Emerson.build currently utilizes subdomains of .emerson.build for the initial signup, however after using your space you may decide you’d like to register a top-level domain. This is typically a .com, .net, .org address, though other options are available. You can do this by registering a domain with a service provider and adding it to your space as an Addon Domain.
To start you’ll need to get the domain registered. When choosing a domain we recommend keeping it all lower-case, avoiding hyphens, keeping it short, and of course it will need to be a unique address. You’ll also need to choose a service provider to register your domain with. Different providers offer different pricing models and features, so it’s a good idea to do some research about your options before you make a choice.
After ensuring the domain is available for purchase you might be prompted to select whether you’d like to protect the contact information associated with the domain. All domain registrations are required to have valid contact information publicly available worldwide, however a proxy service to protect your identity is available for an additional fee. You can read more about this service, ID Protect, at http://docs.reclaimhosting.com/FAQ/ID-Protect-FAQ/.
In most cases, you’ll also be prompted to enter nameservers for the domain. You’ll want to point the nameservers to ns1.reclaimhosting.com and ns2.reclaimhosting.com (if those aren’t already selected) in order for the domain to work with our system.
Once you’ve completed the checkout process with payment information the domain will be registered automatically. The last step is to add it to your existing account here at Emerson.build. To do that you’ll log into your account at https://emerson.build/dashboard and in cPanel navigate to Domains > Addon Domains.
Here you will type in the domain that you registered previously to host it within your space on Emerson.build. cPanel will also setup a subdomain and a location for files to be saved (typically a folder inside of public_html). You can leave these with their default values.
NOTE: Creating an addon domain always results in the creation of a brand new subdomain. The subdomain field here must have a unique name that doesn’t already exist in your site’s subdomains or you’ll encounter an error.
Optionally, you can also create an additional FTP account on this screen.
Once you’re finished going through the options, click Add Domain. The domain will now be hosted in your Emerson.build account and you can use it to install software, upload files, and any number of other actions available to you in cPanel.
Pointing an addon domain to an existing application
If you previously set up an application or from-scratch website before buying a custom domain name, you can still use that custom domain name for that application/site. You still need to go through the Addon Domain process above, but there are a couple differences:
Option 1: Changing “Document Root”
While filling out the fields in “Create an Addon Domain”, change the location listed under “Document Root” to the file path for your existing site. For example, if you have a WordPress site installed at an existing subdomain blog.dogs.emerson.build, you would enter “blog.dogs.emerson.build” as the Document Root. As another example, if you have HTML files hosted in public_html/games you would enter “public_html/games” as the Document Root. You will start to get suggestions of existing directories and subdomains as you type in this field.
Option 2: Cloning your existing site
If the above option doesn’t work or you’d prefer to keep the default directory for your addon domain, you can clone your application into the new directory or copy/move your HTML files into it.