Connecting your own domain

Every church starts out with a free Psalmly web address that looks like yourchurch.psalmly.app. If your church owns its own domain — something like firstbaptist.org — you can put your public page on that address instead, so people find you at your real name. This is called a custom domain, and you set it up from Custom domain in the admin sidebar.

Connecting a domain doesn't change anything about your page — it's the same public page, the same content, just answering at a friendlier address. And your old yourchurch.psalmly.app address keeps working forever: once your domain is live, that address simply forwards to it, so no existing link or flyer ever breaks.

What you need first

Three things, all on your side:

• A paid plan. Custom domains are part of the Community and Growth plans. On the Free plan the Custom domain screen shows an upgrade prompt instead — everything else about your public page still works, just on the .psalmly.app address.
• A domain you already own. Psalmly doesn't sell domains. You buy one (usually around $10–$20 a year) from a domain provider — also called a registrar — such as GoDaddy, Namecheap, Squarespace/Google, Cloudflare, or Wix. If you already have a church website or a church email like office@firstbaptist.org, you already own a domain.
• Access to that domain's settings. You'll add a few small records in your provider's DNS settings. If someone else set up your domain, you can hand them the instructions (there's a button for exactly that — see below).

There's no extra charge from Psalmly. The secure certificate is included and renews itself.

How it works, in plain terms

It helps to picture what's happening:

1. You tell Psalmly which domain you want to use.
2. You add the records Psalmly shows you at your domain provider, pointing your domain's traffic at Psalmly and proving the domain is yours.
3. Psalmly recognizes your domain, serves your existing public page there, and automatically issues a free security certificate (the padlock in the browser's address bar).
4. Your yourchurch.psalmly.app address starts forwarding to your domain, so old links keep working and search engines treat your custom domain as the main one.

You don't manage any of step 3 or 4 — Psalmly handles the certificate and the forwarding for you. Your only real job is adding those records in step 2.

Setting it up, step by step

Open Custom domain in the admin sidebar.

1. Connect your domain

Click Connect a domain and type your address. You can paste it in any form — https://FirstBaptist.org/, firstbaptist.org, whatever — Psalmly tidies it up.

You'll be offered two versions to choose from:

• www.firstbaptist.org — recommended. The "www" version works reliably at every domain provider.
• firstbaptist.org — the shorter, bare version.

Pick whichever you'd rather share. Whatever you choose becomes your main address, and Psalmly points the other version (and your .psalmly.app address) to forward to it. When in doubt, take the recommended www option. Click Continue. (You'll only see this choice if you typed the bare domain — type the www version yourself and Psalmly just uses it.)

2. Add the records at your domain provider

This is the one technical step, and Psalmly gives you the exact records to copy. There will be several rows, not one — your address and its www/non-www twin each need their own, and each also needs a short ownership record. Each row has a Type, a Name / Host, and a Value:

Type: CNAME · Name / Host: www · Value: (an address shown on your screen)

A bare firstbaptist.org gets A records with numeric values instead, and there may be more than one of those.

Among the rows you'll be given are one or two TXT records whose name starts with _psalmly-verify. These prove the domain is yours, and nothing goes live until they resolve — so add them along with the rest, not as an afterthought. Each address gets its own: the name for your www address reads _psalmly-verify.www, and the one for the bare domain reads just _psalmly-verify.

Copy what's on the screen exactly. The values are specific to your church, they change over time, and a value copied from anywhere else — including an older version of this page — will not work.

To add them:

1. Log in to your domain provider (where you bought the domain).
2. Find its DNS settings — sometimes called "DNS management," "Manage DNS," or "Advanced DNS."
3. Add a new record for each row, using the Type, Name, and Value shown on the Psalmly screen. Use the Copy button next to each value so you don't mistype anything.
4. Save.

Not the person who handles your website? Use Email these instructions on the screen to send the exact records (and a link back to this page) to whoever does. There's also a "Where do I put these?" link with pointers to the common providers.

