Set Up A Custom Domain

Posted by scottplan on 1192975608|%e %b %Y|agohover, last edited by Phil Chett on 1237410755|%e %b %Y at %H:%M |agohover

Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up a Custom Domain

Note: Wikidot originally provided for custom domains as a free service. Now you can access this functionality through a pro package.

So I’m really happy with my wikidot site, ABC.wikidot.com¹. But I’d really like it to appear in its own domain: XYZ.com. Although my site will still be located on Wikidot’s servers and it will still be fully available at ABC.wikidot.com, I want my users to think of my site as XYZ.com and see its content there.

First I have to acquire XYZ.com. There are many sites where I can register XYZ for a fee. I have no interest in promoting any one service here, but I decide to go with godaddy.com. So I’ll refer to them for the sake of clarity.

From godaddy, I reserve XYZ.com for a period of years. I also decide to reserve XYZ.org and XYZ.net, (because they’re bound to be worth something someday…)

I receive my godaddy account number by email, and I log into my account.

Now here’s important information. Changes I’m about to make sometimes take awhile to show up on the internet. I really want to test the results of my new settings now, but results can take a long time to take hold. As a complete novice, my lack of faith and patience makes for a very frustrating day… But now I can recreate the experience minus the hassle.

First I want to point XYZ.org and XYZ.net to XYZ.com, so that everything redirects to the main site.

In godaddy’s Domain Control Center (home), I see all three of my new domains.

• I click on XYZ.org to access its details.
• I click on the link under “forwarding”
• I enable forwarding, and I insert the target site: http://XYZ.com
• I select “301 moved permanently”
• I save the changes.
• I make my way back to the Domain Control Center (home) and go through the same steps to redirect XYZ.net.

Now I want to point XYZ.com to ABC.wikidot.com.

• I click “Total DNS Control”, which opens up the control panel for the domain.
• Under A(host), I select “edit”
• I leave the @ under “host”, but I change the IP number under “points to” to Wikidot’s IP: 67.228.37.26
• I save that record.
• Under CNAMES(aliases), I edit the www subdomain so that it points to “wikidot.com”.
• I save that record.

Next I need to tell wikidot about my new XYZ domain.

• I log in to the site manager: ABC.wikidot.com/admin:manage
• I click on the third link in the sidebar: “custom domain”
• In the custom domain field, I insert “XYZ.com”
• In the 301 redirect field, I insert “www.XYZ.com” This way, anyone who types the www subdomain in their web browser will end up at the same place.
• I save changes
• and I wait… and have great faith… Better yet, I go for a walk and am supremely content when I come back to find everything in perfect working order.

XYZ.com now looks and works exactly the same as ABC.wikidot.com. Even better, www.XYZ.com switches gracefully in my browser’s address bar to XYZ.com, as do XYZ.org and XYZ.net and all their subdomain variants.

Pure bliss.
Author

scottplan. Please visit his/her userPage.

Comments

Whane The Whip 1224717118|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Is this still valid? I just checked my godaddy acp and I did not see a "total DNS Control" link.

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Freelance SEO

Re: total DNS Control

scottplan 1225010991|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hey Whane — it's still there:

Whane The Whip 1225373504|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Ah, thanks for that. I was having a hard time finding that link.

I don't have a custom domain link in the admin section!

crazyhappenings 1230071640|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

I can see it in my friend's wiki, but it's missing from mine. I thought i saw that it was a bug and the link disappeared the other day - but now I can't find that post - and I just updated godaddy but not my wiki. Any ideas???

Re: I don't have a custom domain link in the admin section!

Timothy Foster 1230077355|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Custom Domain has become a pro feature. Pro features must be paid for, so if you want custom domain, you must purchase the pro features.

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Timothy Foster — My Site ~ My Blog

Re: I don't have a custom domain link in the admin section!

yaroslav_tenzer 1234435385|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

This is silly, I would pay a tenner a year for the option but not 60dollars !
Custom Domain is the only option which is valuable for persons with a personal wiki (e.g artists) … all the other options are not important !

Re: I don't have a custom domain link in the admin section!

