Ready to go live with your new website?

Now that your new website is completed, and you're ready to make it go live for the world to see, you may not be sure what needs to be done for it to happen. This is where you'll find out how easy it is to go live with your new website.

Making your site live for the world requires only the 3 simple steps as follows:

1) YOU publishing your site (just hit the blue PUBLISH or REPUBLISH button at the top right of your site)
2) YOU or WE set up your domain in in your website settings
3) YOU set up your domain through your domain host in your DNS settings (We can help you with this step).

1) Publishing your website

For your site to show up at any domain, we or you will first need to publish it. After we publish it the first time, you'll be able to re-publish the website after any changes that you make, in order for any future changes/updates to also go live. In your editor, locate and click on the “Publish” or "REPUBLISH" button at the top right, and that's it. The system then pushes all of your new changes and updates live for the world to see.

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2) Setting up your domain in website SETTINGS

After a site is published for the very first time, we are prompted to select from one of three domain options.

Default Domain: This is a domain hosted by us which is usually not the best domain name for your website, since our domains may not accurately reflect your website or business name.

The URL will be a subdomain of civicsites.com, with your custom naming. You may use the original default domain (eg: business.civicsites.com) if you wish, and the site can still be seen and accessed anywhere in the world by any device.

You may also choose to use a domain that you already own, such as 'mybusiness.com', in which case it will be entered into the site settings, and will become the new primary domain name used to access your new website.

3) Setting up your Domain in your Domain Host

After setting up your domain in the settings area of your website, YOU will need to set up your DNS settings through your domain host. In order to do this, you (or they) will need administrative access to the domain which you intend to use. In your domain host settings you will need to create 2 A Records and 1 CNAME record.

Note: Some domain hosts will not allow you to set up multiple records for the @ domain. If this is the case for your domain host, then simply add one record for the @ domain and include both IP’s.

Here is an example from Google Domains, in which they use one A record with two IP's:

Here is an example from Godaddy, in which they use two A records (one for each IP):

The Values you or your domain name host need to add for the CNAME and A Records are below:

CNAME

Host: www

Points to: s.multiscreensite.com

A Records
First A Record:

Host/Alias: @

Target/Destination: 35.172.94.1

Second A Record:

Host/Alias: @

Target/Destination: 100.24.208.97

“I can’t figure out how to create the CNAME and A Records in my Domain Host”

Most domain hosts have instructions on creating CNAME records and A records in their help center.

If you cannot find this information, you can ask your domain host the following:

"How can I create a CNAME record and two A records for my domain with the values below:”

CNAME

Host: www
Points to: s.multiscreensite.com

A Records
First A Record:
Host/Alias: @
Target/Destination: 35.172.94.1

Second A Record:
Host/Alias: @
Target/Destination: 100.24.208.97

“I've followed these steps but my site still is not live!”

CNAME/A records can take up to 48 hours to propagate, so your website will not usually show up immediately. If your site still isn't showing up after 48 hours, something is probably wrong. To figure out what's going on:

Go to https://www.whatsmydns.net/ and select either “CNAME” or “A” from the dropdown menu.

1. For CNAME, you will fill out the field using your whole URL i.e www.example.com

2. For the A Record, you will fill out the field using the naked domain (without www) i.e example.com.

3. If you see red X's, or do not see the correct host to the right of each location, this means that either the CNAME record/A record was not set up correctly or the domain host is not propagating.

4. Check that the CNAME/A record is set up with the correct values as listed above.

5. If everything is set up correctly and you've waited 48 hours, but your site is not showing, please contact your domain host for more information.

6.If you see green check marks and the correct host name, your CNAME/A record has been set up successfully.

Getting error of "Your domain is not set up correctly"

This error means either that:

Your domain is not set up and/or propagated appropriately.

To resolve this, please make sure you've followed the steps in this article and wait up to 24 hours.

We're expecting a different domain name.
To resolve this, make sure that the site URL in this interface has a www before it.

Getting error of "Domain already in use"

This error means that another site in our system is using this domain. To resolve this, if another site in your account uses this domain, go edit that site and change its assigned domain, if you have access to that site. If no other sites in your account use this domain, please:

Login to your domain host and create a TXT record with the name value 'domainverification' and have its text value be 'proofofdomainXX-XX-XX' (the XX-XX-XX should be today's date). This will demonstrate that the domain's owner (you) is requesting the change.

Contact our support team at support@campuscontact.com to explain the problem so that we can free up the domain for your use.

"I still just can't figure it out?

Our support team is available 8:00am to 6:00pm CST, 5 days a week for any questions. We'll help you get it figured out, even if we have to communicate directly with your domain support company, like AT&T or anyone else.

You can also click on the support link of this website and submit a trouble ticket, or click the bottom left icon to chat with us about the issues. We'll get you through it!

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