This guide walks you through the process of setting up a custom domain for your InkSoft store, allowing you to create a more polished and recognizable online presence. It explains how to connect your domain, configure the necessary settings, and ensure your store is accessible through your branded web address, helping customers find and trust your business more easily.
What does adding a custom domain to your store do to the URL? Taking a look at this example:
The standard Inksoft store url is https://stores.inksoft.com/blue_shirt_printing/shop/home
With a custom domain connected, the first portion of the url will change. A store URL with the domain will update to https://customshirt.com/blue_shirt_printing/shop/home
Here is the overview to get your custom domain connected in your store, broken down into three main steps!
First, point your domain to InkSoft's IP address!
The first thing you will want to do is ensure your domain or subdomain is pointing to the relative InkSoft IP address. Domain changes go through what is called "propagation", which is the delay between updating your domain's DNS records and those changes becoming visible across the entire internet. Propagation changes are usually complete within 24-48 hours, but can take up to 72 hours to fully complete. It's important to complete your DNS changes first, so they have plenty of time to propagate and they can then be connected in the Inksoft store of your choice.
To learn how to point your DNS records to Inksoft, click here!
Please Note: Examples in the linked guide will be from GoDaddy, but the information is, in general, applicable to all Domain Providers.
Second, validate your domain in your Inksoft Store!
Once you have pointed your domain or subdomain, and given the change time to propagate, you can then validate the connection in the store of your choice! The domain or subdomain is connected in the Settings of the Store's Admin section, under Custom Domain & SSL. Please note, only 1 domain or subdomain can be connected in 1 store at a time. Validating the same custom domain or subdomain in multiple sub stores can cause routing issues.
That being said, Inksoft does have a notable feature when the custom domain is applied and validated in the Main store. The custom domain and SSL validated in the main store will be used for all of the sub stores (all store that are not the main store) This can be ideal if you want your store URLs to have a more personalized look.
Once the custom domain is validated and connected, be sure to hit Save in the upper right corner so you can obtain your SSL!
To learn how to validate the custom domain connection in your store, click here!
To learn more about main store features, click here!
Finally, install and enable your complimentary SSL certificate!
You've pointed your domain, it's propagated and validated in the store, so the last step is to obtain and enable the SSL certificate for your custom domain or subdomain! An SSL certificate secures your store by enabling HTTPS, which protects customer data and builds trust during checkout. Inksoft offers complimentary SSL certificates from Lets Encrypt. Let's Encrypt gives people a digital certificate you need in order to enable HTTPS (SSL/TLS) for websites, for free, in the most user-friendly way they can!
Remember that feature of the custom domain on the main store mentioned above? The same goes for the SSL certificate that is obtained for the main store custom domain. Once in place, the SSL acts as an umbrella to other stores that you create in the future, as long as the secondary stores do not have custom domains of their own. Any sub stores under the Main Store's custom domain will automatically show up on the SSL Certificate page for the main store domain. Just make sure to enable any new stores!
To learn how to install and enable the SSL certificate, click here!
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