Guide · Website builder
From a new website to your own domain on HTTPS
Six steps. The first time takes about an hour, most of it waiting for DNS; the hands-on part is under twenty minutes.
6 steps
About 1 hour
Needs the Websites permission
1
Step 1
Create a website
Open Websites in the left menu and click New website at the top right. Three screens and it's created — as a draft that nobody outside can see yet.
New website · Pick a starting point
Pick a starting point
Company website, product catalog, spa & wellness, real estate, B2B export enquiries, event landing page, a software product site with scroll motion — or start from a blank website. A template only sets the layout; it isn't tied to any module. Preview full site shows the whole template first.
Fill in the basics
- Website name: shown only inside Wotrace.
- Platform address: lowercase letters, digits and hyphens; leave it empty to generate one. Your free address is
https://sites.wotrace.com/<platform address>/. - Languages: the default language lives at the root; the others under paths such as
/zh/or/ar/. A sentence that isn't translated yet shows in the default language.
New website · Basics
Connect your data
For parts such as a news list or a contact form, pick one of your own modules. Tick Skip for anything you don't need — the pages and blocks that use it are removed. Click Create website and the editor opens.
New website · Connect your data
2
Step 2
Edit pages
Changes save automatically — when the top bar says All changes saved, nothing is lost. The editor has five areas:
The website editor
- Panel bar: Add, Layers, Pages, Theme, Data, Forms, Media, Settings, Domains, Analytics, Versions.
- Panel: Add holds every element — sections, grids, carousels, accordions, tabs, marquees, counters, images, videos, maps, forms… drag one onto the page.
- Page: exactly what visitors will see. Click to select an element; double-click a heading, text or button to edit the words in place.
- Properties: content, style and motion of the selected element.
- Top bar: switch page, screen size (desktop / tablet / phone) and editing language; undo, preview and publish.
Content
With an element selected, change its text, level, link or image under Content. Links can point to a page on the site, a URL, an email address or a phone number.
Style
Font, size, colour, spacing, alignment, background, corners, shadow, frosted glass… set Normal and Hover separately. Switch the top bar to Phone first and your change applies only to phones and smaller screens.
Motion
Entrance effects (fade, rise, zoom…), duration, easing and one-by-one stagger; plus on hover, loop, parallax and a header that shrinks after scrolling. Click Play to watch it in the editor.
Theme panel
Change the whole look in one click
Theme has 12 colour presets that restyle the whole site at once; you can also set the primary colour, fonts, corner radius, content width and button style on their own.
- Languages: switch the editing language in the top bar, then edit — only that language changes.
- Language switcher: select it in the header to choose dropdown, inline or select box, names or codes, with or without a globe icon.
- Made a mistake? Undo in the top bar.
3
Step 3
Preview
To check it yourself, click Preview at the top right of the editor and choose Desktop or Phone; it opens in a new tab.
- You see the draft, drawn by the same renderer as the live site: menus, carousels, motion and the language switcher all work.
- Every change in the editor shows up in the preview straight away — no need to refresh.
- Forms in a preview are never actually submitted.
Preview: desktop / phone
Phone preview
Show it to someone else
Go to Versions → Preview links, choose what to preview, an optional password and how long it stays valid, then click Create link. The link freezes the content at that moment and is shown only once — copy it right away. Search engines don't index previews.
Versions · Preview links
4
Step 4
Publish
Click Publish in the top bar; once the checks pass you're live. Every publish is a version.
- Checks: anything that blocks publishing is listed — fix it first. “Everything checks out.” means you're good to go.
- What changed: one line such as “New spring prices” makes the version easy to find later.
- Publish now, or turn on Schedule and pick a date and time.
Without the publish permission this step becomes Submit for review, and someone who can publish approves or rejects it under Versions.
Publish
Website list: “Live · v1” after publishing
Once published, the free address https://sites.wotrace.com/<platform address>/ works right away, with HTTPS. Later edits stay in the draft until you publish again.
- Roll back to this: puts an older version live again (published as a new version).
- Restore as draft: replaces your draft with an older version to keep working on; the live site doesn't change.
5
Step 5
Connect a domain
Connect the domain under Domains in the editor, then add two records where you bought the domain (your DNS provider). As soon as Wotrace sees them, you're through. The example below uses www.example.com.
- Go to Domains → Your domains, type
www.example.comand click Connect. The first domain you connect becomes the primary one. - The panel shows two records — copy them to your DNS provider.
- Back in Domains, click Check now. Not found yet? No problem: Wotrace re-checks every ten minutes for three days.
Domains panel
| Type | Host / name | Value | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| TXT | _wotrace.www | wotrace-verify=… (the string in the panel; different for every domain) | Proves the domain is yours |
| CNAME | www | sites.wotrace.com | Points visitors to Wotrace |
What to type at your DNS provider
Enter only the first part of the host name — don't add .example.com again.
| Provider | TXT record name | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Alibaba Cloud / Tencent DNSPod | _wotrace.www | No quotes around the value |
| AWS Route 53 | _wotrace.www | The value showing in quotes, "wotrace-verify=…", is normal |
| Cloudflare | _wotrace.www | Set the CNAME's proxy status to DNS only (grey cloud) |
| GoDaddy / Namecheap | _wotrace.www | Pick the shortest TTL |
Two common traps
- If
wwwalready has an A or CNAME record, delete the old one first — otherwise the new CNAME can't be added. - The bare domain (
example.com) can't take a CNAME. Set up a 301 redirect at your DNS provider tohttps://www.example.com.
A website can have several domains; all of them redirect to the primary one, which you can change with Make primary.
6
Step 6
HTTPS certificate
Once the domain shows Verified, there's nothing left to do: Wotrace requests a certificate from Let's Encrypt and within about five minutes it shows HTTPS on. Certificates last 90 days and renew automatically 30 days before they expire — as long as the CNAME keeps pointing to sites.wotrace.com.
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Waiting for DNS · no certificate yet | The TXT record isn't visible yet | Check the two records from step 5 |
| Verified · issuing certificate | The domain is confirmed as yours; the certificate is on its way | Wait a few minutes |
| Live · HTTPS on | Done: https works and http redirects to https | Nothing |
| certificate failed | The request failed; the reason is shown underneath | See the questions below |
Troubleshooting
Stuck? Start here
I clicked Check now and the TXT record still isn't found
Usually the new record hasn't spread yet, or the host name includes an extra .example.com. Open https://dns.google/resolve?name=_wotrace.www.example.com&type=TXT in a browser (with your domain): if the answer contains wotrace-verify=…, the record is right — the automatic re-check every ten minutes will pick it up.
The browser says “Not secure”
The certificate isn't issued yet — check whether Domains shows HTTPS on. Also note that Chrome hides www.: an address bar showing example.com may really be www.example.com.
“The domain doesn't reach this server yet”
The CNAME is missing, an old A record is still there, or Cloudflare's proxy (orange cloud) is on. Fix the records; Wotrace tries again after ten minutes.
“certificate failed”, followed by an error in English
Something went wrong while requesting the certificate; Wotrace retries after an hour. If it keeps failing, send that error text to help@wotrace.com.
The bare domain without www doesn't open
A bare domain can't take a CNAME. Redirect example.com to https://www.example.com (301) at your DNS provider.
I changed the website but the live site didn't change
The change is still in the draft — click Publish again.
A preview link doesn't open
It may have expired, been revoked, or need a password. Create a new one under Versions → Preview links.
“Someone else saved”
Two people are editing the same website. Click Load the latest version, then redo your last change.
Still stuck?
Email us with the website name and a screenshot, and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.