Every PhotoShelter for Brands subscripton receives a personalized website address in the form of companyname.photoshelter.com. If you prefer to use your own custom domain, you can purchase a domain from a separate registrar (e.g. GoDaddy) and follow the steps below to point that domain to your PhotoShelter site. In this scenario, PhotoShelter would still be your website host, but your domain name would be registered elsewhere.
Custom Subdomain Setup with Single Sign-On (SSO)
Custom Subdomain Setup
Given terminology used by the many domain registrars is not always consistent, the setup steps for are generalized. For specific terminology used by specific domain registrars, consult your registrar’s support documentation.
- Within your domain registrar, create a new CNAME Record
- “Point” the CNAME Record to psecn-custom.photoshelter.com
- Make the “host name” or “name” whatever is desired for the Portal URL
- Using the example, files.pichouse.com
- pichouse.com = the domain
- files = “host name” or “name” (can be anything)
- files.pichouse.com = CNAME record, new Portal URL
- Using the example, files.pichouse.com
- On the General Settings page, add your Custom Subdomain to the “Custom Domain (CNAME)” field
- Navigate to this page by clicking Admin > Portal Settings > General Settings
If you receive an error message, it may be that you need to wait a bit longer for your CNAME record to propagate. Depending on the registrar, this can take anywhere from 30 seconds to 48 hours.
If the “SSL status” shows as “In Process,” that means the CNAME record was set up properly. It generally takes 5-20 minutes for the SSL certificate to generate (this is what ensures your domain is loaded over a secure connection). Once it’s active, your custom subdomain should successfully load to your PhotoShelter site.
- Navigate to this page by clicking Admin > Portal Settings > General Settings
- Allow 24-48 hours of total propagation time
- During propagation time, some users may be able to access the Portal with the Custom Subdomain, while others cannot
- After the full propagation time has elapsed, all users accessing the Portal will use the Custom Subdomain
Custom Subdomain Setup with Single Sign-On (SSO)
Please contact Brands Technical Support at techsupport@photoshelterbrands.com for assistance with your CNAME setup.
Frequently Asked Questions
I set up my CNAME properly, but I’m not able to save it in PhotoShelter.
Changes to your website's domain can take several hours to fully update. Try again later. If it still won’t save after 48 hours, contact Technical Support to troubleshoot.
What if my registrar asks for an IP address? Can I use an “A” name/record?
A records rely on IP addresses and our IP addresses are subject to change at any time without notification. For this reason, we strongly recommend using a CNAME record.
What are nameservers, and do I have to worry about them?
Nameservers are what contain your DNS records, which are the records that tell a computer where to find your website. With the CNAME setup we recommend, you’ll want to use your domain registrar’s default nameservers.
What about SEO?
CNAMEs do not negatively impact search engine optimization (SEO). CNAMEs properly resolve to the canonical address, which is a fancy way of saying they do not confuse Google or other search engines.
I’ve set up my CNAME, but some of my pages still have PhotoShelter in the address bar. Why is that?
Your custom domain can always be used as an entry point to your site, but due to security constraints, not all of your website pages can retain your custom domain. On-site pages that may require billing info or a login, we must revert back to the companyname.photoshelter.com address for security purposes. This also ensures that the links will continue to work even if your custom domain lapsed for any reason.
What if I have more than one domain name that I’d like to load to my PhotoShelter site?
We only support connecting one domain to your site through the recommended CNAME setup. In this case, you’ll want to choose which domain you want to be your primary domain and follow the CNAME setup instructions for that domain. For your additional domains, you can set up a forward/redirect in your domain registrar so that they redirect to your primary domain. When setting this up, be sure that you do not use forwarding/masking, as this can cause problems with your website.
I’m seeing a “your connection is not secure” error message when I visit my site. What should I do?
This likely means that we were unable to generate your SSL certificate, which is what ensures your site loads securely over HTTPS. Typically this happens because your domain is not set up with the proper CNAME record pointing to “custom.photoshelter.com.” Review the steps above and make sure the appropriate record is set up in your domain registrar account.