Connecting 123-Reg.co.uk domain to Instant Site
You can connect a custom domain purchased from 123-Reg with your Ecwid Instant Site, so that customers can enter your unique URL in their browser and get right to your site.
Once connected, your Ecwid Instant site will open at your domain name, via secure HTTPS connection. You don’t need to separately purchase an SSL certificate as Ecwid provides free SSL for Instant Site users. Visit your 123-Reg account to manage all the domain settings and to pay for the domain name, or renew it.
Step 1. Setting up your domain in the Ecwid admin
To link your domain with your Ecwid Instant Site, you should first specify your custom domain name in your Ecwid admin.
To specify a domain name:
- From your Ecwid admin, go to Website → Domain.
- In the Domain name and site address block, click Connect Existing Domain.
- In the Specify a domain name field enter your custom domain name (without www):
- Click Next Step.
- You will see a popup that contains an IP-address. Copy that IP-address. You will need it to set up your domain in your registrar account.
- Click Save.
Step 2. Setting up your domain in the 123-Reg account
To finish linking your Ecwid Instant Site with your domain, you should make changes in your domain settings and point the domain to your Ecwid site. For that, you need to add an A record and a CNAME record in your domain host account.
To point the domain to your Ecwid site:
- Log into your 123-Reg control panel.
- In the Domain names section, select your domain and click Manage:
- Click Manage DNS:
- Click the Advanced DNS tab. This will display all current DNS records associated with the domain name.
- In the Add section, enter the following details:
- Hostname: @
- Type: A
- Destination IPv4 address: enter the IP address copied from your Ecwid admin.
- Click Add to save this A record.
- Remove other A records for your root domain (@) if you have any.
Make sure to delete other A or AAAA records for your root domain, so they don’t conflict with the A record pointing to your Ecwid Instant Site.
- In the Add new entry section, add the following details for the second record:
- Hostname: www
- Type: CNAME
- Destination CNAME: enter your root domain (e.g. marysonline.com).
- Click Add to save this CNAME record.
That’s it, you’ve connected your 123-Reg domain to your Instant Site — both DNS records have been added:
Now you should wait a bit till the DNS changes propagate. Usually it takes no longer than two hours, but in some cases you might need to wait 24-48 hours till the new DNS records become active. After that, your Instant Site will be available at your own domain when customers enter the corresponding URL in their browser.