Helmuti_pdorf 1234442559|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

But you are willing to pay a provider for the redirect facility only? That is strange …

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Service is my success. My webtips:www.blender.org, www.zusi.de (Demo-Video)

Wollen Sie Wikidot helfen im deutschen » Handbuch ?

Re: I don't have a custom domain link in the admin section!

crazyhappenings 1231189909|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hmm. That's $60 a year. I only have a one page site! I think I'm going to have to host this wiki elsewhere. Crap!

Re: I don't have a custom domain link in the admin section!

Helmuti_pdorf 1231229465|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

But you are willing to pay a provider for the redirect facility only? That is strange …

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Service is my success. My webtips:www.blender.org, www.zusi.de (Demo-Video)

Wollen Sie Wikidot helfen im deutschen » Handbuch ?

Re: I don't have a custom domain link in the admin section!

crazyhappenings 1236868655|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

No, I paid google $10 to register the domain and they will forward it for free.

Re: I don't have a custom domain link in the admin section!

Phil Chett 1236872597|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

hi Alison
has i understand it there is a hell of a lot of a difference between forwarding a url and custom domain.
So as you only have one page you probably don't need any more than a url redirect.

Custom domain

schokochris 1231497010|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hello!

I tried the custom domain setting as well. Now I have some questions

I registered a domain praemien-teilen24.de at euserv - my wikidot.com domain is www.praemien-teilen.wikidot.com.

In the euserv control panel i can simply make a domain redirect praemien-teilen24.de to www.praemien-teilen.wikidot.com and whenever someone types praemien-teilen24.de in the browser the wiki site will show up - but www.praemien-teilen.wikidot.com will appear in the browser address line.

For me this is awful because i want to be recognized as a top level domain. I hoped that even subpages like www.praemien-teilen.wikidot.com/comdirect would appear like www.praemien-teilen24.de/comdirect in the adress line.

So I figured that if I apply the custom domain setting with a pro account (i am testing it right now), then in my browser would appear www.praemien-teilen24.de instead of www.praemien-teilen.wikidot.com - but although i went through the above tutorial this will not happen …

So just be clear. Do i need to configure the domain redirect at euserv or only the CNAME?

Right now my configuration looks like that

*.praemien-teilen24.de A 67.228.37.26 86400
praemien-teilen24.de A 67.228.37.26 86400
praemien-teilen24.de CNAME wikidot.com 86400
www.praemien-teilen24.de CNAME wikidot.com 86400

Under the admin:manage -> custom domain settting i inserted

custom domain: praemien-teilen24.de
redirect: www.praemien-teilen24.de

Is this all correct? Because it won't work. Will the pages at the end look like www.praemien-teilen24.de/comdirect or still with the wikidot subdomain? Does the site appear in the google search results with praemien-teilen24.de or with www.praemien-teilen.wikidot.com?

Thanks fors your help

last edited on 1231497127|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover by schokochris + show more

Re: Custom domain

Squark 1231503735|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Well, I think that everything is ok, when I type in http://praemien-teilen24.de/ it goes to wikidot.com but the address is still *.de. If I click on some links, I am still at praemien-teilen24.de address, not on *.wikidot.com.

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Wikidot Team
Any problem? Write to me: [e-mail] or [e-mail]
Visit my wiki: http://www.squark.wikidot.com

Re: Custom domain

schokochris 1231505154|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Glad it works for you - and I hope everyone else …. I can't reach http://praemien-teilen24.de/ at all.

So I guess I have to wait until the DNS-Server that is responsible for me is updating?

Re: Custom domain

Phil Chett 1231508524|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

http://praemien-teilen24.de/system:list-all-pages
http://praemien-teilen24.de/
http://praemien-teilen24.de/banken
http://praemien-teilen24.de/versicherungen
and a load of others

are all ok for me in both ie and ff

Re: Custom domain

Squark 1231508867|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

As you said, probably you have to wait for DNS to propagate changes. Both www and w/o www works perfectly. So I think that your problem is soved :)

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Wikidot Team
Any problem? Write to me: [e-mail] or [e-mail]
Visit my wiki: http://www.squark.wikidot.com

nice

cold_blood3d 1236826539|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

thanks for the awesome and easy to understand guide. i got my domain up and running very fast.

last edited on 1236826555|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover by cold_blood3d + show more

Stacey Dyer 1237409240|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Excellent advice! I only have one small problem. In site manager » custom domains, I inserted the following:

Custom Domain: southwestimagebank.org
301 redirects: www.southwestimagebank.org

Waiting until the end of the day, I decided I would test things.

