Domain for sites and funnels

Result

Your mission 8 page opens with a padlock at an address on your own domain, without touching the website or email you already had.

Estimated time

35 minutes, plus the DNS wait

Cost

US$ 0. The HTTPS certificate comes free with HighLevel, and you already paid for the domain in lesson I.3.1.

Analogy

Step-by-step guide

Menu paths are shown as they appear in the English interface. If your team works with the account in Spanish, the Spanish names are in parentheses; HighLevel leaves some labels in English. The DNS panel varies by provider: the name field may be called Host or Name.

1. 01

   Choose your window's address

   Open your domain record sheet from lesson I.3.1. Check what lives at the root today: your website (an A or CNAME record) and your email (the MX records).

   If the root already has a website or email you still use, connect a free subdomain. In the example: book.albastudio.com.

   Use the root only if nothing else lives there.

   Confirm the subdomain is free. In Google Admin Toolbox, open Dig, look up book.albastudio.com with the A type and then AAAA, and check that it returns no records.

   Write it on your sheet: book → HighLevel page. One job per subdomain: mg still belongs to the email from mission 5.

   If you already published the page on your domain in mission 8, don't connect anything. Review it, add your code at the bottom, publish again and test it as in step 6.

   Key points

   • HighLevel warns about this in its help center: many people break their mailbox or website by connecting a root domain that's already in use. That's why it advises a subdomain when the root holds something that must keep working.
   • HighLevel blocks a name that another of its products already uses: funnel, website, store, blog, webinar, WordPress, client portal or branded domain. It checks this before your DNS, and the block can't be overridden.
   • Email sending domains are exempt from that block: mg.albastudio.com, from mission 5, doesn't count as a product in use.
   • Several funnels and websites can share one domain, each on its own path. One subdomain for your window will last you a long time.
   • When you connect, HighLevel may offer to sell you a domain right there. It's quick, but its Terms make HighLevel the registered holder. For your brand's main domain, AXIS recommends the one you bought in your own name in I.3.1.

   Source: F4, F15, F1, F23, F21, F22

2. 02

   Connect the name in HighLevel

   Settings → Domains & URL Redirects → + Connect a domainCopy path

   In a Spanish-language account: Configuración → Dominios y redirecciones de URL → (botón para conectar un dominio)

   Inside your sub-account, open Settings → Domains & URL Redirects. Your domains and your redirects live together there.

   Choose + Connect a domain and, on the Funnel/Website/Store/Blog/Webinar card, choose Connect.

   In Domain URL, type your full subdomain: book.albastudio.com. Here the whole name goes in.

   Choose Continue. If HighLevel recognizes your provider, it offers Authorize: you sign in to your provider, approve, close that tab and come back.

   If it doesn't, choose Add record manually. HighLevel shows the record's type, name and value: keep that screen open for step 3.

   Key points

   • This is the path in HighLevel's help article of October 7, 2026. Older articles and videos say Domains or Sites → Settings → Domains.
   • Sites also has a Domains tab. HighLevel doesn't document whether it opens the same list: work from Settings.
   • The list shows each domain with its connected products and whether any action is needed. It separates domains bought in HighLevel from ones connected from another provider.
   • Automatic setup works only with some providers. HighLevel's help names GoDaddy and Cloudflare, and still Google Domains, which no longer exists: Squarespace bought it.
   • If your provider isn't on that list, you add the record by hand. It works just as well.
   • Automatic setup doesn't delete an existing www record: if it's in the way, you delete it yourself. And if your DNS is on Cloudflare, check that the record it created is set to DNS only.
   • In a Spanish-language account, the menu is called «Dominios y redirecciones de URL».

   Source: F1, F2, F3, F5, F6, F24

3. 03

   Write the record in your DNS

   Open the DNS panel your nameservers point to: your registrar, Cloudflare or another provider. You noted it on your sheet in lesson I.3.1.

   For a subdomain, create a CNAME record. In the name field (Host or Name, depending on your provider), type only book: the provider adds the domain.

   For the value, paste the one your HighLevel screen shows. The help article of October 7, 2026 gives sites.ludicrous.cloud; if your screen says something else, your screen wins.

   If you connect the root, the record is an A with the name @ and the IP on your screen. The October article gives 162.159.140.166.

   If your DNS is on Cloudflare, set the record to DNS only, with the grey cloud, as in mission 5.

   If there was already an A, AAAA or CNAME record on that same name, delete it. Only on that name: the root's MX and TXT records stay untouched.

   Check from the outside with Google Admin Toolbox → Dig: look up book.albastudio.com with the CNAME type. When your value shows up, the record is visible.

   Key points

   • A name gets an A or a CNAME, never both. HighLevel asks for this, and the DNS standard doesn't let a CNAME sit next to any other record.
   • That's why the root, which also holds your MX and TXT records, uses an A, not a CNAME.
   • If you type book.albastudio.com in the name field, the record can end up at book.albastudio.com.albastudio.com, and HighLevel never finds it.
   • Copy the values from your screen, never from a video. Some tutorials carry old values, such as 34.68.234.4 and flash.funnels.msgsndr.com (2023) or 34.120.54.74 and ghl.link (2026).
   • The 2026 guide that shows those values itself says to copy what your HighLevel panel shows.
   • The orange cloud makes Cloudflare answer with its own IPs and hide your value, so HighLevel can't verify it. Cloudflare turns it on by default when you add a domain.

