You can transfer your church’s main domain to Faithlife for use with your Faithlife Site. Currently, you can only transfer a single domain, but your church may own multiple domains. If so, you’ll want to redirect your alternate domains to your church’s main site using a 301 permanent redirect.
For example, you may have transferred your main church site, examplechurch.org to your Faithlife Site, but you may also own examplechurch.com or examplechurch.net as well. You can set up a 301 redirect to send visitors to your Faithlife site at examplechurch.org no matter which URL they use.
301 Redirects
There are several different types of redirects. Generally speaking, you should use a 301 permanent redirect for SEO (search engine optimization) reasons, as it preserves most of the ranking power of your redirected links.
Note: 301 redirects are often called “permanent,” but you can change them if necessary. The permanency of a 301 is a signal to search engines and other web tools that the redirect isn’t likely temporary. This “permanency” is why 301 redirects help preserve your SEO ranking power.
General Steps
Each domain provider handles redirects differently, so you should consult their support documentation. Generally speaking, you’ll need to provide three items:
- The original URL to redirect (e.g., examplechurch.com).
- The type of redirect (choose 301 permanent).
- The final URL where your Faithlife Site is now located (e.g., examplechurch.org).
Once a 301 redirect is set, the update should be instantaneous. You can check to see if the redirect worked by opening your web browser to the original URL (e.g., examplechurch.com). It should immediately redirect to your Faithlife Site (e.g., examplechurch.org).
Popular Domain Registrar Instructions
Below are support articles for popular domain registrars explaining how to set up a redirect using their service. If you don’t see your domain provider, go to your provider’s support center.
