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08 / Setup guide

Point your domain at your new website.

Two records at GoDaddy (or wherever your domain lives), or invite us and we do it. Your email keeps working.

How long

5 minutes

Who does this

Whoever can sign in to the account where the domain was bought: usually GoDaddy, sometimes Namecheap, Squarespace, Wix or Google.

Why we ask

Your domain is the address; your new website is the house. Two signposts (DNS records) tell the internet the address now points at the new house. Nothing else changes: your email, your old site's login and the domain itself all stay exactly where they are.

Have ready

  • The login for the account where your domain lives
  • The two values from your portal's Your new website page (an A record and a CNAME record)

Easiest: invite us to do it (GoDaddy)

GoDaddy lets you give another person access to your domains only: no password sharing, nothing to do with your card, and you can remove us any time.

  1. Sign in at godaddy.com. Click your name in the top-right corner, then Account Settings.

    godaddy.com → your name → Account Settings

  2. Click Delegate Access in the left menu, then Invite to Access.

  3. Enter the name Unifictional and the email unifictional@gmail.com.

  4. Under access level choose Domains Only (sometimes shown as Products & Domains: pick the one that does not include purchases).

    Domains Only lets us change the signposts. It cannot buy anything, see your card, or touch your email.

  5. Click Invite. Then in your portal, tap “I've sent the invite”. We add the two records within a business day, usually within the hour.

Do it yourself at GoDaddy (5 minutes)

  1. Sign in at godaddy.com, click your name, then My Products.

    godaddy.com → your name → My Products

  2. Find the domain and click DNS (or the three dots → Manage DNS).

  3. Find the A record whose Name is @ and click the pencil to edit it. Set Value to the A value from your portal (it looks like 76.76.21.21). Save.

    If there is no A record for @, click Add New Record: Type A, Name @, Value from the portal, TTL default.

  4. Find the CNAME record whose Name is www and edit it. Set Value to the CNAME value from your portal (it looks like cname.vercel-dns.com). Save.

    No www record? Add New Record: Type CNAME, Name www, Value from the portal.

  5. Leave every other record alone, especially MX and TXT: those are your email.

  6. If the domain had Forwarding switched on (Domain → Forwarding), turn it off, or GoDaddy keeps sending visitors to the old place.

  7. Back in your portal tap “Check now”. It usually says Live within a few minutes; the rest of the internet catches up within a few hours.

Other places your domain might live

  1. Namecheap: Domain List → Manage → Advanced DNS. Edit the A Record for @ and the CNAME Record for www to the values from your portal.

  2. Squarespace Domains (also where Google Domains moved): Domains → your domain → DNS → DNS settings → Custom records. Set the A record for @ and the CNAME for www.

  3. Wix: Domains → your domain → Advanced → Edit DNS. Same two records.

  4. Cloudflare: DNS → Records. Set the A record for @ and the CNAME for www, and switch the orange cloud to DNS only for both.

  5. Not sure where the domain lives? Reply to any of our emails with the domain and we'll look it up for you.

How you'll know it worked

Your portal's Your new website page shows the domain as Live, and typing your address into a browser shows the new site. If it still shows the old one after a few hours, clear the browser's cache or try your phone on cellular data.

Questions people ask

Will my email stop working?
No. Email uses different records (MX and TXT) and we never touch those. The two records we change only affect where the website lives.
Do I lose my domain?
No. It stays in your account, in your name, and you keep paying for it where you always have. We only change where it points.
What happens to my old website?
It stays wherever it was, it just stops being the one people see. Cancel only the old website plan (not the domain, not the email) whenever you're happy with the new site.
Can you move the domain to you instead?
Yes, if you'd rather we handle everything, including renewals. Ask from your portal: it takes 5 to 7 days and the domain stays in your name.

Rather not do it yourself?

Send us a note and we'll do it together over the phone. It takes five minutes and you won't have to find a single button.

Do it with me

Stuck on any step? Email unifictional@gmail.com or reply to the message we sent you, and we'll do it with you on a call.