Using your own domain name

Zenfolio does not provide domain name registration services. If you would like to use a custom domain name you need to first register it with a domain registration company.

If you already have a registered domain name, you can configure it to become the address to your Zenfolio pages and all your photographs. Configuring your own custom domain is a two step process:

Step 1

Make configuration changes at your domain registration company, for example GoDaddy, 1&1, Yahoo, Google, etc. Check with your domain registrar for the exact procedure but it usually involves editing DNS configuration.

If you want your entire domain to go to your Zenfolio pages

You need to create an A record pointing to our current IP address. Your entire domain for example, might look like this:

yourdomainname.com

companyname.com

1. Login to your account at your domain registrar.
2. Open the DNS settings. Each company will vary slightly on how to access DNS settings.
3. In the Domain field input @
4. In the Type field input A if required
5. In the IP field (this may be labeled something else such as Value, Points To or Destination) input the Zenfolio current IP address: 64.62.158.18

The DNS settings should then look like this:

  @       A     64.62.158.18

If you want a subdomain to go to your Zenfolio pages

You need to create a CNAME record for it. For example a subdomain might look like this:

www.yourdomainname.com

clients.yourdomainname.com

1. Log in to your account at your domain registrar.
2. Open the DNS settings. Each company will vary slightly on how to access DNS settings.
3. In the Domain field type ‘www’ or ‘clients’ or whatever the case may be
4. In the Type field input CNAME if required
5. In the IP field input zenfolio.com.

The DNS settings should then look like this:

  www    CNAME   zenfolio.com.

clients    CNAME   zenfolio.com.

Note: If you configure both your domain and your subdomains, your DNS settings should look like this:

  @       A     64.62.158.18

www    CNAME   zenfolio.com.

The above is the preferred configuration and will guarantee that both the domain name and www will go to your Zenfolio page.

The entire process may take up to 48 hours to propagate everywhere, so please be patient.

Note: If after step 1 you Test DNS Setup and get the Zenfolio 404 Error message page, then you know you have configured the DNS settings correctly.

The last action to complete the process is step 2.

Step 2

Once you have Step 1 configured with your registrar, you need to add your domain under Preferences » Custom Domain in your Zenfolio account preferences.

Note: If you would like for both the yourdomain.com and www.yourdomain.com to go to your Zenfolio pages, you need to setup both an A record and a CNAME record. But only www.yourdomain.com needs to be added to your Zenfolio account preferences. Once you do that, Zenfolio will automatically recognize yourdomain.com as a legitimate address as well.