Buy Or Configure Your Domains For PURLs And Landing Pages

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Buy Or Configure Your Domains For PURLs And Landing Pages


Manage Marketing Campaign Domains In Boingnet

Landing pages, microsites and PURLs have to have a domain associated with them in order to render properly. A properly configured domain will serve up traffic beautifully. An improperly configured domain won’t work at all.

Getting domains established for your campaigns is therefore really important!

There are 2 different types of domains that can be used with Boingnet:

Vanity domains (or vanity URLs) are domains that are used exclusively for marketing campaigns. They don’t have to sort through traffic trying to hit other web pages, like a brand’s primary domain. We’ve created a software tool that makes finding and setting up vanity domains super easy.

Tryboingnet.com is an example of a vanity domain – we acquired it for marketing campaigns.

External domains are domains that have been acquired outside of Boingnet, through domain registrars like GoDaddy, Network Solutions & others.  They are often used as primary website domains. In order to use an external domain, a technician needs to log into the registrar and modify settings.

Boingnet.com is an example of an external domain – it is hosted at GoDaddy.

How to Configure Vanity or External Domains in Boingnet

Over the years, working through thousands of campaigns, we’ve discovered that marketers typically don’t like to mess around with the technical settings of external domains. Also, at larger clients, marketers often don’t want to wait around for an IT person to be provisioned to make the change.

That’s why we developed a simple, fast & not technical process to find and configure vanity domains from within the Boingnet platform.

 

You can easily search for, purchase and manage vanity domains and email settings that will then be automatically configured for landing page, microsite, pURL (personal URL) and email marketing campaigns.  You won’t need to log into domain registrars to configure email DNS settings, or to edit CNAME records.  For your email campaigns, your DNS records are automatically set up with the proper SPF and DKIM authentication.  No more need to add ‘wildcards’ for your pURL campaigns, your domain will automatically point to our IP address so Boingnet can host your landing pages.  You can also set up ‘external’ domains that you have purchased elsewhere to be used in your Boingnet campaigns.

Below are step by step instructions on how to search for, buy and configure a vanity domain in Boingnet.

To add an external domain that you have purchased elsewhere, see Add an External Domain to Your Boingnet Account further down in this article, or download the Quick Reference Guide:

 

To Purchase and Register Domains using Boingnet:

From the Home page, click on your account name in the upper right corner, then select Domains:

Domain1

 

Next, search to see if the domain you have in mind is available.  Enter the domain name in the first box, and select the extension from the menu in the second box, and then click Search:

 

Domain2

 

In the example below, we have entered ‘marketingdomains.com’ to see if it is available:

Domain3

 

That domain has already been purchased, so we need to make another selection.  Let’s try primemarketingdomains.com:

 

Domain4

 

This domain, primemarketingdomains.com is available, so check the terms and conditions box and click Register Domain.  You’ll receive a message asking you to confirm the registration, click Confirm Register Domain to proceed:

 

Domain5

 

You’ll receive a message telling you that your domain is being registered:

Domain6

 

 

 

Once your domain has been registered, it will appear on your account’s domain page under Domains and you’ll be ready to use it for pURL, Lead Generation and Email campaigns.

domain10

You can now manage your domains and email settings that you’ve purchased in Boingnet easily.

To Add an External Domain to Your Boingnet Account.

To use a domain you have registered outside of Boingnet, you must complete the following steps:

  •  Step 1 – Add that external domain to your Boingnet account.
  •  Step 2 – Point that domain to Boingnet’s IP address. How you do this depends on the type of Boingnet campaign you’ll be creating.  See separate instructions below for pURL Campaigns, Lead Generation Campaigns, and for pointing a Sub-Domain to Boingnet.
  • Step 3 – See the help article Configure Your Email DNS Settings to configure your external domain for email campaigns.

Download External Domain Quick Reference Guide

 

Step 1:

To add an external domain to your Boingnet account, click on your account name in the upper right corner, and then select Domains:

Domain11

 

On the Domains Page, select the External Domains Tab.  Next, enter the Domain Name in the box provided and click Add:

 

Domain12

 

You’ll receive a message that your domain has been successfully added to your account.

