In short
- You rent the name from a domain company (a registrar) and pay them each year. Your host serves the site. They are separate.
- Connecting means adding two small records at your domain company: a
CNAMEforwwwand aTXTthat proves it's yours. - On Page Lemon, ask your AI to connect the domain. Where your domain company supports one-click connect, you sign in there and click Connect.
- Use
www.as the address and forward the bare name to it. That works at every domain company.
DNS in plain words
DNS is the internet's address book. When someone types www.yourcafe.com, their computer asks DNS where that name lives, then goes there. Connecting a domain means writing the right entries in that address book. Each entry is a record.
- CNAME record: "this name is another name".
www→customers.pagelemon.devsends visitors to Page Lemon. - TXT record: a note. Page Lemon checks a code in it to make sure the domain is really yours.
- A record: "this name is this numeric address". Old websites and parking pages often use one for
www. It has to go before your CNAME can work. - MX records: where your email is delivered. Never touch them when you connect a website.
- Nameservers: which company holds your address book. Usually the company you bought the domain from, unless you moved it.
Changes usually show within minutes. Sometimes they take a few hours to reach everyone.
www or the bare name?
The bare name is yourcafe.com with nothing in front. A CNAME can't go on the bare name at most companies, so the simple, reliable choice is:
- Connect
www.yourcafe.comto your site. - Forward
yourcafe.comtohttps://www.yourcafe.com, using your domain company's "forwarding" or "redirect" setting.
Want the bare name as the main address? Some DNS hosts have a special record for it (called ALIAS, ANAME or CNAME flattening). Cloudflare, Porkbun and Namecheap do; the full list is in using the bare domain.
Don't have a domain yet?
Ask your AI. Once you have a free Page Lemon account, it checks which names look free and gives you links to buy one, with a rough yearly price. Page Lemon doesn't sell domains or take a cut. Watch the renewal price as well as the first-year price: for some endings it's much higher.
- Find me a domain for my café
Connect it
- Connect www.yourcafe.com to my site
Your AI adds the domain to your site and gives you a link. If your domain company supports one-click connect (an open standard called Domain Connect), the link opens their own screen: sign in, check it names Page Lemon, and click Connect. It adds only what the website needs and leaves your email alone.
If not, your AI gives you the records to add by hand, about 5 minutes. They look like this, with your own code:
| Type | Name | Value |
|---|---|---|
CNAME | www | customers.pagelemon.dev |
TXT | _pagelemon.www | pl-verify-… (your code) |
Page Lemon sets up the padlock (HTTPS) for you and emails you when the site is live on your domain. Your pagelemon.dev address keeps working. Custom domains come with paid plans. See pricing
Where the DNS settings are
Menus change from time to time. If a step looks different, search the company's help for "DNS records". Most companies add your domain to the end of the name for you, so type just www or _pagelemon.www in the Name box.
Namecheap
- Sign in and open Domain List. Click Manage next to the domain.
- Open the Advanced DNS tab.
- Under Host Records, delete any existing
wwwrecord (often a parking page or a URL redirect). - Click Add new record: CNAME, host
www, your value. Add the TXT record the same way. Save each with the tick. - For the bare name, add a URL Redirect Record for
@tohttps://www.yourcafe.com, or anALIASrecord if you want the bare name as the address.
GoDaddy
- Sign in and open My Products. Next to the domain, choose DNS.
- Find the existing
wwwrecord. GoDaddy usually has a CNAME forwwwalready: edit it instead of adding a second one. - Set its value to the one your AI gave you. Then Add new record for the TXT.
- For the bare name, use Forwarding on the same page to send
yourcafe.comtohttps://www.yourcafe.com.
Cloudflare
- Open the domain, then DNS → Records.
- Remove or edit any existing
wwwrecord, then Add record for the CNAME and the TXT. - Set the CNAME to DNS only (the grey cloud), not proxied.
- For the bare name, Cloudflare flattens a CNAME on
@automatically, so you can use the bare name directly if you prefer.
Porkbun
- Sign in and open Domain Management. Click DNS next to the domain.
- Delete any default records for
www(new domains may have parking records). - Add the CNAME with host
www, then the TXT. - For the bare name, use URL forwarding, or an
ALIASrecord for@.
Is it working yet?
- Is my domain working yet?
Page Lemon re-checks the domain and your AI tells you what it sees: live, or exactly what's still missing.
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| The old website still shows | An old A or CNAME record for www is still there. Remove it. |
| The name ended up doubled | Like www.yourcafe.com.yourcafe.com. Your company adds the domain itself: type just www. |
| The company won't accept a CNAME | You're probably adding it to the bare name. Use www. |
| Email stopped arriving | An MX record was changed or removed. Put it back as your email provider says. |
| Nothing after a few hours | Check each value letter by letter. A domain bought minutes ago can take a little longer. |
Someone else runs your domain, like a web designer or your IT person? Send them the link from your AI. They click Connect, and you never share a password.
Questions
Do I have to move my domain to Page Lemon?
No. The domain stays with your domain company. You only add records there.
Will this break my email?
Not if you leave the MX and email TXT records alone. One-click connect never touches them.
Can I use a free domain?
Your site always has a free pagelemon.dev address. A name of your own is bought from a domain company, and connecting it needs a paid Page Lemon plan.
What happens if I stop paying?
After a 14-day grace period, a domain over your plan sends visitors to the site's pagelemon.dev address. The domain stays connected, and upgrading brings it back.