Managing Your Site

Site Settings

Access your site settings by clicking Settings in the sidebar.

The Settings page is divided into several sections:

1. Site Status - Publish or unpublish your site
2. General Settings - Basic information about your site
3. Branding - Logo and favicon
4. Colors - Customize your color scheme
5. Google Analytics - Track visitor traffic
6. Danger Zone - Delete your site

Customizing Your Brand

Make your site uniquely yours with custom branding.

Adding a Logo

Your logo appears in the header of your site.

1. In Settings, scroll to the Branding section
2. Under Logo, click Upload or Choose from Media
3. Select or upload your logo image
4. Click Save at the bottom of the page

Recommended logo specs:

• Size: 300x80 pixels (or similar horizontal ratio)
• Format: PNG or SVG (with transparency if needed)

Adding a Favicon

A favicon is the small icon that appears in browser tabs.

1. Under Favicon, click Upload or Choose from Media
2. Select a square image (your logo icon works great)
3. Click Save

Recommended favicon specs:

• Size: 32x32 or 64x64 pixels
• Format: PNG or ICO

Choosing Colors

Customize your site's color scheme to match your brand.

In the Colors section, you can set:

Color	What it affects	Default
Primary	Links, buttons, accents	Purple (#9333ea)
Secondary	Secondary accents	Gray (#6b7280)
Navbar Background	Header background	White (#ffffff)
Navbar Text	Header text and links	Dark gray (#111827)
Background	Page background	White (#ffffff)

To change a color:

1. Click the color box to open a color picker, OR
2. Type a hex code directly (e.g., #ff5500)

Live Preview: As you change colors, the preview at the bottom updates in real-time so you can see how your site will look.

Don't forget to click Save when you're happy with your colors!

Publishing Your Site

When you're ready for the world to see your site:

1. Go to Settings
2. At the top, you'll see your Site Status
3. Click the green Publish Site button
4. Your site is now live!

What happens when you publish:

• Your site becomes visible at yoursite.xylo.gg
• If you're on a trial, your 30-day countdown begins
• All published posts and pages become publicly accessible

Unpublishing Your Site

Need to take your site offline temporarily?

1. Go to Settings
2. Click the Unpublish button
3. Confirm the action

Your site will show a "Coming Soon" message to visitors, but all your content remains safe and intact.

Using a Custom Domain

By default, your site is available at yoursite.xylo.gg. You can also use your own custom domain (like www.myblog.com or myblog.com) while keeping the Xylo subdomain working too.

What You'll Need

• A domain you own (purchased from a registrar like Namecheap, GoDaddy, Google Domains, Cloudflare, etc.)
• Access to your domain's DNS settings

Step 1: Add Your Domain in Xylo

1. Go to Settings in your dashboard
2. Scroll down to the Custom Domain section
3. Enter your domain (e.g., myblog.com or blog.mycompany.com)
   • Don't include https:// or www.
4. Click Save

You'll see DNS configuration instructions appear.

Step 2: Configure Your DNS

You need to point your domain to Xylo's servers. The setup depends on what type of domain you're using.

For Root Domains (e.g., myblog.com)

Root domains (also called apex domains) require an A record:

1. Log in to your domain registrar's DNS settings
2. Find or create an A record
3. Set it up as follows:

Setting	Value
Type	A
Name/Host	@ (or leave blank, depending on your registrar)
Value/Points to	The IP address shown in your Xylo settings
TTL	3600 (or "Auto")

For Subdomains (e.g., blog.mycompany.com or www.myblog.com)

Subdomains can use a CNAME record, which is easier:

1. Log in to your domain registrar's DNS settings
2. Find or create a CNAME record
3. Set it up as follows:

Setting	Value
Type	CNAME
Name/Host	Your subdomain (e.g., blog or www)
Value/Points to	sites.xylo.gg
TTL	3600 (or "Auto")

Using Cloudflare?

Cloudflare supports "CNAME flattening" which lets you use a CNAME even for root domains. Just create a CNAME record pointing @ to sites.xylo.gg.

