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Go live on Flywheel

Updated on March 15th, 2024

When you’re ready to present your spiffy new site to the world, there are a few steps to take on Flywheel to ensure the launch goes smoothly. Keep scrolling to learn how to take your site live!

Note

  • If you’re working with a WordPress multisite installation, follow the guide here instead.
  • If your site is live on another host and is frequently updated, you will want to complete a content refresh first.
  • If your site is an e-commerce site live on another host, you’ll want to suspend ordering and complete a content refresh first.



Add or update your site’s primary domain

Sites on Flywheel require setting a single primary domain that additional domains will redirect to. If you have multiple domains, set this one up first.

  1. If you haven’t added your domain yet, head over to the Domains card in the Flywheel site’s Overview tab and click the + Add Domain button to add the domain you’d like to point to Flywheel.
    Add domain button
  2. Fill out the domain information:Add domain information
    1. Domain: Enter the URL (without a prefix). Example: mywebsite.com
    2. Primary domain: Check the box if you want this to be your primary domain (if this will be your site’s main URL).
    3. www: By default, the www version of the domain will be added, but you can uncheck the box to skip this step if needed. Example: www.mywebsite.com.

    Then click Next.

    Note

    In the background, our system will automatically update all appropriate URL references in the database to this new primary domain.
  3. If your domain supports Domain Connect, you’ll be prompted to enter your DNS provider credentials so Flywheel can configure your DNS records. If your domain doesn’t support domain connect, you’ll need to point DNS manually.
  4. Alternatively, if you’ve already added your domain to the list, but haven’t set it to primary yet, now’s the time! On the intended domain, click the 3-dot menu and select Make Primary.

Warning

Flywheel does not support adding the same domain or subdomain to two different sites. For example, if you’re cloning a site that’s already live on Flywheel, you’ll want to remove the domain from the original site before adding it to the new one.

Add any secondary domains

At this point, go ahead and add any additional domains by following the method above (don’t set these domains to primary, of course). All secondary domains will automatically be configured with a 301 redirect to the primary domain.


Point DNS for your domain(s)

Now that you’ve configured your site on the Flywheel side, it’s time to log in to your domain’s DNS editor so you can point your domain(s) to the site’s IP address and add a TXT record to verify ownership of your domain name.

Your website’s IP address and TXT record will be displayed during the add domain process. You can also find these records on the Overview tab. Click the three-dot icon and then select Update DNS to find them.
View DNS records from three-dot menu

Warning

For security best practices, we recommend not pointing a wildcard entry directly to a Flywheel IP address, but instead to point any subdomain independently. The use of wildcard records may open your domain up to additional subdomains being created without your permission.

Remember, if your domain supports Domain Connect, you don’t need to point your DNS manually because Flywheel can do it for you!


Note

DNS propagation times: DNS by nature can take 24-48 hours to fully propagate across the entire internet, though it’s generally much quicker. This depends on the record’s TTL (Time To Live) value. If your DNS host allows you to adjust TTL, it’s best to set it to the minimum value at least 24 hours before you plan to go live to ensure the fastest propagation. For more information, check out this help article: What is TTL?


Disable Privacy Mode

Remove the password protection for your site so visitors won’t be prompted to enter credentials to view it. This also allows search engines, like Google, to crawl your site.

  1. On the site’s Flywheel dashboard, navigate to the Overview tab.
  2. On the Privacy Mode card, toggle the switch to Off.

Optional: Enable Simple SSL

Once your domains have propagated, you can add free SSL certificates via Flywheel’s Simple SSL for added security and an SEO boost! For instructions, check out this help article: How do I add Simple SSL to my site?


Need help?

If you have any questions our Happiness Engineers are here to help!

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