If you want to add a custom domain to your PeerBoard forum, then you’re at the right spot. I’ll walk you through all the steps involved.
PeerBoard is a fairly new player in the market. They bring a simplistic approach to create and start a forum that I’ve never seen before.
I will share all about it along with my in-depth analysis of the service in my PeerBoard review soon.
Note: Custom domain support requires a Professional or Enterprise plan. It’s not available for free users.
Need of a Custom Domain / Subdomain
A domain name helps you establish your site as a brand. It’s a unique name that only you have, which ultimately helps with your site or forum’s branding.
From the SEO point of view, Google always prioritizes sites that use a paid domain or subdomain instead of free site addresses.
Now that you know the need for a domain for your PeerBoard site, let’s dive into the main topic without further ado.
Prerequisites
If you don’t already have a custom domain, then you need to get one before proceeding. You can skip this step and scroll down to step 1 if you have already registered a domain.
Use the button given below to get a domain for your PeerBoard community:
You can choose between multiple TLDs (.com, .org, .net, .info etc)
Add Custom Domain to PeerBoard Forum
Follow the steps given below:
Step 1. Go to Settings » Hosting
From the right sidebar, click Settings. Then on this page, click Hosting under the Settings section.
Step 2. Choose ‘Custom Domain’ from the ‘integration type’ drop-down
When you land on the Hosting page, you’ll see a dropdown beside ‘Select your integration type’
Click on it and choose ‘Custom Domain’
Step 3. Enter your domain or subdomain and press ‘Change address’
It might give you this warning “Are you sure you’d like to change it? Existing links to your community may get broken”
Simply press, OK.
If you’ve shared your community’s links (with peerboard.com domain) anywhere, then those links will stop working.
Though the links will be redirected to the ones with your custom domain later.
Step 4. Add the CNAME records for your domain or subdomain
Go to your domain’s registrar or wherever your domain is hosted and add the CNAME records that are provided by PeerBoard.
Make sure you copy and paste the CNAME records without any mistake.
If you are using Cloudflare, then make sure to set TTL to 2 min and Proxy Status to DNS only
Once the domain is successfully added to PeerBoard, change the TTL in Cloudflare to Auto.
Step 5. Wait for PeerBoard to detect CNAME records and issue SSL
If you have done everything correctly, then the waiting game will begin from this point onwards. You just have to sit back and relax.
The page will automatically refresh every few seconds to show the current status.
Once the CNAME is pointed, the status will change to this:
At this point, PeerBoard is issuing an SSL certification for your custom domain. It will take another 2-3 minutes.
Once done, it will ask you to test the configuration by showing this:
Keep this tab open. Then, open a new tab and visit the domain/subdomain you’ve added to your PeerBoard forum.
If it opens perfectly, then try to log in. If you’re in the dashboard, then close this tab and go back to the original tab.
Note: Proceeding to the next part if your site doesn’t open perfectly can result in a broken site. So, wait for a couple of minutes if it shows any error.
Now, in your original tab, press the ‘My configuration works’ button, and it will enable a hard redirect from your old peerboard.com address to your custom domain.
That’s it!
Enjoy your PeerBoard forum with a custom domain 🙂
If you have any doubts then feel free to use the comments section below. Cheers!
