Available on: Paid plans
Point: About the domains you can use for a Studio.Design site
Before you publish your site, decide which domain you want to use. With Studio.Design, you can publish your site on either a custom domain or a Studio.Design subdomain. For details, see Comparing custom domains and subdomains.
What is a custom domain?
A completely original domain that you register and manage through a domain provider.*
* For example, Onamae.com, Muumuu Domain, Sakura Domain, Xserver Domain, or Google Domains
URLs look like "example.com" or "example.jp." You can choose any text for the "example" part, as well as the domain extension at the end.
Once you register a custom domain, you can keep using it even if you switch servers or services.
Things to check before using a custom domain
Make sure your domain can be used
Check in advance whether the domain you want to use can be connected to a Studio.Design site.
You can also connect a subdomain (such as aaa.example.com) of your main domain (example.com) to your site.
To make your site accessible from URLs both with and without "www," set up a www redirect.
Downtime during the switch
When you switch a domain that's currently pointing to a website on another service or server over to your Studio.Design site, there will always be a period when your site can't be accessed (downtime).
Record changes can take several hours to take effect, so we recommend finishing your setup at least a day in advance.
Using email services
Studio.Design doesn't provide email services. If you want to keep using email (for example, john@example.com) with the same domain as your website (for example, example.com), see "Using email with the same domain as your site."
How to publish your site on a custom domain
These steps include actions in Studio.Design as well as in an external service.
Step 1. Register a custom domain
If you don't have a domain yet, you'll need to get one before you can connect it. Studio.Design doesn't offer domain registration or management, so please register your domain through an external service.
Tips: If you'd rather publish with the domain automatically assigned to your Studio.Design project (a Studio.Design subdomain) instead of a custom domain, you don't need to register a domain at all.
Step 2. Build your site and sign up for a paid plan
Create your site in Studio.Design. Here are some resources to help you get started:
From building to publishing (learn through help articles)
Studio.Design YouTube (learn through videos)
Studio.Design seminars (learn through videos)
Studio Community (get answers from other users)
About plans
To publish your site on a custom domain, the project needs to be on a paid plan. Please sign up for a paid plan first.
Step 3. Get ready to connect your custom domain in Studio.Design
In the dashboard for your project, open the [Settings] tab.
Select [General] from the menu on the left.
Click [Settings] under [Publish status] to open the publish panel.
Enter the domain you want to connect, then click [OK].
Copy the A record that appears (for example, A 34.111.141.225).
Step 4. Set up your DNS records with your external service
Note: About changing records
If the domain you want to connect to Studio.Design is already being used for another live site, that site will stop appearing once you change the records.
Record changes can take several hours to take effect, so we recommend finishing your setup at least a day in advance.
DNS record settings tell your domain where to point and what it's used for (for example, as a website or as a mail server). You make these changes not in Studio.Design, but with the external service where you registered and manage your domain.
For detailed instructions with popular domain services, see the articles below.
You'll usually make these changes with the service where you registered your domain. In some cases, you may be using a separate DNS service. For details and things to watch out for, see "DNS record settings."
Point: The A record for Studio.Design sites is 34.111.141.225.
Step 5. Check the domain connection status in Studio.Design
Go back to Studio.Design and open the publish panel again.
Click [Next] to check the connection between your domain and the Studio.Design server.
Even if your A record is set correctly, it can take some time to take effect, depending on DNS propagation and when Studio.Design runs its system check.
You can close the publish panel while you wait.
Note: If the domain connection can't be confirmed, an error will appear.
For details on the error messages and how to fix them, see What to do if the connection can't be verified after setting up an A record.
Step 6. Wait for your TLS certificate to be issued automatically
Wait while your TLS certificate is issued automatically. You can check the certificate status anytime under [Custom domain settings] in the publish panel.
The process keeps running even if you close the publish panel or shut down your computer. You won't get a notification when it's done, so check the publish panel for the status.
If the certificate can't be issued, a retry button will appear. Click it to try again.
Tips: TLS certificates usually take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours to be issued. If it takes more than 4 hours, we can issue one manually for you. If you need help, contact chat support using the [?] button in the bottom-left corner of the editor.
Step 7. Publish your site
Open the publish panel.
Click [Publish] in the top-right corner.
A pop-up will appear once publishing is complete.
Click the published URL to see how your site looks.
Note: If you see a 404 page
If a 404 page appears, click [Update] in the publish panel of the Studio.Design editor. If that doesn't fix it, double-check that your DNS records are set correctly. Reference: Things to check when you have trouble connecting or publishing with a custom domain
If you switched a site that was published on a Studio.Design subdomain over to a custom domain, it will start out unpublished (showing the Studio.Design 404 page), so you'll need to click [Update] to publish it.
If you run into trouble publishing with a custom domain, contact chat support using the [?] button in the bottom-left corner of the editor. Letting us know your situation and what you've already checked helps us resolve things faster.
custom domain domain settings