3. Wait for it to take effect

After you save the record, it can take anywhere from a few minutes to — at the very outside — 48 hours for the change to spread across the internet. This wait is normal and entirely on your domain provider's side, not Psalmly's.

You don't have to sit and watch. The screen says Waiting for DNS and re-checks every few seconds while you're on it. If you leave, Psalmly still checks once a day and will email you when it's live — so it may take a little longer to hear than if you'd stayed. Your site stays up at yourchurch.psalmly.app the entire time. If you've just added the records and want to nudge it, come back and click Check now.

4. Securing your domain

Once Psalmly sees your record, it spends a minute or so issuing your free security certificate (the screen says Securing). This is what gives visitors the padlock and the https://. You don't do anything here.

5. You're live

When it finishes, the screen shows a green Live badge with your address and an Open site button. Your public page now answers at your own domain, the certificate is in place, and your old .psalmly.app address forwards to it. That's it — you're done.

"www" vs. the bare domain

Both work, and you can pick either when you connect:

• www.firstbaptist.org is the most reliable choice because it uses a simple CNAME record that every provider supports. We recommend it.
• firstbaptist.org (no "www") is shorter. It uses an A record, which some providers handle slightly differently.

Whichever you make your main address, Psalmly forwards the other one to it automatically — so a visitor who types either will always land in the right place.

If the screen says "Action needed"

If Psalmly can't reach your domain, the screen turns to Action needed and tells you what's off. Almost always it's one of these:

• The record doesn't match. A single typo in the Name or Value will stop it. Re-open your provider's DNS settings and check the record character-for-character against the Psalmly screen — then click Check again.
• There's already a conflicting record. If an old record uses the same Name (for example, an existing www record from a previous website), remove or update it so only the new one Psalmly asked for remains.
• An extra ownership record is requested. If your domain is already in use with another hosting account, Psalmly may show an additional TXT record beyond the _psalmly-verify ones. Add it the same way as the rest.
• It just hasn't spread yet. If you only added the record a little while ago, it may simply need more time. Give it a bit and click Check again — there's nothing to fix.

When in doubt, the safest move is to delete the record at your provider and re-add it exactly as the Psalmly screen shows, then Check again.

Changing or removing your domain

You're never stuck:

• Typed the wrong address, or want a different one? At any step before it's live — including while it's Waiting for DNS or Securing — use Use a different domain (or Cancel and use a different domain) to clear it and start over with a fresh address.
• Want to remove it after it's live? On the live screen, click Disconnect. Your site goes straight back to your yourchurch.psalmly.app address. (Visitors using your custom domain won't reach your page again until you reconnect, so only do this if you mean to.)

Common questions

Does my .psalmly.app address stop working? No. It keeps working forever and forwards to your custom domain once you're live. Old links and flyers are safe.

Do I have to buy anything from Psalmly? No. You only need to own the domain (bought from any provider). The custom-domain feature, the security certificate, and the forwarding are all included with your paid plan.

Is it secure? Yes. Psalmly issues a free SSL certificate automatically and renews it for you — visitors get the padlock and https:// with nothing for you to manage.

Why is it taking so long to go live? The wait is your domain provider spreading the new record across the internet, which can take up to 48 hours (though it's often much faster). Psalmly re-checks every few seconds while you have the page open, checks once a day otherwise, and emails you when it's ready. It's also worth re-reading your records — a domain that never goes live is usually one where a row was missed, most often one of the _psalmly-verify TXT records.

Can I use my bare domain without "www"? Yes — choose firstbaptist.org when you connect. We recommend the www version because it's the most reliable, but either works.

Does this give me email at my domain (like pastor@firstbaptist.org)? No. A custom domain in Psalmly is about your website address only. Church email is handled by a separate email provider and isn't affected by connecting your domain here.

Can I connect more than one domain? For now, one custom domain per church. Your .psalmly.app address always works alongside it.