Publishing on a domain with an existing site overwrites it after you confirm; make a backup first.
• If the DNS is at WebOké, your domain automatically points to your package; if it is elsewhere, you add A records for the bare name and www.
• Https arrives automatically once the DNS is correct; think in hours, not minutes.

Quiz

Exercise

Exercise A5.2: Your domain points to your site. Enter the web address of your AI Builder site on your own domain, for example https://example.com. The program visits your site the way a visitor would and checks:

• that it is your own domain and not an address on weboke.site;
• that your site can be reached via https with a valid certificate, both on the bare name and on www;
• that the AI Builder is recognised in the page;
• that one form (with or without www) redirects to the other, so that there is one main address.

Green means: everything is fine. Orange means: it works, but something could be better, for example no redirect between www and the bare name. Red means: the certificate or the DNS is not right yet. In that case, wait a few hours and try again.

Further reading

• Free DNS course 3.1: A and AAAA records
• Free DNS course 7.3: Connecting an online shop or site builder
• Use your own or external nameservers (such as Cloudflare) for your domain
• How long does a nameserver or DNS change take, and what if you don't see it?
• Activating and renewing an SSL certificate and troubleshooting issues