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How to Connect Your Domain From Squarespace to Showit
How to Connect Your Domain From Squarespace to Showit

A step-by-step guide on setting your DNS with Squarespace to get your site live

Jeff Willems avatar
Written by Jeff Willems
Updated this week

These are the steps for how to connect your domain to your Showit site if you are using Squarespace as your domain registrar.

This article will explain:

  • How to automatically configure your DNS

  • How to find your DNS records inside of Squarespace for manual configuration

  • Where to find the correct DNS values in your Showit account

  • How to set DNS records in Squarespace

  • How to troubleshoot nameserver records - if necessary

  • The next steps to take once your DNS have been set

If you need to add or migrate a blog to your Showit site, you can find out how to do that here:

⚠️ If you are wanting to migrate a blog you cannot switch your DNS records until our Showit blog team has finished migrating your blog.

If you do switch your DNS records before your blog is migrated, our blog team will be unable to migrate your blog. Once the migration is complete, our team will message you and give you the necessary DNS records.

Automatically Configure Your DNS Records


1) Connect Your Domain

To configure your DNS records, you will first need to first make sure that you have connected your domain to your Showit site. You can do so by clicking on the Connect Your Domain option in the top left corner of the Design App.

Once you have done this, you can follow the prompts there to set your domain for your Showit site. This process will differ depending on whether or not you have a blog with your Showit subscription.

a) Connecting Your Domain with a Blog

If you have a Showit subscription that includes a blog, follow the prompts until you receive the Success message. You will then need to request a blog setup or migration. Click on the blue button that says Proceed to Blog Setup.

Once you have done this, you will be prompted to request a new blog setup or migrate an already existing blog to your Showit site.

Note: You must have an Advanced Blog Subscription to migrate an existing blog to your Showit site.

If you are requesting a new blog setup or migrating an existing blog, our blog team will do the heavy lifting for you! It will take some time for our blog team to finish the setup or migration, but once they have finished with your blog you will receive an email with follow up steps. You can find more information on the next steps in these articles below:

Once you have heard back from our blog team and your blog setup or migration has been completed, you will be ready to move on to Configure Your DNS!

b) Connecting Your Domain without a Blog

If your Showit subscription does not include a blog, follow the prompts until you receive the Success message. Once you are here, click the blue Configure DNS Settings button to go to your Account App.

2) Configure DNS

On this Domain Setup screen, click on the blue button that says Configure DNS Settings. This will take you to your account where you will see an option to Configure DNS.

Note: If you do not see a Configure DNS button in your account, then your domain registrar is likely not supported by Entri. If this is the case, you will need to follow these steps to manually set your DNS records.

3) Verify Your Domain Registrar

Click on the Configure DNS button and you will see a pop-up that will walk you through automatically configuring your DNS records.

Choose to Continue and Entri will analyze your domain. This process should automatically identify your domain registrar and prompt you to sign in. If it doesn't, you will need to select your provider, or the domain registrar that you have purchased your domain name from.

Once your domain has been identified, you will be prompted to sign in to your domain registrar. You may be prompted to complete 2 factor authentication depending on your registrar.

Note: You will need to use your log in credentials associated with your domain registrar, not your Showit account.

4) Update Your Records

Once you have verified your domain registrar you will see a list of records that need to be updated so that your domain will connect to your Showit site. Simply click the blue button at the bottom to continue, and that's it! Your DNS records should automatically update and you will see a message notifying you that this may take some time to propagate.

5) Next Steps

Now that you have set your DNS records, there are a few final steps to ensure that your site is live and secure.

  • Propagation

  • Secure Your Site

  • Publish

Manually Configure Your DNS Records


To get started with manually setting your DNS records, you'll want to log in to your Squarespace account where your domain is hosted. Navigate to Your Domains and select the 3 little dots to manage the domain settings.

⚠️ If your domain is locked, it will need to be unlocked before you can access the DNS records. If you run into these issues you can contact Squarespace to help unlock your domain.

Next, select the Squarespace hosted domain that you would like to connect to your Showit site.

Then, choose the DNS SETTINGS option.

Here you'll find your domain's DNS records. You will want to delete the Squarespace Default Records. You may see other records in your DNS settings, so make sure you are only removing the Squarespace Defaults records.

