Tutorial: Managing the domain you bought from Yola

If you have purchased a domain from Yola, you can manage the domain settings in your Yola account to do the following, and more:

• You will be able to easily setup an email account for your domain by accessing the Advanced Domain Settings. We have a tutorial to help you setup your email addresses using Google Apps or Windows Live (they are free services): Creating email addresses.
• If you have several different Yola sites, you can move your paid domain name from one site to another.
• If you have several domains that all point to one site, you can choose which one is the primary URL, which will appear in the web browser.

Please note: Changing your domain settings can result in your site no longer working. Please be sure you understand the consequence of the changes you are making.

This tutorial will help you locate the Advanced Domain Settings, and understand how to change the domain settings on the domain you bought from Yola. If you would like to know how to buy your domain, you can click on this link for the tutorial: Buying your domain from Yola.

If you have transferred a domain to Yola and we are now your domain registrar, please send an email to support@yola.com requesting assistance. Unfortunately, the DNS settings are not currently accessible for transferred domains.

Where to find the DNS settings for your domain

1. Login to your Yola account and make sure you are on the "My Sites" page

2. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and tick the box next to "Enable advanced domain settings"

3. You will be scrolled back up to the top, click on "Advanced domain settings".

Assign (publish) or unassign (unpublish) domain(s) from sites in your Yola account

Here you can assign one or more domains to a site. By clicking on "Primary Domain", you will make that domain the canonical or primary domain. If you have assigned more than one domain to a site, those domains will direct to the Primary domain when people type it into their browsers.

Accessing the domain settings

To access the domain settings, click on [Details] next to the related domain.

Unlocking and transferring your domain

Locking your domain name prevents unauthorized transfers of your domain to another registrar or web host.  It will also help you avoid unauthorized third parties who might try to misdirect your name servers or transfer your domain without your permission.

Your domain is locked by default. To ensure that your domain is locked, the box next to "Lock this domain name" should be checked.

If you would like to transfer your domain to another domain registrar, untick this button and an email will be sent to you.  The email will contain the transfer code you will need to give to your new domain registrar in order to complete the transfer.

Name servers

By unchecking "Let us manage your domain name server" you will be able to access and change the name servers for your domain.  Please note that changing the name servers will prevent your published Yola site from being accessed.

Make the change and click on the "Save" button. If you need to add more than two entries, click on [More].

A Record, MX Record and CNAME

To access the A Record, MX Record and CNAME, click on [Edit this?] next to DNS Entries.

A Record (Address record)

To add an A Record, make sure that A is selected next to "Add a new DNS Record Type" and click on the "Add" button.

MX Record (Mail exchanger record)

This defines how your domain's email should be routed.  For a tutorial on setting up your email with Google Apps (Gmail), click here: Creating email addresses.

CNAME (Canonical name record)

To add a CNAME, make sure that CNAME is selected next to "Add a new DNS Record Type" and click on the "Add" button.

Frequently asked questions

I want to change to another domain registrar.

Please see the steps above on Unlocking your domain. Remember, you can keep Yola as your domain registrar and change your DNS settings to use another service. It's often a lot quicker than transferring your domain.

My domain will be up for renewal, how do I make sure that it's renewed?

You will receive emails quite a while before your domain expires reminding you to renew your domain and how to go about renewing it. If you don't want to renew your domain, you can ignore the renewal reminders.  If you would like to renew your domain ahead of time, please take a look at this link: Renew the domain you purchased from Yola.

I bought a domain but now I want to enable domain privacy, how do I do that?

No problem! You'll need to contact Support and we'll start the process to get that done. It will cost US$9.95 per year.