In order for a site to be published online, it needs to have an address. A domain is a URL, the virtual address of a website. For example, mystore.com. When customers visit your site, your URL appears in their browser's address bar.
When you register an Ecwid account, you get a site with your store – Instant Site (former Starter Site). It has a “free domain” or URL in the form of https://store12345.ecwid.com. You can change the name store12345 anytime, as well as to buy a custom domain or use a custom domain that you already own. Having your own domain improves your SEO, which helps you get better placement in search engine results.
Editing Instant Site subdomain
You can use the Ecwid subdomain for the Instant Site for free. By default, your URL is something like https://store12345.ecwid.com, where ‘12345’ is the ID of your store.
You can change the “store12345” part and use your store name instead, so it looks like https://mysuperstore.ecwid.com. That way, it reflects your brand, and your customers can easily find it in search results.
But, if you added an Ecwid store to your own site, you have to additionally secure the site with an SSL certificate.
To change the Instant Site URL:
- Go to your Ecwid Control Panel → Website.
- Click Change URL in the Instant Site address section:
- Type in your desired name in the Use our subdomain field:
- Click Save.
Connecting your own domain
If you already own a domain name, you can use it for your Instant Site. If you don't have one, you can buy it from third-party companies that sell domain names. Check where you can buy a domain name.
To connect your domain to the Ecwid Instant Site, you will need to make changes both in your Ecwid Control Panel and in your domain registrar admin area.
In the Ecwid Control Panel
- Go to your Ecwid Control Panel → Website.
- Scroll down to Change Your Instant Site Address.
- Click Change URL:
- In the pop-up, put the cursor in the Use your own domain name field and enter your domain name there:
- Copy the IP address that you see under the Use your own domain name field, in step 2. You will see it after you place the cursor in this field.
- Save the changes.
In the domain registrar admin area
- Log in to your domain registrar's control panel. If you do not know who your domain registrar is, you can check it out in online domain checkers like whois.domaintools.com
- Create an A-record for your domain (your-domain.com) and point it to the IP-address you copied from your Ecwid Control Panel.
- To make your Instant Site available at www.your-domain.com as well, create a CNAME record for your domain example.com and specify www as a name/alias for it. You will need to add the following to DNS record:
www IN CNAME @
or
www IN CNAME your-domain.com - If you are not sure how to make these changes, contact your domain registrar support for more detailed instructions.
- Wait for the changes to propagate. It can take from 2 to 48 hours for domain changes to propagate.
Once the setup is complete and the changes are propagated, your Instant Site will become available at the specified addresses via a secure HTTPS connection encrypted by an SSL certificate from Ecwid.
Where to buy a domain
If you want your site to run on your own domain, you should purchase a domain from a domain registrar. Use any domain name registrar that you are comfortable with. Ecwid doesn't sell nor host domain names.
Some of the most popular domain registrars are:
General steps of buying a domain:
- Go to the domain name registrar you chose.
- Type in your domain into the search box and click Search Domain.
- Select the extension you need (for example .com or .biz) and add the domain to your cart.
- Complete the registration process and make the payment.
- The domain is now yours.
Related articles
Connecting your GoDaddy domain to Ecwid Instant Site
Instant Site SEO settings
Understanding HTTPS and SSL
