Domain Name Setup

When you first sign up for a ControlShift instance, your site will initially be hosted on a ControlShift domain (either controlshift.app or eucontrolshift.app). You're welcome to send your supporters to that site address, but many of our customers choose to use a custom hostname instead. The custom hostname is generally a subdomain of their main site (e.g. action.yourorganization.org).

Adding a custom hostname is a self-service option from the org admin homepage > Settings > Basics.  Click New Hostname and enter the hostname you'd like to use.

To successfully use a custom hostname for your ControlShift instance, you'll need to edit your Domain Name System (DNS) settings to associate the custom hostname with our servers via a CNAME record.

A CNAME, or Canonical Name, record is a DNS entry that associates a specific hostname like action.activism.org with a specific server that is responsible for that site. This is a configuration step that needs to happen with whichever DNS hosting company your domain name uses.  

To complete set up of your custom hostname, you'll need to create a CNAME record for your new custom hostname that points to platform.controlshift.app. 

Documentation on how to perform this is available for a few common DNS hosts:

• Bluehost
• Cloudflare
• Dreamhost
• GoDaddy
• Google Domains
• NameCheap
• Route53
• Squarespace
• Wix

If you aren't sure how to set this up, contact support@controlshiftlabs.com and we'll walk you through the process with whichever company your organization uses.