   Source: F1, F8, F11, F12, F7, F9, F10, F23

   DNS zone of albastudio.com

   @The long-standing website (A) and the mailbox (MX) · no changes

   mgHighLevel email sending · mission 5

   bookCNAME

   The value from your HighLevel screen

   The mission 8 funnelWith a padlock (HTTPS)

   app and linksLesson I.3.2

   The form inside the page

   api.leadconnectorhq.comIts own link, until you set an API domain

   One name, one job. One name, an A or a CNAME, never both

4. 04

   Wait for verification and the padlock

   Settings → Domains & URL RedirectsCopy path

   In a Spanish-language account: Configuración → Dominios y redirecciones de URL

   Go back to HighLevel and wait for verification. According to its latest help article, HighLevel verifies the record on its own; if your screen has a button to verify, use it.

   It usually takes minutes. HighLevel says to wait up to 24 hours before you worry.

   Once it's verified, HighLevel issues the HTTPS certificate, the padlock, on its own. It usually takes a few minutes.

   While you wait, don't redo the record: servers keep a copy for a while, and every change adds waiting time.

   If your domain still says Pending after 24 hours, check the name, the value and the grey cloud with Dig. If all is right, contact HighLevel support.

   Key points

   • There's no certificate to buy: HighLevel adds it for free once the domain is connected.
   • GoDaddy says most changes show up within an hour and can take up to 48. Namecheap warns that other servers may show the old value for up to 30 minutes.
   • If the padlock doesn't come, look for an extra record on that name: an old A or an AAAA. It happens on the root or if you used an A: a CNAME doesn't let another record share its name. According to a copy of HighLevel's guide, its sites only accept IPv4.
   • If you use GoDaddy, also check its DNS proxy: according to a copy of HighLevel's guide, it can recreate the AAAA records you deleted.
   • Another possible block is a CAA record, which says which authorities may issue certificates for your domain. A CAA on the root also covers book.
   • If your domain has one, add a line for pki.goog without deleting the ones it already has: it's the authority named in two copies of HighLevel's guide. If you set up white label in I.3.2, letsencrypt.org stays there. If it has none, do nothing.

   Source: F1, F5, F12, F11, F13, F14, F26

   1 · Does Dig show your value?

   No

   Fix it or waitOnly book in the name? Grey cloud on Cloudflare? Less than 24 hours?

   Yes

   2 · Did HighLevel verify it?No, after 24 hours → HighLevel support

   3 · Is there an extra AAAA or an old A?Delete it

   4 · Does your domain have a CAA record?Add pki.goog without deleting its other lines

   5 · Still no padlock → HighLevel support

   Before Link Domain: review the saved version of your page; linking may put it on display

   Settings → Domains & URL Redirects

5. 05

   Check the back room, then link your funnel

   Settings → Domains & URL Redirects → (your domain) → Link DomainCopy path

   In a Spanish-language account: Configuración → Dominios y redirecciones de URL → (tu dominio) → (botón para enlazar el dominio)

   Before you link, open your mission 8 page in Sites → Funnels. Review it as if it were already public: the form with its boxes unchecked, the short notice with its link and no example.com link.

   At the bottom of the page, add a text with your code: Ref. AX-7K2Q. Save.

   Go back to Settings → Domains & URL Redirects. Once your domain is verified, choose your mission 8 funnel and its page as the one that opens at the bare address. Choose Link Domain.

   On your domain, choose Manage, open the ⋯ menu and choose Edit. Check that Default Page is your page. In Default 404/Error Page, choose an error page of your own, or the same page if you have no other.

   Key points

   • According to HighLevel's help center, Save stores a version without changing what the public sees, and Publish puts it on display. With no domain, Publish asks for one: that's why your mission 8 page is still saved.
   • A FAQ in the same article, about sites that already existed in 2024, says that if there's no published version, the latest saved one is served.
   • It doesn't say whether this happens when you link a new domain, but it may: what you saved in mission 8 would go on display before you publish. That's why you check before linking, not after.
   • If your domain is missing its home page, HighLevel shows an Action Required reminder, only in the sub-account where you connected it.
   • The code at the bottom proves the page is yours. Delete it once this lesson is verified, then publish again.

   Source: F16, F1

6. 06

   Publish and test it like a client

   Sites → Funnels → (your funnel) → PublishCopy path

   In a Spanish-language account: Sitios → Embudos → (tu embudo) → (botón para publicar)

   Go back to your funnel and choose Publish. From today on, every change reaches the public only when you publish again.

   Open a private window and type https://book.albastudio.com. Check the padlock next to the address and that no security warning shows.

   Also type the address with http:// and note whether it takes you to https://. HighLevel doesn't document it: your test tells you.

   Go through HighLevel's launch checklist: domain verified, https:// working, the right home page and every page published.

   From the page, fill in your form as Test AX-7K2Q and check that the submission reaches Sites → Forms → Submissions. If your Workflow 1 from mission 11 is published, it runs with this submission too.

   From the page, open the link to your full privacy policy: it must open without signing in.

   Copy the full address from the bar: it's the link for your evidence.

   Key points

   • Your page is on your domain, but the form keeps its own link. Until you set an API domain, it stays at https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/form/<ID>, because form and calendar links use that domain.
   • You change the API domain in white label (lesson I.3.2) or in your sub-account's Settings → Business Profile → Branded Domain, always on another subdomain, such as links.
   • If you ever change a page's path or replace it, create a 301 redirect in the URL Redirects tab on this same screen. That way old links keep working.
   • Each funnel step has its own path after your domain: https://book.albastudio.com/<path>. Your full privacy policy from mission 12 can live on a second step. If you move it, update both links in your form, the short notice's and the footer's Privacy Policy, and leave the new address on the old document.
   • If you connected the root, HighLevel can add www and send it to the root with a 301. Test both addresses.

   Source: F16, F17, F19, F20, F18, F25, F1

Interactive

From your domain to your page with a padlock

This interactive is used inside your AXIS account.

If it breaks

The mistakes that repeat most, and the way out.