A newsletter, a booking tool or a client portal can live at an address on your own name, like portal.yourbusiness.com. The tool’s company gives you one record, and you copy it into your domain’s settings.
What is portal.yourbusiness.com?
It is your business name with one short word in front. The word is the first part of the name. You usually pick it, or the tool suggests one. Portal, booking, news and shop are common. The record you add connects that address to the tool.
Customers see your name in the address. The tool still runs at the company that makes it.
Who does what?
- The tool’s company runs the tool and gives you the record: type, name and value.
- Your domain company keeps the list of records for your domain. You log in there.
- You copy the record from one place into the other.
Adding a record doesn’t move your domain. It stays with the company you bought it from.
What stays the same?
Your website and your email are on other lines in your list, and a record on a new name leaves them alone. Check that the first part you were given isn’t one you already use. If the tool wants www, the domain itself, or a name that is already in your list, read what to do when the name is already there first.
Do this
- Open the tool’s setup and find where it shows the record for your own domain. If you can’t find it, ask the company for the type, name and value.
- Look at the name. Something like
portal.yourbusiness.comis a new name.wwwor your domain on its own is not. - Add the record in your domain’s settings. The steps are in Add a record to your domain. If you don’t know where to log in, see Who has my domain.
- Press the tool’s check button. If it says the record isn’t there yet, give it time. Did my record work? covers how long and what to look at.
What you get back
The tool at an address on your own name, and a website and email that you didn’t have to touch.
Sources
Common questions
What is an address like portal.yourbusiness.com?
It is your business name with a short first part added, such as portal, booking or news. You choose the first part, or the tool's company suggests one. A record in your domain's settings connects that address to the tool.
Will this take my website or my email down?
Not when the first part is a name you don't use yet. Your website and email sit on other lines. If the tool asks for a line on www or on the domain itself, read what to do when the name is already in your list, in Add a record to your domain, before you add it.
Do I have to move my domain to the tool's company?
No. Adding a record doesn't move your domain. It stays with the company you bought it from. If a company asks you to move the domain or change its nameservers, that is not adding a record. Ask them to explain before you change anything.
Who do I ask if the tool says the record isn't there?
The tool's company gave you the record, so start with their check button and their support. Then read your own line against what they sent. Did my record work walks through the usual causes.