Step 3: Verify Your Domain

After configuring DNS:

1. Return to Settings in your Xylo dashboard
2. In the Custom Domain section, click Verify DNS
3. If successful, you'll see a green "Verified" badge

DNS not verifying?

• DNS changes can take anywhere from a few minutes to 48 hours to propagate
• Double-check your DNS settings for typos
• Try again in 15-30 minutes
• Make sure you're using the correct record type (A for root domains, CNAME for subdomains)

Step 4: You're Done!

Once verified:

• Your site is live at your custom domain (e.g., https://myblog.com)
• SSL/HTTPS is automatically configured
• Your Xylo subdomain (yoursite.xylo.gg) continues to work too
• Both URLs serve the same content

Common DNS Setups by Registrar

Namecheap:

1. Go to Domain List > Manage > Advanced DNS
2. Add a new record with the settings above

GoDaddy:

1. Go to My Products > DNS > Manage
2. Click Add under Records

Google Domains:

1. Go to DNS in the left sidebar
2. Scroll to Custom Records

Cloudflare:

1. Go to DNS in your domain's dashboard
2. Click Add Record

Troubleshooting

"Domain is already in use" Another Xylo site is using this domain. If it's yours, remove it from the other site first.

"DNS verification failed"

• Wait 15-30 minutes and try again
• Verify your DNS records are correct
• Check if your registrar has any DNS propagation delays

Site shows security warning SSL certificates are issued automatically when you first visit the domain after verification. If you see a warning, wait a minute and refresh.

Want to remove your custom domain? Click the Remove link in the Custom Domain section. Your site will only be accessible at the Xylo subdomain again.

Setting Up Google Analytics

Track your site's traffic and visitor behavior with Google Analytics.

Getting Your Google Tag ID

Before you can add analytics to your Xylo site, you'll need a Google Tag ID from Google Analytics:

1. Go to analytics.google.com

2. Sign in with your Google account

3. If you don't have a property yet:

   • Click Admin (gear icon)
   • Click Create Property
   • Enter your site name and select your time zone/currency
   • Complete the setup wizard

4. Get your Measurement ID:

   • Go to Admin > Data Streams
   • Click on your web stream (or create one if needed)
   • Copy the Measurement ID (it starts with G-)

Your Measurement ID looks like: G-XXXXXXXXXX

Adding Analytics to Your Xylo Site

1. Go to Settings in your Xylo dashboard
2. Scroll down to the Google Analytics section
3. Enter your Google Tag ID in the field
   • For Google Analytics 4 (GA4): Enter your G-XXXXXXXXXX ID
   • For Google Ads tracking: You can also use AW-XXXXXXXXXXX IDs
4. Click Save Settings

That's it! Google Analytics will now track visitors on your published site.

What Gets Tracked

Once enabled, Google Analytics automatically tracks:

• Page views: Which pages visitors view
• Sessions: How many visits your site gets
• Users: Unique visitors to your site
• Traffic sources: Where visitors come from (search, social, direct)
• Geography: What countries and cities your visitors are in
• Devices: Desktop, mobile, or tablet usage

Viewing Your Analytics

To see your site's analytics data:

1. Go to analytics.google.com
2. Select your property
3. View reports in the left sidebar:
   • Realtime: See who's on your site right now
   • Reports > Acquisition: Where traffic comes from
   • Reports > Engagement: Which pages perform best
   • Reports > Demographics: Who your visitors are

Note: It can take 24-48 hours for data to start appearing in Google Analytics after you first set it up.

Tips for Using Analytics

Check regularly:

• Review your analytics weekly to understand trends
• Look for which posts get the most traffic
• See where your visitors come from

Set up goals:

• In Google Analytics, you can set up goals to track specific actions
• Examples: newsletter signups, contact form submissions, time on page

Privacy considerations:

• Google Analytics uses cookies to track visitors
• Consider adding a privacy policy to your site if you use analytics
• Some visitors use ad blockers that prevent analytics tracking

Removing Analytics

To stop tracking visitors:

1. Go to Settings
2. Clear the Google Tag ID field (leave it empty)
3. Click Save Settings

Analytics tracking will stop immediately.