Launching Your Tithely Site - Pointing your domain to your Site

Are you ready to launch Tithely Sites? Launching your Tithely site is an exciting step towards enhancing your church's online presence. This guide is designed to walk you through the necessary preparations to ensure your Tithely Site is ready for its big debut. Get ready to engage your congregation and visitors alike with a beautifully designed site that reflects your church's mission and values.

 

Tithely takes care of hosting all Tithely Sites.

Domains are a separate piece. Domains must be registered with a third-party provider and customers manage their own domain. Domain registration typically ranges from $10-20 per year.

How to Launch Your New Tithely Site

Video Overview:

 

Step 1: Adjust A records in DNS Settings

❗ Important Note: If you require assistance with this stage, please contact your domain provider support team.

Edit the following two records:

  1. Point A record for "@" to: 52.35.132.113

  2. Point A record for "www" to: 52.35.132.113

❗ Important Note: if there is a CNAME for “www” delete this and then add the A record.

Step 2: Add Your Domain to Site Settings

After your domain changes have been made, if you haven’t done so already, you will need to add your domain to your site settings.

  1. Login to your Tithely Admin account and select Sites, or login to your site directly. 

  2. Click on the Admin button at the top right of your website and select Settings from the dropdown.

  3. Select Domain on the left side menu.

  4. Click Add Domain to add your domain(s) (can add multiple domains).

  5. Click Save Domain

 

Step 3: Set Your Domain to Primary

DNS changes can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few days to fully propagate. Before setting your domain as the primary, test your domain to see if it redirects to your staging domain. Once it successfully directs to your new site, update the primary domain.

  1. Click the more button (•••) to the right of your domain.

  2. Click Make Primary

Congratulations, your site will be launched after that final step! 🎉

 

Troubleshooting & FAQ

Can You Change My DNS for Me?

If everything sounds like a foreign language and you don’t know where to start, ask your domain provider for support! They’re there to help you change your DNS settings and put in the two A records you need to change.

Simply copy and paste this message to send to your Domain Registrar support:

Can you please help me edit our DNS settings:

1. Point A record for “@” to: 52.35.132.113
2. Point A record for “www” to: 52.35.132.113 (if there is a CNAME for
“www” delete this and then add the A record)

My Site Says It’s Not Secure, What Do I Do?

Did you know, Tithely Sites have built-in security? To ensure that your Site is secure, do the follow:

  1. Make sure both A records are set properly.
  2. Delete any AAAA records.
  3. If you have Cloudflare, make sure that the A records are set to DNS only, and not proxied.

Help! I Launched and My Website Is Not Live Yet.

Make sure all 3 steps were followed:

  1. Adjust A records in DNS Settings.
  2. Add your domain to Site Settings.
  3. Set your domain to Primary.

We Don’t Have a Domain Yet. Where Can We Get One?

To launch your site you will need a domain. If you do not yet have a domain please register a domain through a third-party such as Hover, Google, GoDaddy, or another domain provider of choice.

Help! I’m Not Sure Where Our Domain Is Registered.

If you're unsure where your domain is registered you can use one of the following tools to determine where it is registered:

  • whois.net
  • mxtoolbox.com/DNSLookup.aspx
    More often than not using these tools will allow you to find where the domain is registered and sometimes even who has registered it (whois.net). Please note that sometimes this information is not available. You may need to contact your current website provider to find out if they can assist.

Our Domain Is Managed by Our Current Web Host. What Do I Do?

If your current web host requires you to pay for hosting if you keep your domain and manage your DNS with them, you will likely need to create a Hover or GoDaddy (or another domain provider of choice) account and transfer the domain there. Check with your provider for more details.

What Do We Do With Our Emails? / Does Tithely Offer Email Service?

Tithely does not provide email hosting. If your church has custom email(s) setup through your old website provider and not through Google (or other paid services) you will want to sign up for a service such as G Suite for Nonprofits (free for churches in most States). If you discontinue your service with your old host before emails are setup elsewhere your emails will go down. View our article on Setting up Google Workspace for Nonprofit Using Your Domain