Connecting Names.co.uk domain to Instant Site

You can connect a custom domain purchased from Names.co.uk 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 Names.co.uk 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:

1. From your Ecwid admin, go to Website → Domain.
2. In the Domain name and site address block, click Connect Existing Domain.
3. In the Specify a domain name field enter your custom domain name (without www):
   

   

4. Click Next Step.
5. 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.
6. Click Save.

Step 2. Setting up your domain in the Names.co.uk 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:

1. Log in to your account with Names.co.uk.
2. Click on Control Panel.
3. Navigate to Services → Domain and services (or Services → DNS Administration).
4. Click on your domain.
5. Scroll down and click DNS Settings.
   If this is the first time you’ve been to this page, you may see a “Activate Advanced DNS” box which will require you to tick the confirmation tickbox and click Activate.
6. Scroll to the A, CNAME records etc section.
7. Click +Add records or use an existing record which has a Type of A and where the Host name is blank).
8. Add the A record with the following field values:
   Host name: leave it empty
   Type: A
   Result: specify the IP address that you’ve copied earlier from your Ecwid admin.
   

   

   Make sure to delete other A or AAAA records for your root domain as they might conflict with this new A record pointing to your Ecwid site.
9. Click +Add records again and add CNAME record with the following field values:
   Host name: www
   Type: CNAME
   Result: specify your custom domain (e.g. ecstore.co.uk)
   

   

10. Scroll to the bottom and click Save.

That’s it. Now please wait a bit till the changes take effect. It usually takes no longer than two hours for the DNS changes to propagate, but can take up to 24-48 hours in some cases. After that, your Instant Site will be available at your own domain when customers enter the corresponding URL in their browser.