TOPIC:

Club #1034215 - We have our new domain name from go daddy.com: caring communicators.org. We tried to follow your directions for "domain setup for various registrars. Not quite sure yet if that was successful. When we type in our new address, it gives us the freetoasthost template. Is it possible to insert the website we used previously, which was: caring communicators.toastmasterclubs.org. Or do we need to create a new website? How do we change the address on the toastmaster.org website when someone is doing a location search? Thanks!

You left out something. You need to type in your new domain name in the Custom Domain name box on the Basic Settings tab of the Admin Console.

Also, I am a little concerned that you typed a space in your domain name. GoDaddy rejected that space, right? (They should have.) No spaces in a domain name, please.

Lastly, you can use the "DNS Record Lookup" function in the middle of the following, viewdns.info/ , to verify that you have the DNS records set correctly.

Steve, embarrassed to say at this point I am totally lost. Do not know specifically where to go to make the 2 changes in the first 2 points you made, And I went to the viewDNS, got the report as well as the record lookup, but do not know what to do with the information received! Sorry, this technology stuff is way over my (our) heads! Wendy Eden, club # 1034215

Wendy,

Brian is probably the best person to ask questions about DNS settings. He isn't on line at the moment, but he is in the same time zone, so he should be around soon.

wendyjeden wrote:

Steve, embarrassed to say at this point I am totally lost. Do not know specifically where to go to make the 2 changes in the first 2 points you made, And I went to the viewDNS, got the report as well as the record lookup, but do not know what to do with the information received! Sorry, this technology stuff is way over my (our) heads! Wendy Eden, club # 1034215

Ok, that is why I specifically call out that this is a very technical feature in the Admin Console.

So... lets step back a bit and clarify a few things...

1. Your domain name is caringcommunicators.org ... no space. (never include the space) You registered with GoDaddy on 1/4/2014. This is from a WHOIS lookup: whois.net/whois/caringcommunicators.org

2. Purchasing a custom domain is not the only step. You have to tell the registrar what you want to happen when someone uses the domain name like typing it in the address bar. That is setting what the DNS records does for you. They tell the registrar (and everyone else) how to use your domain name that you have purchased. For example, whether it can be used with email addresses.

3. Using caringcommunicators.org as your domain name, I did a DNS record lookup on viewDNS, viewdns.info/dnsrecord/?domain=CARINGCOMMUNICATORS.ORG, and found that your DNS records are not set up correctly, per the following doc: support.toastmastersclubs.org/component/...r-various-registrars

The correct DNS settings for you are:

Record Type	Entry	IP Address/URL
A	www.caringcommunicators.org	50.19.253.65
A	caringcommunicators.org	50.19.253.65
A	mail.caringcommunicators.org	50.19.253.65
MX	10	mail.caringcommunicators.org

I recommend that you get in touch with GoDaddy customer support and give them these DNS settings. Usually, they can help.

4. I loaded your admin console and found that you have not entered caringcommunicators.org as your custom domain name on the Basic Settings tab. However, the system will not permit you to enter it until your DNS records are straightened out.

Therefore, until these things are handled, your custom domain name will not work for you.

I forgot two things...

#5 - When you get the DNS stuff ironed out so that you can access your website and the emails are working with the new domain name, then you will need to go onto the Toastmasters International Club Central and update the meeting information settings to reflect your new website custom domain name. That information is commonly used by search engines and will affect your ability to be "found" by the search engines.

#6 - Your club email addresses will be different when using a custom domain. You will need to refer to the Club Email Addresses screen from the Members Only area and you will need to get your members up to speed on the new club email addresses.

Okay, godaddy.com says we're all set, we changed the club locator screen on Toastmasters.org with our new website address and email address. However, if you type in our new web address (not through Toastmasters) it goes to a blank template page for free toast host. 1.How do we get our "old" website to show up when someone types in our new address? Or do we need to build a new one?
2. Do we need to register with the search engines, or is this done through Toastmasters?
3. How/where else do we need to notify Toastmasters Int.?

Wendy,

1. Launch Admin Console, Basic Settings, enter the club website domain, and remove the alias.
2. the search engines will find the club, once the domain is entered
3. You should be all set with TI.

Confirmed your domain caringcommunicators.org and email point to our server.

I think we may have finally done it! Thank you for all your help Steve, Roger and Brian. It appears to have taken "a village" to get us up and running! Don't see us when I do a google search - does that come in time??

It can take Google a while - sometimes weeks - to catch up with the changes.

It helps if you have up-to-date links on other sites, such as TI, your District site and any community sites you might be listed on.