My Domain Name doesn't work! No one can get to my site!

There are a few reasons why your site might be offline.

New Domain?

• A newly registered domain name can take up to 48 hours to begin working.
• Certain ccTLDs like .co.uk have a high risk of the registration failing.

Existing Domain?

• Older domain names might be up for renewal.
• Changes to Nameservers, CNAME, or MX records can take the site offline if not done properly.

Transferring a Domain?

• Transfer is not complete

Other Reasons

• No home page set

New Domain

Newly Registered Domain Name

A newly registered or attached domain name can take 24 - 48 hours to become active on the account. Once the 24 - 48 hours has expired, be sure to change your primary site address to your new domain name through the Site Settings section of your account.

Once the domain name is set to the primary site address, please be sure to publish your site pages to ensure that they all take on the new site address.

To publish your pages do the following -

1. Go to the Edit Site section of your account
2. Click Edit next to any non-app page
3. Select the publish button at the top right
4. Select Publish All Pages to publish all of your site pages with the new site address

Note: In order for your domain name to work with your new site the name servers must be set to ns1.webs.com and ns2.webs.com.

 

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Failed Registration

Certain ccTLDs (country code Top Level Domains) like .co.uk and .ca have a higher risk of the registration failing than other domains. It can take up to 48 hours for the status of the registration to become clear.

Check the WhoIS

If it has been 48 hours since your domain name was purchased and you have confirmed that you have properly set the primary site address to the new domain name, you will need to check the status of the domain itself. This is done by performing a WhoIS search on the domain name.

Search for a domain name.

If the domain name shows that it is not registered, this most likely means the registration failed. The most common causes are an invalid registrant type or improper formatting of your zip code.

Tip: Examples of issues that will cause a registration to fail include the formatting of your Zip Code and the Registrant Type you select. For instance, the zip code in the UK is formatted with a space. If you do not include the space, the registration will fail.

 

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Existing Domain

Is your domain up for renewal?

Have you recently received emails from websnotifying you that your domain name was up for renewal? If you set up automatic renewal for the domain name the renewal may have failed. Log into your Webs account and visit the Premium section to renew your domain name.

Note: if you received a notification in the mail that your domain name was up for renewal, this did not come from Webs. We only send renewal notifications via email, and we specifically state our company name in the notifications.

 

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Recent Records Changes

Did you recently change your Nameservers, MX, CNAME or A records?

If they are not properly entered, this can take your domain name and email services offline. If your domain is registered with Webs you can reset your records through the Domains section of Premium by removing all records.

Note: Any changes made to to records or domain settings will always take at least 48 hours to apply.

 

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Transferring a Domain Name

If you are transferring your domain name to webs you can check the status of the transfer through the Domains section of Premium. Here is additional information on the transfer process -

http://webscom.zendesk.com/entries/121114-domain-transfer-part-2-preparing-for-the-transfer

 

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Other Causes

Home Page not set

In order for your website to work properly you must have a home page. By default the Site Manager creates a home page for you. You can see which page is your home page in the Site Manager by looking for the icon of a House. If you do not see this icon, you will need to manually set a home page.

How to Set your Home Page

1. Go to Edit Site (your Site Manager)
2. Select Switch Homepage
3. Select the page you want to be your Homepage

Warning: if you tried to make an intro page, or uploaded a page into your File Manager, this could overwrite your home page.

Go to the File Manager and rename any page named index. The page the Site Manager makes for you will not appear in the File Manager.

 

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