In this example I will be using "community" as the subdomain. This will also carry over all your SEO and continue useing second-level domain and subdirectory of your url string after the .com/.
This tip is great for when you already have onther website and want to use Ning as a community for it to enhance that website by adding photo/videos, groups, etc.
- I will be assuming you already have your own non-Ning hosted website with it's own domain name (mysite.com).
- Go to your DNS Management panel of the host provider for where the domain name is that you want to do this to. In this instance I'm using Godaddy with the domain name "mysite.com".
- Add a new A record with the Name "community" and point it to Nings IP address which is 208.82.16.68
- Then head back your your Ning site:
- Go to Dashboard > Tools > Domain Mapping. Check the box for "Alternet Domain 1".
- In that box inter community.mysite.com
- Check the yes or no box for using an SSL. This is a good time to select "yes" and take the SEO advantages an SSL certificate gives you.
- Click Save.
And presto! When anyone comes to your site they will see "community.mysite.com" instead of "oringanal.ning.com" Ning site.
It will also show all the same second-level domain, subdirectory, and so on after the .com/ -Example: community.mysite.com/photo/name-of-the-photo.
Be sure to clear your browser of cookies and cache when completed! Especially with Chrome. For some odd reason the 1st time you come to your new subdomain you'll get a blank page and panic. Just clear your browser out or see it on a different browser.
You can view my non-Ning site with my Ning site attached to it via using a subdomain at community.surfoutlook.com .
Replies
Hi Scott!
Thank you so much for this article! I have moved it to "Ning 3 Tips and Tricks" so it can be viewed on the home page, hope you don't mind.
Best regards,
The NING Team
Sure thing!
Hey Scott!
First, let me say that it's good to see that you're still here offering helpful tips. Cheers!
My domain is hosted at Google, and as you can see, the set up is very different. I'm pretty sure I know what to do here, as I've done it before, but I've never done this with a Ning site. I just want to be sure that I'm doing it right.
I've never delt with Google hosting before. Are you sure that's your DNS panel? Godaddy was as simple as login, find my url, click on "DNS" next to that domain name, a "Records" box would open with "Type" "Name" "Value" "TTL". At the bottom of the box was an "ADD" link and when I clicked that it would show an area to type in under "Hosts", "Points to" and "TTL", type in thier values then click save. That was it.
Yes, I am sure. Like I said, Ive done this before, and I've been doing this a very long time.
I'm sure you know each domain service has their own unique setup, though admittedly, Google has the most unique I've ever seen.
I'll just do it the way I've been doing it for other sites, it should work out fine.
Thanks for responding, Scott.