Configuring GoDaddy.com to use your custom hostname

If you do not have a GoDaddy account STOP. We have a super easy automated method to get both your domain name and make it work with your Smug Mug account. Go Here for more information.

If you like text instructions, start here. If you want graphical step by step, look below.

Text Instructions

Log in to your account at www.godaddy.com.
Open the Domains tab and select My Domain Names.
Click the domain that you'd like to use with your blog.
Click the Total DNS Control And MX Records link at the bottom of the section entitled Total DNS.
Click Add New CNAME Record in the box labelled CNAMES (aliases). If you are changing from an existing website, or if a www CNAME exists, click the pencil icon to edit it.
For the Name, enter only the subdomain of the address you want to use for your SmugMug site. For example, if you picked www.mydomain.com as your address, enter www here.
Enter domains.smugmug.com as the Host Name. Specify a TTL or use the default setting of 1 hour.
Important note: You literally need to enter domains.smugmug.com - do not use anything else, like your nickname, or it will not work.
If you want the yourdomain.com version to work, you need to add an A record. Click the Add A Record button.
Enter the @ symbol for the host. Then add 208.79.45.23 as the points to IP address.
Click OK
You are done, after you close this dialog, you can close out of GoDaddy. You may have to wait 24 hours before the next step will work. I would wait 15 minutes and try step 7. If it does not work or you get an error, wait about an hour. If it still fails wait 24 hours. If it does not work after 24 hours, please contact the SmugMug help desk and we will check your configuration.
Login to your SmugMug account and go to your control panel. In the "Account Settings" section, click the "change" link next to the word "Domain". Type the entire domain name you're forwarding into the space provided. (Ignore the guest password field; it's for something else.)

Graphical instructions

Step 1: Log in and click Domains on the next screen. You may have to click the My Products group to see the Domains option.

Step 2: Click the domain you wish to manage.

Step 3: Click on Total DNS Control and MX Records. Depending on how and when your domain was set up, it may be using the parked or custom nameservers. You may need to change those to the default hosted set at GoDaddy. To check this, click on the nameservers

If the Total DNS Control is not present, your domain is most likely pointing to a custom set of nameservers that do not belong to GoDaddy. Switch to the GoDaddy hosted set and wait. It may take several hours for the nameservers to switch. Once they do and the Total DNS control appears, you may make the changes below.

Step 4: If you want your domain to look like www.yourdomain.com, you will have to set up a CNAME for 'www'. There most likely is one already. If there is a www entry, edit it using the pencil. If you'd rather have photos.yourdomain.com point to your SmugMug site, you'll want to create a CNAME record with "photos" as the subdomain.

If there is no www or you want to add a subdomain click the "Add New CNAME Record" button.

Step 5: The Alias Name is the subdomain you want to use — the letters that precede your domain name — such as www or photos. It should point to the hostname domains.smugmug.com. Leave TTL value at 1 hour, and click OK.
Important note: You literally need to enter domains.smugmug.com - do not use anything else, like your nickname, or it will not work.

If you need to go back and edit a CNAME record, use the pencil icon.

Step 6: If you are using WWW I highly recommend that you set an A-Record at this point, which will allow visitors to type in http://domain.com instead of http://www.domain.com. You can edit an existing @ A-Record OR click "Add New A-Record". Fill in the fields as shown. Click OK. (Please note that SmugMug's IP address may change at some point in the future.)

You are done, after you close this dialog, you can close out of GoDaddy. You may have to wait 24 hours before the next step will work. I would wait 15 minutes and try step 7. If it does not work or you get an error, wait about an hour. If it still fails wait 24 hours. If it does not work after 24 hours, please contact the SmugMug help desk and we will check your configuration.

Step 7: Login to your SmugMug account and go to your control panel. In the "Account Settings" section, click the "change" link next to the word "Domain". Type the entire domain name you're forwarding into the space provided. (Ignore the guest password field; it's for something else.)

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Gotcha: They must be all lower-case or it won't work.

Don't add http:// or any / marks. Just type www.yourdomain.com (or photos.yourdomain.com, for example, if you set it up that way).

Let us know if you have troubles.

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Configuring GoDaddy.com to use your custom hostname

Text Instructions

Graphical instructions

That hostname doesn't appear to be valid. It doesn't resolve to a hostname. See our help section on..."

Invalid URL

Warning: That hostname doesn't resolve to SmugMug. This may cause problems with your custom hostname setting. See our help section on custom hostnames.

Please contact us at the help@smugmug.com for help. I do not see your posts here right away. I want you to get help as quickly as possible.