How to Connect Your Custom Domain to BrandRafter
If you have ever seen a competitor's website at "theirbusiness.com" instead of a long subdomain, that is a custom domain — and it is one of the simplest upgrades you can make to how professional your business looks online. Here is everything you need to know to connect one to your BrandRafter site.
What is a custom domain?
A domain name is the address people type to find your website — for example, brandrafter.com. Every BrandRafter site gets a free subdomain like yourbusiness.brandrafter.com automatically, but a custom domain lets you use your own name instead, which looks more established and is easier for customers to remember.
How to buy a domain
You can register a domain from any domain registrar — GoDaddy, Hostinger, BigRock and Namecheap are all popular choices in India. Search for your business name, pick the ".com" or ".in" version you prefer, and complete the purchase. Domains typically cost a few hundred to a couple of thousand rupees per year depending on the extension and registrar.
Adding DNS A records
Once you own the domain, log in to your registrar's dashboard and find the DNS management section (on GoDaddy this is usually under "My Domains → DNS → Manage Zones"; the exact screen name varies slightly by registrar, but every provider has a similar records screen with step-by-step on-screen guidance). Add an "A record" pointing your domain to BrandRafter's server IP address, which you will find in your BrandRafter Settings → Domain tab. If you want "www.yourdomain.com" to work as well, add a second A record for "www" pointing to the same address.
Verifying in BrandRafter settings
Back in BrandRafter, go to Settings → Domain, enter your domain name and click Verify. DNS changes can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours to spread across the internet (this is called "propagation"), so if verification does not succeed immediately, wait a little and try again.
SSL certificate explanation
Once your domain is verified, BrandRafter automatically issues a free SSL certificate for it. This is what puts the padlock icon and "https://" in front of your address, encrypting traffic between your visitors and your site and — just as importantly — signaling to Google and to your customers that your site is secure and trustworthy. There is nothing extra for you to do; it happens automatically after verification.
Common issues and fixes
"Verification failed" almost always means DNS has not propagated yet — double-check the A record values match exactly what BrandRafter shows you, then wait and retry. If your site still is not loading after a few hours, confirm you did not accidentally leave an old A record from a previous host in place, since a duplicate or conflicting record will stop the new one from taking effect. If you get stuck, message us on WhatsApp — connecting a domain is one of the most common questions we help with, and we can usually spot the issue in a couple of minutes.