Web addresses
Your website can appear on a number of different web addresses, depending on the context. They are:
- Internal preview address (ie. http://www.prosepoint.net/site/NN)
- Subdomain address (ie. http://my-sub-domain.prosepoint.net)
- Custom domain address (ie. http://www.my-custom-domain.com)
Internal Preview Address
This address is used when you are logged in and managing your site. It is of the form http://www.prosepoint.net/site/NN where NN is your site's id number.
This address is for internal use only. It gives you a preview of how your website will appear to visitors and allows you extra capabilities. For example, if you placed your website offline, it is not accessible to visitors, but you can still preview it.
The site preview is only accessible to you (when logged in) and ProsePoint Express staff. It is not accessible to anyone else.
Subdomain and Custom Domain Address
The subdomain and custom domain addresses are used by visitors when they view your site. It is of the form http://my-sub-domain.prosepoint.net or http://www.my-custom-domain.com respectively (you get to choose my-sub-domain or my-custom-domain.com).
(Actually, subdomain and custom domain addresses are treated the same way, only the form of the addresses differ.)
Visitors view your website by visiting either the subdomain address or the custom domain address. If you use one of these addresses, you will also be treated as a general visitor (because the site doesn't recognise that you have editing capabilities).
When your site is ready to be unveiled to the general public, you need to configure either the subdomain or custom domain address. The subdomain or custom domain address is how your visitors reach your site.
To configure the subdomain or custom domain address, visit Settings » Web Address in the Control Menu.
Web Address Redirection
If you configure both the subdomain and the custom domain address, you can choose one of them to be the preferred web address. All external visitors to your site will be redirected to the preferred web address if necessary.
Example
For example, let's say you create your ProsePoint Express website. Initially, it doesn't have a web address configured so visitors cannot reach it. This is okay because you are still tweaking the site (using the internal preview address) and it's not ready yet for public consumption.
Later you are finished with the tweaking and you're ready to unveil your website. You set it's web address to the subdomain address http://my-sub-domain.prosepoint.net and you email all your friends telling them to visit http://my-sub-domain.prosepoint.net.
After a while, your website has taken off and there's lots of traffic coming in. You decide to get your own dotcom name to make it more professional. After registering and configuring your domain name1, you set your site's custom web address to http://www.my-custom-domain.com and you email all your friends telling them to visit http://www.my-custom-domain.com from here on.
Your website now has two web addresses: a subdomain and a custom domain. You set the custom domain address to be the preferred web address. All visitors viewing your site through the old address http://my-sub-domain.prosepoint.net will now be automatically redirected to http://www.my-custom-domain.com and you don't lose any of them.