Find Your Site Specific DNS Records

Note: If you have a blog tier Showit subscription, you will need to request a blog setup before you make changes to your DNS records.

After you have deleted the Squarespace Default records, you'll want to add your site specific DNS records. Click here to find them:

Or find your DNS records manually by following these steps:

To manually find your site specific DNS records follow these steps:
1). Click your name in the lower left corner of Showit
2). Choose Manage Account
3). Click Your DNS Records below your domain

Note: If you see a message in your account screen that says "Your website doesn't appear to be connected to Showit," go into the Design App and ensure you have clicked “Connect Your Domain” in the upper left of the Design App to submit your domain.

This will take you to your domains screen within Showit. Under Your DNS Records are the DNS record values that you will want to apply within your Hover account.

  • If you have a Green Note, that record is good and doesn't need changed.

  • If you have a Red Note, that record is wrong and need to be deleted.

  • If you have a Yellow Record, that record needs to be set or added.

Apply Your DNS Records in Squarespace

You can work with Squarespace customer support to apply your records by giving them the records or you can do it yourself by referencing the instructions below for setup steps.

⚠️ If you have a DNS record with the Type: CNAME, enter this CNAME record first and then click SAVE. Squarespace sometimes needs this record to be entered and saved before the next 2 A Records are entered.

You can add new records here in your DNS Settings.

Setting Your Nameservers

If you encounter a notification about setting your Nameservers, you'll need to navigate to Advanced Settings and set the default to use Squarespace nameservers. This will allow the DNS records you just set to be applied.

If you run into an issue saving your DNS records you may need to contact Squarespace and have them assist you. Squarespace DNS records can sometimes be difficult to save.


Next Steps


Congratulations on setting your DNS records! There are just a few more items left before your site can be live and secure.

Propagation

Once you have set up your DNS records, the changes that were made may not update immediately. While these changes can happen in a matter of minutes or hours, it can take up to 48 hours to fully propagate throughout the internet worldwide. So if you aren't seeing it live right away, give it another few hours, and refresh the page.

Check Your DNS Records

If you aren't sure that your DNS records have been set correctly in your registrar, you can check in your Showit Account.

On your Domains screen, click on the button that says Check Site.

This refresh can be used once every 5 minutes to run a check on your DNS records. If your records have a green note next to them, they are set correctly. If the note is yellow or red, some changes might still need to be made to your records.

If you are certain that you've set your records correctly, but you're still seeing errors after checking your site, your DNS records might still be updating. See Propagation.

Secure Your Site With an SSL

Once your DNS records have been set within your domain registrar, you will need to have an SSL set for your site in order for it to be secure. Your SSL will be set differently depending on what subscription you have with Showit.

SSL for Non-Blog Subscription

If you do not have a blog included with your Showit subscription and you have just finished setting your DNS records within your domain registrar, you can set your SSL within your Showit Account.

To do so, simply navigate to your Showit Account and then click on the Domains option in the top right corner.

On your Domains screen, click on the button that says Check Site.

This Check Site button will run a new check to see if your DNS records have been set correctly, and if they have, it will automatically apply your SSL to your site!

SSL for Blog Subscription

If you have either the Basic or the Advanced Showit Blog Subscription and your blog has been set up, your DNS records have been set and have had time to propagate, your SSL should automatically set itself.

Occasionally, something may happen to prevent your SSL from properly setting, or you may receive a 1001 error message when you try to load your site. If this happens, don't worry! We've got your back. Reach out to the Showit Support Team and request that they set your SSL or clear that 1001 error for you.

Publish

If your DNS records are set in your domain registrar and your SSL is active for your site, all that's left is to publish, and let all of the hard work you put into your site to pay off. Enjoy your amazing new site!

FAQ's


Where can I set my DNS records?

Go to your Domain Registrar (where you purchased your domain.)

Where can I find the right DNS records I need to input?

You can find them in your account settings in Showit. Just click your name in the lower left corner, choose "manage account," then "Your DNS Records." If you get stuck here, just ask support!

How do I apply the right DNS records?

Follow along here. Or, you can ask your domain host customer support to help you input them!

How long will it take for my DNS records to propagate?

Usually within a couple hours, but in rare cases up to 48 hours. If it takes longer than this, just contact support!

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