Domains and email

Your Mainmark address

Every website has a Mainmark address. It always works, even after you connect your own domain. You can find it in Settings, then Domains.

You can buy a domain through Mainmark, or connect one you bought somewhere else. Buying a domain and its mail are for the account owner. An Admin can connect a domain and check it. See People and access.

Buy a domain

1. Open Settings, then Domains, and press Buy a domain.
2. Type a name and press Search.
3. Press Buy beside a name that is available.
4. Check your details. The domain is registered in your name, so they have to be accurate.
5. Press Continue to payment and pay at Stripe checkout.

Mainmark sells .com, .net, .org, .co and .io. For now Mainmark registers .ca domains by hand, so ask us. Check the spelling before you pay: a completed registration is not refunded for a mistake.

The domain belongs to your account. Connect it to a website whenever you are ready: in Settings, then Domains, choose it under Connect an account domain and press Connect domain. Mainmark adds its records for you.

A bought domain renews yearly, separately from your website plan. On the Domains page, press Manage beside it to find Stop renewing and Transfer away.

Connect a domain you already own

1. Open Settings, then Domains.
2. Under Your domains, type your domain, such as yourbusiness.com, and press Connect.
3. The page shows the records to add. Each one has a copy button.
4. Sign in where you manage the domain's DNS, usually where you bought it, and add the records.
5. Come back to Domains. Mainmark checks for you and the page updates by itself. You can also press Check DNS.

The records to add:

• A CNAME record named www, with your Mainmark address as its value.
• A CNAME record named @, with your Mainmark address as its value.

The @ record is your domain without www. Some providers call it ALIAS, ANAME or CNAME flattening. If your domain's DNS is on Cloudflare, set both records to DNS only, the grey cloud. Otherwise the check cannot see them.

Proving the domain is yours

Before a connected domain goes live, Mainmark needs a record that names your website. The CNAME records above do that, so most people prove it without noticing.

If the status says Confirm ownership, add one more record: a TXT record named _mainmark, with the value shown on the page. It proves the domain is yours, and you can remove it once the domain is live.

Your domain and its www are proved together, and only once.

How long it takes

DNS changes usually show within an hour. If a domain still says Waiting on DNS after a day, a record is usually wrong rather than slow.

• Waiting on DNS: Mainmark cannot see the records yet.
• Confirm ownership: the domain points here, but needs the TXT record above.
• Securing, a few minutes: the domain points here and its security certificate is on the way.
• Live: the domain opens your website with its padlock. The account owner gets one email to say so.
• Checks stopped: Mainmark stops checking after 30 days. Press Check DNS once the records are in place.

After 3 days of waiting, Mainmark emails the account owner what it found and the records to add.

Email on your domain

A domain bought through Mainmark comes with one email address. Mail sent to it is forwarded to the address you sign in with.

1. Open Settings, then Domains, and press Open Mail.
2. Type the part before the @. It starts as info.
3. Press Turn on.
4. Cloudflare emails your sign in address a confirmation link. Click it. Nothing is forwarded until you do. If you cannot find it, look in spam.

The status says Forwarding once it works. If the link is not clicked within 14 days, it says Needs attention. Click the link, then press Check now.

Forwarding is inbound only. Your replies go from your own address.

To use your own mail provider instead, press Turn off first. Then add the provider's records on the domain's page, under DNS, with Add a record. You can add A, AAAA, CNAME, MX and TXT records there. A record marked Points at your website, Managed by mail routing or Connects Google searches cannot be changed.