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Connecting your domain

Your domain is your web address: mystudio.com rather than a Focal link. If Focal built your site for you, we connect this at launch and you don’t need to touch it. This article is for changing it later, or doing it yourself.

Before you start

Focal doesn’t sell domains. You buy yours from a registrar, such as GoDaddy or Squarespace, and then point it at Focal. If you don’t have one yet, buy it first.

A domain usually costs about $12 to $18 a year.

Plans

Connecting your own domain is included on every service plan: Website, Core, and All You Need. You’ll need an active plan to connect it.

Compare service plans

Step 1: Add your domain

  1. Select WEBSITE > Domains in the left menu.
  2. Under Add your domain, choose Yes, I have a domain and click Next.
  3. Enter your domain starting with www, such as www.mystudio.com, and click Save changes.

Step 2: Configure your DNS records

This part happens at your registrar, not in Focal.

Note

DNS stands for Domain Name System. Think of it as the internet’s phone book: it turns a domain name people can read, like mystudio.com, into the string of numbers computers use to find a website, called an IP address.

Connecting your domain means changing a few of those records at your registrar, so your domain sends visitors to your Focal site.

  1. Log in to wherever you bought your domain.
  2. Find the DNS settings.
  3. Create the three records below.
DNS records to add at your registrar
Host nameTypeTTLData
@ or leave blankA360035.223.182.163
wwwCNAME3600customer.site.bookfocal.com
bookingCNAME3600customer.bookfocal.com

Your Domains screen shows the same records under DNS records. If they ever differ from this table, use the ones in your Domains screen.

Every registrar lays out its DNS settings differently. For step-by-step help, see GoDaddy’s help page, Manage DNS records (opens in a new tab), or Squarespace’s, Edit your domain’s DNS records (opens in a new tab).

Tip

Enter each value in the Data column exactly as it appears, with nothing added. The booking record, for example, points at customer.bookfocal.com, not at an address with your own name in it. For TTL, use 3600, 5m, or Default.
What each record does
  • The A record points your bare domain at Focal’s servers.
  • The www CNAME makes the www version of your address work.
  • The booking CNAME is what makes your client booking portal links work.

Add all three. Skipping the booking record is the usual reason portal links fail while the rest of the site is fine.

Step 3: Check the connection

Back in Domains, click Check connection. Once it works, Your site address shows Connected, and View live site opens your site at its new address.

If it shows Not answering yet, give it up to 30 minutes and check again. DNS changes are usually that quick, but they can take up to 48 hours to spread across the internet.

Troubleshooting

If your old site still shows

Your browser remembers the site your domain used to point at. That’s a local cache, not a problem with your new site.

Open your domain in a private or incognito window. If your Focal site appears there, the change worked and your normal browser will catch up on its own.

Related guides

Still need help?

DNS is the fiddliest part of launching a website, and it’s entirely reasonable to want a hand. If you get stuck, email contact@bookfocal.com.