Set up Custom Domain

Modified on Thu, 08 Sep 2022 at 03:25 PM

[This feature is available only in WE CAN FLY / Professional plan as an optional add-on]

For starters, here is a quick guide about most commonly used types of DNS records

A : A stands for Address (or host record). It is used to link domain, subdomain to specific IP address (also known as naked address). e.g. subdomain.mydomain.com pointing to 123.123.123.123
TXT : It is used to provide textual information about the domain.It is typically used to verify domain ownership, security measures like SPF, DKIM, DMARC.
CNAME: CNAME stands for Canonical NAME. It is used to redirect traffic from domain's subdomain to other domain or subdomain. To implement custom domain in Fresh Proposals we will be using CNAME.
MX : This is email related record. Using this record you can controls which email service provider can be used.

For more information refer Google guide.

What does it mean to have a custom domain?

Normally when you sign up, you would have entered subdomain to use for your account. It will look like

https://mycompany.freshproposals.com

It is called subdomain and it will work just fine.

However if you are brand conscious, and do not want to access your proposal by displaying FreshProposals.com to your sales, marketing and importantly your customers, instead you would like to have access to your proposals using following kind of urls/ link

https://proposal.mycompany.com or https://contracts.mycompany.com or https://bids.mycompany.com

These are called custom domains.

To set custom domain, as of today, there is a bit of work involved from your side as well as for Fresh Proposals team also.

Fret not, it is not that technical or difficult. Simply follow the steps below.

STEP 1: ADD CUSTOM DOMAIN

Enter your custom domain information in Fresh Proposals as shown below

Add custom domain information and click on Next button.

STEP 2: ADD CNAME RECORD

Login to your domain registrar website (e.g. Godaddy, Bluehost, Hostgator, Namecheap, Dreamhost, etc. and set following information as CNAME record.

If you don't have domain management access, you will need to contact your IT/Network administrator and ask them to set following information.

Record Type	Host	Point to / value	TTL
CNAME	proposals	app.freshproposals.com	3600

Screenshot from Godaddy looks like below

[While creating]

[After CNAME record is added]

Once you have added CNAME, confirm it by clicking on the checkbox and then Next button

STEP 3: GENERATE SSL

Once you have generated Click on the confirm button that you have updated the CNAME record. Our system will check with your domain name registrar and verify whether such CNAME record exists and generate Security Socket Layer (SSL) certificate for your own custom domain.

Remember it may take upto 72 hours to update the DNS entries, so don't worry if this step doesn't pass/succeed immediately.

STEP 4: READY TO USE CUSTOM DOMAIN

Once SSL security certificate is generated successfully, your custom domain is ready to use.

After these four steps are successfully completed, you will be able to login with your custom domain as

e.g. proposal.mycompany.com

Securely, access your proposals, send proposals to your client using the same URL. Even your clients will be able to view your proposals using the secured link/ URL created above.

Important Notes:

Once you have added CNAME record, confirm it by clicking on the checkbox and then Next button
It may take up to 72 hours to update the DNS entries, so don't worry if this step doesn't pass/succeed immediately
For this feature to work, correct DNS entry should be available all the time in your DNS registry and should be accessible too. In absence of correct DNS entries, custom domain feature will not work and your access to the tool may not work properly.