How to connect a custom domain

Pointing your own domain at your publication makes your blog feel like part of your real website. Instead of yourname.videotoblog.com, your readers see blog.yourdomain.com (or even yourdomain.com itself).

This guide walks through:

1. Adding the domain in VideoToBlog
2. Creating a DNS record at your domain registrar
3. Verifying the connection

The whole process takes about 5 minutes of clicking, plus up to an hour for DNS to propagate worldwide (usually much faster).

Before you start

You need:

• A paid VideoToBlog plan (any active subscription includes custom domains)
• A domain you already own
• Access to your domain registrar's DNS settings

Step 1 — Add the domain in VideoToBlog

1. Open your dashboard and go to Publication
2. Click Edit on the publication you want to attach the domain to
3. Scroll to Custom domain
4. Type your domain — for example blog.yourdomain.com — and click Save

You'll see a "Not verified yet" badge and a DNS record to copy. Leave this tab open, you'll come back to click "Verify DNS" once your registrar is set up.

Subdomain or apex?

You can use either:

• Subdomain like blog.yourdomain.com or writing.yourdomain.com — easier, uses a single CNAME record. Recommended for most people.
• Apex (root) domain like yourdomain.com — uses A records pointing at our edge IPs. Only do this if you're not already using your root domain for something else (like your main marketing site).

Step 2 — Add a DNS record at your registrar

Find the DNS settings page at your domain registrar. The exact label varies by provider — common names are "DNS", "DNS records", "Manage DNS", "Advanced DNS", or "Nameservers & DNS".

What to add

For a subdomain like blog.yourdomain.com:

For an apex domain like yourdomain.com:

Save your changes. Now jump to the section below for your specific registrar if you need step-by-step screenshots.

Provider-specific instructions

Cloudflare

1. Sign in to Cloudflare and select your domain
2. Click DNS in the left sidebar
3. Click + Add record
4. Type: CNAME
5. Name: type just the subdomain part (e.g. blog) — Cloudflare will show the full hostname underneath
6. Target: paste the CNAME value from VideoToBlog
7. Proxy status: click the orange cloud to turn it grey ("DNS only"). This is important — leaving the proxy on can break SSL setup.
8. Click Save

For an apex domain, use Cloudflare's "CNAME flattening" — set type to CNAME, name to @, and Cloudflare automatically converts it to A records under the hood.

GoDaddy

1. Sign in to GoDaddy and click My Products
2. Find your domain and click DNS
3. Scroll to the Records section
4. Click Add New Record
5. Type: CNAME
6. Name: the subdomain part only (e.g. blog)
7. Value: paste the CNAME value from VideoToBlog
8. TTL: leave as default (1 hour)
9. Click Save

GoDaddy doesn't support CNAME on the apex — if you want yourdomain.com to work, use A records instead, or use a subdomain.

Namecheap

1. Sign in to Namecheap and go to Domain List
2. Click Manage next to your domain
3. Click the Advanced DNS tab
4. Click Add New Record
5. Type: CNAME Record
6. Host: the subdomain part (e.g. blog)
7. Value: paste the CNAME value from VideoToBlog (Namecheap requires a trailing dot — add . to the end if it's not there)
8. TTL: Automatic
9. Click the green checkmark to save

Squarespace Domains (formerly Google Domains)

1. Sign in to Squarespace Domains
2. Click your domain
3. Click DNS in the left sidebar
4. Scroll to Custom records and click Add record
5. Type: CNAME
6. Host: the subdomain (e.g. blog)
7. Data: paste the CNAME value from VideoToBlog
8. TTL: 1 hour
9. Click Save

Vercel (using Vercel as your DNS provider)

1. Open the Vercel dashboard and go to Domains
2. Click your domain
3. Scroll to the DNS records section and click Create record
4. Type: CNAME
5. Name: the subdomain (e.g. blog)
6. Value: paste the CNAME value from VideoToBlog
7. TTL: 60
8. Click Save

Other providers

The pattern is the same everywhere:

• Find DNS / DNS records / Manage DNS
• Add a new record
• Type = CNAME, Host = the subdomain part, Value = the target shown in VideoToBlog
• Save

If you can't find the DNS section, search the provider's docs for "add CNAME record".

Step 3 — Verify

1. Go back to the VideoToBlog publication settings tab
2. Click Verify DNS under your custom domain
3. If everything's set up, the badge flips to Verified and your custom domain is live

If verification fails, don't worry — DNS propagation can take a few minutes (occasionally up to an hour). Wait 5–10 minutes and try again. The dashboard remembers your domain so you can come back and verify whenever.

Troubleshooting

"Not yet pointing at..."

The DNS record either hasn't been added yet or hasn't propagated. Wait a few minutes and click Verify DNS again. You can confirm your record is live by running this in a terminal:

dig blog.yourdomain.com CNAME

If you see the CNAME target in the answer section, the record is live and verification will succeed shortly.

Cloudflare proxy is on

If you use Cloudflare and verification keeps failing, double-check that the orange cloud icon next to your record is grey ("DNS only"), not orange ("Proxied"). Cloudflare's proxy interferes with SSL provisioning.

Apex domain issues

If you're trying to use a root domain (yourdomain.com) and your registrar doesn't support CNAME flattening, use A records instead. Add one A record per IP shown in your VideoToBlog dashboard, all with the host @.

Domain works but shows the wrong site

DNS caches can take a few minutes to clear. Try opening your domain in a private/incognito window, or flush your local DNS cache:

• Mac: sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder
• Windows: ipconfig /flushdns
• Linux: sudo systemd-resolve --flush-caches

What happens after verification

Once verified, your blog automatically serves at your custom domain over HTTPS. We handle SSL certificates for you — there's nothing else to set up. Your old *.videotoblog.com URL keeps working too, so any existing links don't break.

If you ever want to remove the custom domain, just open the publication settings and click Remove. Your blog will go back to its *.videotoblog.com URL.