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  2. Connecting Your Domain
  3. Setting up your CNAME Record

Setting Up Your CNAME with BlueHost

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Olivia McCormack
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Once you've connected your domain to Unbounce and retrieved your unique CNAME ID, you can setup your CNAME record in BlueHost.

Before you set up your CNAME in BlueHost, you'll want to double-check which of the two account management interfaces your BlueHost account is listed under. Take a look at the different panels within BlueHost here: Rock (BlueRock) vs Legacy Control Panels. 

Depending on your plan & interface, you'll want to add your subdomain & CNAME by following the directions below.

For steps from Bluehost, see What Is A CNAME - How To Create & Edit a CNAME record.

Add a CNAME Record to your BlueHost Rock account

Once you've added your domain to Unbounce, navigate back to BlueHost to set up the CNAME record. 

  1. Log in to your BlueHost account to access your Control Panel. 
  2. From the left-hand menu, click on the Domains tab; here you’ll see a list of all domains.
  3. Click the Manage button to the right of the domain, and from the dropdown, click DNS.
  4. Scroll down to the DNS Manager section, and locate the CNAME (Alias) records, then, click Add Record. Fill in the form fields with the following values:
    • Host Record will be the subdomain you’ll want to use for your custom domain (ie. if your domain in Unbounce is my.website.com, the Host Record value in BlueHost will be my).  
    • Points to value is the unique CNAME string provided by Unbounce. 
    • TTL can be left as-is or set to a default of 4 hours. 
  5. Click Save to add the record.

Add a CNAME Record to your BlueHost Legacy account

  1. Log in to your BlueHost account.
  2. Click on the Domains link from the navigation menu, then click on Zone Editor. A new page will appear. 
  3. Select the root domain (that you'll be using in Unbounce) from the dropdown menu.
  4. Locate the Add DNS Record section. Fill in the form fields as follows:
    • Within the Host Record field, enter only the subdomain of the address you want to use for your Unbounce custom domain.
    • TTL can be left as-is or set to 14400. 
  5. Select CNAME from the Type dropdown.
  6. Paste in the unique ID CNAME value you received from the Unbounce app as the Points To value.
  7. Click the Add Record button.

For more information about BlueHost's DNS Management, you can access their support documentation here: How to Add, Edit, or Delete DNS Entries. 

Note:

If you get an error adding your CNAME, there may be an A-Record set up for your subdomain (sometimes, setting up a new subdomain will automatically create an A-Record in BlueHost). To solve this, delete the additional A Record from the DNS Management section, then attempt to re-add your CNAME. Or, reach out to BlueHost's Support team for more insight into the error. 

CNAME records can take a few days to propagate. Once it's ready, you can ensure your pages are published where you want by making sure your domain is added to Unbounce and your landing pages are pointing to your custom domain.

Now that you’ve added your CNAME record to BlueHost, you’ll want to change the URL of your landing page in the Unbounce app.  

If you've followed these steps and are still experiencing difficulties with your custom domain, take a screenshot of your current DNS setup and contact us using the Help widget at the bottom right-hand corner of this page. 

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