Using a custom domain for your podcast website

How to setup a custom domain for your Transistor podcast website.

If you're using our built-in website for your podcast, you can optionally use your own custom domain name.

You'll need to have:

Purchased your custom domain name, from a domain name registrar like GoDaddy, Hover, NameCheap, etc.
Access to your domain name control panel, provided by the registrar you purchased your domain name from.
Access to your Transistor account, that contains the podcast website you want to add a custom domain name to.

Here's our demo showing the setup process using a domain name from GoDaddy:



Now we will go through each of the steps here:

Transistor Settings

Log in to your Transistor account
Go to the Website tab for your podcast
In the Set Your Custom Domain field, type in your chosen domain, e.g. www.yourdomain.com
At the bottom of the Website tab, click the Save Website Settings button

Domain Name Registrar Settings - www

Log in to your domain name control panel, e.g. your GoDaddy, Hover or NameCheap account
Go to the DNS Settings page for your chosen domain name
In the list of existing DNS records, look for a CNAME record where the Host is www
Edit the CNAME record, so that it points to domains.transistor.fm
Save the changes made

This is how it would look inside of GoDaddy:



If there isn't an existing CNAME record with the host of www for you to edit, simply add a new CNAME record with the following values:

Type: CNAME
Host: www
Points to (value): domains.transistor.fm

This is how it looks in Namecheap:



After a short while the settings should take effect and you can visit your podcast web page using your custom domain e.g. www.yourdomain.com

Domain Name Registrar Settings - Naked Domain

In the steps above we have just pointed the www version of your domain to your Transistor podcast website e.g. www.yourdomain.com now points to your Transistor website.

However your non-www version of your website domain (the naked domain) is likely not yet pointing anywhere e.g. yourdomain.com might give a 404 error or show a blank page.

Transistor only allows settings for 1 domain to be added in the Website settings, but within your domain registrar control panel you can make sure that both versions of your domain name are setup to go to your Transistor podcast website.

You can do this in one of three ways:

Create A record entries pointing to our IP Addresses
Use the 'Forward' option in your Domain Registrar
Or create an ALIAS or ANAME record if your registrar allows it.

Option 1 - A Record

You can point your domain to our A Record. In your domain registrar, create an A Record DNS entry:

Type: A
Host: blank or @
Points to (value): 3.232.183.229

Option 2 - Forwarding

Some Domain Registrars like GoDaddy allow you to 'Forward' one domain to another.

Here are the Forwarding steps for GoDaddy (other registrars may slightly differ)

Log in to your domain name control panel, e.g. your GoDaddy account
Go to the DNS Management page for your chosen domain name
Look for the option called Forwarding and select Add
Under Forward To choose the HTTPS protocol and enter www.yourdomain.com as the URL.
Save the changes made.

If you don't have the option to forward your domain within your chosen registrar, you may have to create an ALIAS Record instead.

Option 3 - ALIAS or ANAME Record

These domain registrars support ALIAS records:

Namecheap
DNSimple
PointDNS
Route53 (AWS service)

If your registrar does support ALIAS records, you'll need to add this record to your DNS settings:

Type: ALIAS
Host: @
Points to (value): domains.transistor.fm

Here's what it looks like in Namecheap, under the Advanced DNS menu:



After a short while the settings should take effect and you'll be able to visit your Transistor podcast web page using either version of your domain e.g. www.yourdomain.com or yourdomain.com

Subdomains (optional)

If you don't want to use the www or naked domain for your podcast website, subdomains are an alternative option.
If you wish to use a sub-domain for your podcast website, you can do so e.g. podcast.yourdomain.com
In the example podcast.yourdomain.com the word 'podcast' is the chosen subdomain, however you can use any word you like.

Here's how to set that up.

On the Website tab in Transistor, enter in your chosen subdomain in the field named Set Your Custom Domain e.g. podcast.yourdomain.com
Then in your domain registrar for your domain, create the following CNAME record:

Type: CNAME
Host: podcast (your chosen subdomain)
Points to (value): domains.transistor.fm

Troubleshooting

Some important tips to keep in mind.

DNS Propagation Time - If you have only just made your DNS changes, it can take at least 1 hour before they take effect. Keep refreshing your domain name.

Settings Must Match - Your settings in Transistor and your domain name registrar need to match. Double check your settings.

Cloudflare Users - If you are using Cloudflare for your DNS and CDN and you're having problems getting your podcast website to work, you can read more here about Cloudflare and Transistor.

Further Support

If you're still having issues setting up your custom domain name, please reach out to us on email support@transistor.fm or via Live Chat.

Let us know the domain name you want to use and which domain registrar you purchased it from e.g GoDaddy, Namecheap etc.

We'll help you to get it up and running!

Updated on: 07/11/2022