 

Step 2:

To Point a Domain for a pURL Campaign:

In order to point a domain to Boingnet for a pURL Campaign, you’ll need to add an ‘ARecord with a Host value of ‘*’ to your domain registrar’s DNS Zone File.  This will point everything except subdomains that are already assigned to our IP address:

Log in to your hosting company’s admin dashboard, navigate to your domain’s DNS settings, and add an ‘A’ Record with the following values.

  • Host: *
  • Points to: 52.2.38.99
  • TTL: 1 Hour

Below you will be able to view what your  ‘A’ Record should look like when entered into the dashboards of some popular web hosts including Godaddy, Network Solutions, and Register.com.  Note that the new and correct IP address for Boingnet is “52.2.38.99“.  Click below to watch a video:

Godaddy

  • After logging into Godaddy, Click your User ID in the upper right corner.
  • Next, click Manage My Domains:

Domain1

 

Find the domain you’d like to manage and select it – in this example, we’re editing the YOUR-CAMPAIGN.COM domain:

Domains2

On the Domain Settings Page, scroll down and click on Manage DNS:

Domains3

 

Your DNS Records for this domain will display:

Domains4

 

Scroll to the bottom and click Add:

Domains5

 

Next, select ‘A’ from the drop down list under Type:

Domains6

And then enter the following:

  •      Host = ‘*’
  •      Points To: 52.2.38.99
  •      TTL:  1 Hour:

Click Save

Keep in mind that it takes most domain registrars 24-48 hours to make these changes.

 

Network Solutions:

After logging into Network Solutions, click on My Domain Names:

Net1

Next, click on Change Where Domain Points:

Net2

 

On the next page, select Advanced DSN and click Continue:

Net3

On the next page, click on Edit A Records:

Net4

 

On the next page, find the * Host record and update the Numeric IP address with the following:

52.2.38.99

Do not edit the other A records.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Continue:

 

You’ll be asked to confirm your updates, click Save Changes:

Please note that it may take Network Solutions 24 hours to process this update.

 

Register.com:

Login to your Register.com account.  Hover over Domains and then select Manage:

Register1

 

On the next page, click Manage:

Register2

On the next page, scroll down to Advanced Technical Settings and click the Edit arrow next to Edit IP Address Records:

Register3

 

Enter the following IP address in the box provided for the * record:

52.2.38.99

Click Continue:

 

You’ll navigate to a confirmation page. Double check that you have pointed the * record to our 52.2.38.99 IP address and then click Continue:

 

Please keep in mind that it will take approximately 24-48 hours for Register.com to make these updates.

 

To Point a Domain for a Lead Generation Campaign:

A Boingnet Lead Generation Campaign will create a URL beginning with ‘www‘.  In order to point a domain to Boingnet for a Lead Generation Campaign, you’ll need to add an ‘A‘ Record with a Host value of ‘@’  to your domain registrar’s DNS Zone File.    This will point only the ‘www‘ to our IP address.

Follow instructions above for GoDaddy etc and add an ‘A’ Record with the following values.

  • Host: @
  • Points to: 52.2.38.99
  • TTL: 1 Hour

 

 

To Point a Sub-Domain to Boingnet:

To point a sub-domain to Boingnet, log in to your domain registrar’s dashboard and add an ‘A’ Record with the following values.  In the example below, we’re pointing a sub-domain on GoDaddy.

  • After logging into Godaddy, Click the green Manage button to the right of Domains.
  • Click on the domain you would like to edit.
  • Click the DNS Zone File Tab.
  • Click Add Record.
  • In the Add Zone Record box that pops up – enter the following;
  • Under Record Type, Select A (Host)
  • Host = ‘sub-domain name’
  • Points To:  52.2.38.99
  • TTL: 1 Hour
  • Click Finish

For example, if we want to add a sub-domain called ‘marketing‘ to a domain called ‘your-campaign.com‘, we need to add the following A Record to the your-campaign.com domain:

 

 

This will point the marketing.your-campaign.com domain to Boingnet’s IP address.

 

Click Save to save all of your changes.  Please keep in mind that it takes most domain registrars 24-48 hours to make these changes.

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