Mapping your KW Domain Store domain to Placester

Mapping is the process of replacing your existing Placester domain with a custom one you have purchased from a third party provider.  Placester always recommends that you map your domain rather than forward it.  To find out more about the difference between mapping and forwarding click here. 

In order to take care of mapping your KW Domain Store domain to your Placester site, you will need to change both your A-Record (IP address) and CNAME (hosting platform) to Placester specific settings. The article on this page will walk you through this process. If you run into any trouble, we recommend speaking with KW domain store directly as it is their product. You can reach them at (480) 624-2500.  

Having KW Domain Store map your Domain

If you are going to have KW Domain Store take care of domain mapping for you.  You will want to provide them with the following settings for pointing your site to Placester.

1. Forwarding: OFF

2. Nameservers: Set to DEFAULT

3. A-Record: 184.169.141.142

4. CNAME: domains.myrealestateplatform.com   

Once this is completed move to the bottom of this article and follow the directions for your Placester site. 

Mapping your KW Domain Store Domain on your own

First, go to KW Domain Store and log in to your account. The username either your customer number or the email . 

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If you're having trouble logging in and think you might need to reset your password, click Forgot your password? or contact KW Domain Store at (480) 624-2500.

Then click on My Domain Names under Domain Names to proceed to domain Management.  

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This will bring you to a list of your domains. Click on the domain that you're going to use for your Placester site.

My Domains

Here, you'll see boxes with all of your individual domains and their statuses. 

Manage DNS

Go Daddy has an identical process for mapping your domain, click here to watch our walk through video.  

Hover over the settings icon for the domain you'd like to use, then click Manage DNS.

 

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Domain Settings

This will bring you to the DNS Management portal (see below)

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Before making edits here, though, scroll down to the bottom and make sure that the nameservers and all forwarding settings are set as shown below. 

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Nameservers

The nameservers must be set to to the KW Domain Store default settings. This will look similar to:

NSx.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
NSy.DOMAINCONTROL.COM

(the NS number may vary, but they always end in domaincontrol.com)

If you see something different, follow the instructions below for changing the nameservers. If the nameservers are correct, skip to the Forwarding step.

Resetting Your Nameservers

If you were previously using a different website provider with the same domain, they might have mapped your domain to that website using nameservers. If you didn't set up an email address through that website provider, click "Change" under the Nameservers section.

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Within this screen, select the Standard option to reset the nameservers to the GoDaddy defaults.

Email: Nameservers vs. MX Records

If you had email set up through your previous website provider, resetting the nameservers might interrupt your email service. If that is the case, please get in touch with your email provider to determine how to move forward with the KW Domain Store default nameservers and mapping your email through MX records rather than nameservers. They should be able to help you with this. 

Forwarding

Make sure forwarding is turned OFF for the domain and subdomains.

If all of these settings are correct for you, you can move on to the editing the domain Records at the top on the DNS management portal

Step 1: Change the A-Record

By default, the A-Record is usually pointing to a different IP address than Placester's with the host @

Click the pen button to edit the A-Record. You might be prompted to fill out a CAPTCHA form for security. 

Make sure the following settings are entered:

  • Host: @
  • Points To: 184.169.141.142
  • TTL: 1 Hour

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Click Save when you're done.

Step 2: Change the CNAME 

By default, the CName with the host www is usually pointing to @. This is the CName that you'll need to change. There might be a few other CNames with different hosts that you can leave alone.

Click the pen button to edit the CName with the host www. You might be prompted to fill out a CAPTCHA form for security.

Make sure the following settings are entered:

  • Host: www
  • Points To: domains.myrealestateplatform.com
  • TTL: 1 Hour

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Click Save when you're done.

Once you’ve completed these settings, log in to Placester to access the back end of your site and complete the final step for domain mapping. 

Site Settings > Custom Domain

This will bring you to the Custom Domain slide out.

Custom Domain Slide Out

Within the custom domain slide out, add the custom domain that you're looking to use. Use only lowercase letters, and be sure to include “www” when adding in your URL. Example: www.placester.com

Click Add Domain, then click Save.

 

Troubleshooting

If you've made all of these changes and are finding that your site still isn't loading, here are some potential causes: 

1. Caching: You have a cached copy of the site on your browser. Try clearing your cache, using a new browser or testing the site on a mobile device.

2. Propagation: DNS adjustments take longer to propagate with certain domain registrars. We like to test and make sure everything has propagated using www.WhatsMyDNS.com.

3. Errors in Site Settings > Custom Domain: make sure that you included the www before the custom domain and you didn't use any capital letters. Otherwise, the site will not load.

Pro Tip: DNS Tools

Here are some DNS tools that we recommend: 

- Use WhoIs.com to find out where a domain is registered and the status of a domain
- Use WhatsMyDNS.net to check the current DNS records of a domain

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