Entered regular domain - www.swib.wikidot.com » works fine.
Then tried - swib.wikidot.com » fine.
Then tried the new domain - southwestimagebank.org » that works fine too.

But when I enter www.southwestimagebank in to my web browser an error message appears saying the link is broken! Tried changing the settings to CD: www.southwestimagebank.org and 301 redirects to southwestimagebank.org but this doesn't work either and now I am unable to make any changes at all.

I know I shouldn't worry about it, but most of my users will undoubtedly assume there is a www. before the website name, don't want them to be disappointed with a broken link!

Am I doing something wrong?

Phil Chett 1237410911|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

this is what i have in my wikidot account.
do you have similar?

last edited on 1237411030|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover by Phil Chett + show more

Stacey Dyer 1237413726|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Yes, I have this:

Custom domain:southwestimagebank.org
Use the custom domain as the only domain for this site (not selected)
301 redirect: www.southwestimagebank.org

Sorry to be a nuisance… although wikidot is all about learning skills though the sharing of ideas eh!

last edited on 1237414535|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover by Stacey Dyer + show more

Re: custom domain

scottplan 1237507196|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

In my DNS control panel, I've got the www CNAME pointed to @ — do you? Maybe that makes a difference. Otherwise I'm stumped.

Stacey Dyer 1237539163|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hi Scottplan,

In my DNS Control panel, I have the following:

A (Host) » Host Name: "@" » Points to IP Address: "67.228.37.28"
Under CNAMES (Aliases) » Alias Name: "wikidot.com" » Points to Host Name: "@"

Should the CNAMES (Aliases) » Alias Name be my NEW website name? with the full www prefix or without? I believe I may have tried this only for an error message to appear.

When I return to the Domain Details Page under the TOTAL DNS (available) the settings appear as:
ARecord @ 67.228.37.26
CNAME wikidot.com @

By the way, I have not forwarded the domain as I only have one "southwestimagebank.org" which I link to wikidot via site manager etc. etc.

MUCH appreciation for any assistance you can offer! Thanks.

Re: custom domain

scottplan 1237643603|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Best I can offer is to make everything like mine, because… mine works, and I don't understand this stuff enough to be really creative about it. This how-to assumes you've left the control panel pretty much as you found it when you registered the domain.

Under CNAMES (Aliases) » Alias Name: "wikidot.com" » Points to Host Name: "@"

That sounds creative. I'd suggest deleting that alias.

Do you have a www alias in your DNS control panel? If not, then edit the "wikidot.com" alias to say "www", or create a new www alias. The www alias should point to "@".

google rank

cold_blood3d 1238297416|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Be aware that your site will likely take a massive plunge in google hits when you replace your wikidot domain with a custom domain. For me, this meant going from ~ 1400 google referrals per day to ~ 200 right after I made the switch. I assume your ranking must be re-built from scratch. Is this true?

Re: google rank

scottplan 1238386059|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

It's not clear to me. Ours has had this dual address for some time (wikidot subdomain and custom domain), and I just recently flipped the switch to direct everything to the custom domain. It works really well, but there may have been some google impact.

Not sure how I'd measure it. Most of our traffic is email driven, self-directed, and word of mouth.

Do educational sites get the choice of custom domains?

Claudia Bianca 1238345201|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Hi,

Very new here, but I've read all the posts about custom domains. We have applied for educational status, and we do want to use a custom domain name.

If educational sites do not qualify for custom domain names, we will switch to a pro plan. Does anyone know about the ed sites and domains?

Thanks,
Claudia

Re: Do educational sites get the choice of custom domains?

scottplan 1238386597|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

I dunno. Ask Squark.

Another way of doing it

hummy 1244374046|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

I've done it freely through a redirect at my domain registrant (godaddy.com).

Here's the document with instructions.

Cheers.
Mario.

last edited on 1244374120|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover by hummy + show more

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Footnotes

1. names and domains have been changed to protect the innocent