How do I set up my own custom domain?

Direct your own custom domain name to your SilkStart site. By default, you will be provided with a SilkStart URL address like http://yoursite.silkstart.com. If you have an existing custom domain, you can direct this to SilkStart. 

SilkStart offers free SSL certificates for all clients through Let's Encrypt. If you would like your custom domain to be used as your main domain (ie. not to be redirected to your SilkStart domain) you will need to have an SSL certificate. Please notify us when setting up your custom domain if you like to use an SSL certificate provided SilkStart.

Learn more about SSL and SilkStart here.

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SilkStart's support team can help you configure either full domains (eg www.yourdomain.org) or sub-domains (eg. members.yourdomain.org). This allows you to whitelabel your SilkStart tools, even if you're integrating SilkStart into an existing website.

In our examples, we will use yourdomain.org as a placeholder for your custom domain, and yoursite.silkstart.com as a placeholder for your SilkStart account's address.

1. Log into your domain registrar's account, and find your DNS configuration settings. Take a screen capture, or copy down the settings and save them in a safe place. If you don't have a lot of experience with managing your DNS records, it can be helpful to have a backup copy of some working settings to fall back on.
2. If you are pointing your full domain at the SilkStart site (eg. your new SilkStart site will be accessed via www.yourdomain.org)
   
   1. Set an A record for @ to point to the IP address 54.85.134.6 – What this will do is take any requests to yourdomain.org and forward them to www.yourdomain.org.
   2. Next set up a CNAME record for www, and set the alias to your SilkStart site's address, with .hosted added before .silkstart.com - eg. yoursite.hosted.silkstart.com.
   3. Create an SPF record with the following text: v=spf1 include:_spf.silkstart.com ~all OR if you already have SPF records, add the following at the end of your existing record: include:_spf.silkstart.com ~all
      
      SPF records are commonly added as TXT records. If you are not using a subdomain, set your TXT record's host name to @. For specific instructions pertaining to your domain registrar, see this list: https://www.mail-tester.com/spf/
      
      
   4. Contact SilkStart's support team when these changes are complete and we will complete the set up of your domain. Please let us know at this time if you will need an SSL certificate. SilkStart offers SSL certificates for free and is required to if you don't want your custom domain to be redirected to your SilkStart domain.
   5. (Optional) If your domain registrar supports ALIAS or ANAME records you can have your website reachable at yourdomain.org by creating an ALIAS/ANAME record that is set to yoursite.hosted.silkstart.com. 
3. If you are pointing a sub-domain at the SilkStart site
   (eg. your new SilkStart site will be accessed via members.yourdomain.org rather than yourdomain.org)
   1. Create a sub-domain using the address you want for the SilkStart site - eg. members.yourdomain.org.
   2. Set up a CNAME record for your sub-domain, and set the alias to your SilkStart site's address, with .hosted added before .silkstart.com - eg. yoursite.hosted.silkstart.com.
   3. Create an SPF record with the following text: v=spf1 include:_spf.silkstart.com ~all OR if you already have SPF records, add the following at the end of your existing record: include:_spf.silkstart.com ~all 
      
      SPF records are commonly added as TXT records. For specific instructions pertaining to your domain registrar, see this list: https://www.mail-tester.com/spf/ 
      
      
   4. Contact SilkStart's support team when these changes are complete and we will complete the set up of your domain. Please let us know at this time if you will need an SSL certificate. SilkStart offers SSL certificates for free and is required to if you don't want your custom domain to be redirected to your SilkStart domain.

If you need assistance in configuring your DNS records, you'll need to reach out to your Domain provider's support team, otherwise if you require assistance in contacting them, you can contact us - For troubleshooting tips, see this article.

When should I make the changes to my DNS records?

We suggest that you complete the DNS record setup before we configure your SilkStart site to accept traffic from your custom domain. Otherwise, it can be difficult to navigate within SilkStart without the changes completed through your domain registrar first.

Further reading: What is SPF and how does it affect my emails?