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Connect a custom domain

You can serve your hosted Drop Cowboy site on your own domain (for example www.yourbrand.com) instead of only the default {site-slug}.sites.dc-websites.com address.

Overview

  1. Attach the domain to your site in the Drop Cowboy dashboard.
  2. Add the DNS records Drop Cowboy shows you at your domain registrar or DNS host.
  3. Wait for DNS and certificate validation (usually minutes to a few hours).
  4. Drop Cowboy activates HTTPS automatically once validation succeeds.

Your default Drop Cowboy subdomain continues to work after you add a custom domain.

Attach a domain in Drop Cowboy

  1. Go to Websites and open your hosted site.
  2. Open Domains (or Custom domains, depending on your dashboard version).
  3. Enter the hostname you want to use — commonly www.yourbrand.com.
  4. Save. Drop Cowboy displays the DNS records required for that hostname.

DNS setup

Drop Cowboy will show a CNAME target for your hostname. At your DNS provider, create:

Type Host / name Value / points to
CNAME www (or your chosen subdomain) The routing hostname shown in Drop Cowboy (for example d13pjqg39h3uh1.cloudfront.net)

Use the exact target displayed in your dashboard — do not substitute a different value.

Apex / root domain (yourbrand.com)

Many DNS providers cannot use a CNAME on the bare apex domain. Common options:

  • Point www with CNAME (recommended) and redirect apex traffic to www at your registrar.
  • Use your DNS provider’s ALIAS or ANAME record type for the apex, if supported, pointing at the same target Drop Cowboy provides.

If you are unsure, ask your DNS provider which record types they support for root domains.

Validation and HTTPS

After DNS propagates, Drop Cowboy validates the domain and provisions a TLS certificate. Status in the dashboard moves from pending to active when complete. No manual certificate upload is required.

Verify the connection

  1. Confirm DNS with your provider’s lookup tool or dig / nslookup.
  2. Open https://www.yourbrand.com in a private browser window.
  3. Confirm your published Drop Cowboy page loads with a valid lock icon.

Troubleshooting

Issue What to try
Domain stuck on “pending” Double-check the CNAME host and value; remove conflicting A records on the same hostname.
Certificate errors Wait for validation to finish; ensure no typos in the CNAME target.
Wrong site appears Verify you attached the domain to the correct website in Drop Cowboy.

Keep your registrar access

Drop Cowboy does not take over your domain registration. You keep buying and renewing the domain at your registrar; Drop Cowboy only needs the DNS records above to serve your site.