How to set up your client domain

Your client domain is one subdomain of yours that every client-facing link uses. Your clients then sign in at, for example, portal.youragency.com and never see a ContentForge address. Your own dashboard and your team's editor stay on ContentForge.

Links that use it

• Client portal sign-in, dashboard and site pages
• Client portal invite and password-reset emails
• Monthly report emails
• Site Comments reply emails to clients
• Client image upload links
• Client onboarding form link
• Prospect tool link
• Website Preview buttons (always the latest draft) and preview links, in the portal and on your Websites page
• Shared SEO audit report links (Share link on a Local SEO Audit report)
• The website editor, for clients you give editor access

Steps

1. Go to Settings → Olympus and find the Client domain card.
2. Type a subdomain, such as portal.youragency.com, and click Add domain. Use a subdomain, not your main website's address.
3. Follow the setup steps shown. You add one CNAME record wherever your DNS is managed (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare and others), and the guide shows the steps for your provider.
4. ContentForge checks the record for you. Click Check now to check right away.

The card shows the status: Waiting for DNS while the record isn't found yet, Waiting for the security certificate once the record is right but https doesn't work yet, then Live once client links use the new domain. When it's live, the card links to your new sign-in page so you can try it.

Waiting for the security certificate

The domain only goes Live once https actually works on it. Until then, client links keep using the ContentForge address, so nobody gets a link that doesn't open. Getting a certificate usually takes a few minutes. The domain is checked every hour and switches to Live by itself once https works.

• We fix stuck certificates automatically. If it's still waiting after 30 minutes, we ask our hosting to re-check the domain. After 2 hours we remove the domain from our hosting and add it again, which restarts the certificate. Your CNAME record stays as it is. We try this at most twice, at least 12 hours apart, and there's nothing for you to do while it runs.
• If none of that works, the card shows Security certificate stuck and the message says what we tried. Contact support and include the domain name.
• Check now runs the same check straight away. A domain marked Live whose https doesn't work goes back to waiting, and links fall back to the ContentForge address.

Records that block the certificate

The setup steps also check for DNS records that stop the security certificate, and list each one up front with the exact record to delete or change:

• An AAAA (IPv6) record on the domain that isn't ours, often left from a parked page. Delete it.
• An extra A record on the domain. Delete it so only the CNAME is left.
• Cloudflare's proxy (orange cloud) is on. Switch the record to DNS only (gray cloud).
• A CAA record that doesn't allow our certificate providers. Add a CAA record 0 issue "letsencrypt.org", or delete the CAA records.

Good to know

• You can have one client domain at a time. Click Remove to take it off. Links go back to the ContentForge address straight away.
• A domain can't be your client domain and a client website's domain at the same time.
• Visiting the bare domain takes people to the portal sign-in page. Search engines are told not to index it.
• If you move to Starter, the card shows Needs Growth or Agency plan and your domain is paused. Links fall back to the ContentForge address, and the domain comes back when you upgrade. You can still remove it.
• Add your favicon and sharing card in Branding so links shared from this domain look like yours.

Examples

• portal.youragency.com: the usual choice. Clients sign in there, and every invite and report links there.
• clients.youragency.com or reports.youragency.com: any subdomain works, as long as it isn't used for a website.

Who can use it

An agency owner or admin, on the Growth or Agency plan.

Troubleshooting

• "Enter a domain like portal.youragency.com": the box is empty or the address isn't a valid domain.
• "Remove your current client domain before adding another.": you can only have one. Click Remove first.
• "This domain is already used by another account.": another ContentForge account has it. Pick a different subdomain.
• "This domain is connected to a website. Use a different subdomain (e.g. portal.youragency.com) for your client domain.": the same address is a client website's domain. Use a separate subdomain.
• "A client domain is on the Growth and Agency plans.": upgrade to add one.
• Stuck on Waiting for DNS: check the CNAME record's name and value match the setup steps exactly. DNS changes can take up to a few hours to show. Click Check now to check again.
• Stuck on Waiting for the security certificate: see records that block the certificate. Most often it's a leftover AAAA or A record.