Custom subdomain links are much easier when it comes to sharing links to specific pages on your website or to other sites (off your domain) that are an important part of your business. If you’re on a self-hosted WordPress site or any other site where you have access to your host’s cPanel, you can easily set up free subdomains to point just about anywhere – your store, a social media site, your podcast… the sky’s the limit!
A subdomain looks like this:
subdomain.yourwebsite.com
The advantage is that it’s much easier for you to say out loud and for your readers to remember than a longer domain (like the domain for your TeachersPayTeachers or Etsy store).
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Step by Step Subdomain Setup for Self-Hosted WordPress
The directions vary a little depending on where you purchased your domain and whether or not you have a self-hosted WordPress site. This tutorial is for self-hosted WordPress sites or anyone else with access to your host’s cPanel. If you don’t have access to your cPanel, head over to the Blogger instructions, because it uses the domain registrar. (This will also work for sites not on Blogger.)
Go to your host, log in, and access your cPanel. (These screenshots will be from Siteground since that’s who I use and recommend.)
In the Domains section, click Subdomains.
Under Create a subdomain, type in the subdomain you’d like to use. For example, if you’re linking to your store, you’d type “shop.” Click Create.
Locate your new subdomain under Manage Subdomains, and click Manage Redirection.
Paste in the complete URL you want to point your subdomain to, and click Save.
Your redirect will be effective shortly. I’ve found that it is usually almost immediate but may vary depending on your browser. Give it up to 24 hours to update before panicking! (And don’t panic then either… It’ll usually work itself out quickly.)
You can use this subdomain link anytime you want a shorter, easy to remember link for your store, social media, etc. It’s great for business cards or for sharing in videos and on podcasts, where your followers need to remember and type in the URL instead of copying and pasting.
