WARNING: THESE STEPS MUST BE FOLLOWED EXACTLY IN ORDER FOR YOUR CUSTOM DOMAIN TO WORK PROPERLY. IF YOU DEVIATE FROM THESE STEPS YOUR DOMAIN WILL NOT WORK PROPERLY EVEN THOUGH IT MAY APPEAR TO BE WORKING PROPERLY AND IT CAN CAUSE ISSUES WITH CUSTOMERS WHO ARE ATTEMPTING TO PURCHASE ART FROM YOUR WEBSITE.
Is your custom domain hosted by HostPapa? Below you will find easy to follow step-by-step instructions detailing how to set up a custom domain with HostPapa to point to the Art Storefronts platform. This guide will create the required CNAME record and corresponding 301 redirect that allows your custom domain name to work with Art Storefronts.
Please note that this process is not optional but MANDATORY to complete.
Navigate to HostPapa and click on My Account.
Input your Client ID and Password, then click Login.
Upon logging in, you will be brought to your dashboard. Click on My cPanel to get to your DNS Manager.
Once in the cPanel, scroll down until you see the heading for Domains. You will want to click on the Advanced Zone Editor.
Once in the Advanced Zone Editor, you will see the following fields at the top. YOU MUST ENTER THE VALUES EXACTLY AS SHOWN BELOW, AND ONLY CHANGE THE NAME FIELD TO YOUR CUSTOM DOMAIN URL.
Please Note: It is especially important for you to enter www.artstorefronts.com in the CNAME box. DO NOT, under any circumstances, type in your Art Storefronts subdomain here. Every customer is to enter in "www.artstorefronts.com" in this field.
Once the above records have been completed, you will click Add Record.
If the record comes back as already existing, you can scroll down the list of records until you find the one listed as a CNAME record, as seen below:
When you see the CNAME record that points your WWW., click Edit on the right-hand side.
Once in the Edit section, you'll want to change the record to point to ArtStorefronts. In the CNAME field, make sure to type www.artstorefronts.com.
Once the above step is completed, you will click Edit Record to finalize the change.
After the CNAME has been completed, you will need to scroll back up to the top of the Advanced Zone Editor and click the Home button.
Once back on the cPanel Home, you will need to scroll back down to the Domains heading and click the button for Redirects.
In the Redirect section, the Type must be Permanent 301, you must select your custom domain in the https?://(www.)?, and Redirects to must contain your custom domain URL including the http:// prefix, as shown below:
Once the above step has been completed, you will save this new record by clicking Add below the text fields.
WARNING: DO NOT USE ANY OTHER SETTINGS SUCH AS DOMAIN MASKING. CHECK IMMEDIATELY TO SEE IF YOU ARE USING THIS SETTING. IF YOU ARE TURN IT OFF.
YOUR SHOPPING CART AND SEO WILL NOT WORK PROPERLY IF DOMAIN MASKING IS TURNED ON.