Domains - How to Connect an Existing Domain (Manual Setup)

A domain is a unique web address like www.example.com, which helps people find your website or funnel online. It is essential for a professional online presence, making it easy for customers to find, remember, and trust your site. In instances where your domain registrar is not compatible with our automated setup process or for any other reason, ClickFunnels provides the necessary DNS records that you can manually add to your domain DNS to integrate the domain with ClickFunnels. In this article, you will learn how to connect an existing domain to your ClickFunnels account using the manual setup process.

Requirements

• An active ClickFunnels account

• A domain purchased from a third-party registrar(e.g., Godaddy, Cloudflare, NameCheap, etc.)

Warning:

• If you already have a website with your domain, connecting the root domain in ClickFunnels may cause it to stop working. Instead, try using a subdomain (such as, funnels.example.com) or connect another domain in ClickFunnels.

• We currently do not support Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs). Special characters are letters that are not in the English alphabet. Some examples of special characters are æ, ø, å, ö, ä, ü and é.

• Domain names with trademarked phrases cannot be added or used in ClickFunnels. Click here to view restricted phrase list.

Adding a Domain

Note: Claiming a Free Domain

ClickFunnels offers one free domain for each account/team. You can claim a free domain for one of your ClickFunnels workspace in the Domains menu. For more information on claiming a free domain, refer to the article How to Get a Free Domain in ClickFunnels.

Follow the steps below to add an external domain to your ClickFunnels workspace:

1. Log in to your ClickFunnels workspace.

2. From the left sidebar menu, click Workspace Settings and then select Domains.
   

3. Click Connect existing domain.

4. In the open prompt, enter your domain name with a subdomain such as ‘WWW’ and click Continue.

   Important:

   • ClickFunnels requires using ‘WWW’ in your domain, such as ‘www.example.com’. The automated setup process will configure your domain DNS to redirect ‘example.com’ to ‘www.example.com’.

   • To connect a subdomain, you don’t need ‘WWW’ — for example, ‘blog.example.com’.

5. Once the domain registrar information populates, click Add Domain.
   

Setting Up the Domain

After adding a domain, it will show the status ‘setup in progress.’ Now, you must connect your domain registrar or DNS provider account (e.g., Godaddy, Cloudflare, NameCheap, Bluehost, etc.) with ClickFunnels to complete the integration. You can do this manually by copying the DNS records from ClickFunnels and pasting them into your DNS provider’s DNS editor. Follow the steps below to manually add the DNS records:

1. Navigate to the DNS section and select Show DNS table.

   

2. You will be provided with some DNS records that need to be added to your domain DNS editor. The first two DNS records are for domain integration in ClickFunnels.

   

3. Now, log in to your domain DNS provider and access the DNS zone. Within the DNS zone, add a TXT record. Insert @ in the Name field, and for the Value field, copy and paste the TXT record data from the ClickFunnels DNS table into the Value field. If you need to set a TTL, you can leave the default value that the DNS provider has already selected.
   

   Note:

   • We are utilizing GoDaddy as a domain DNS provider for this example. The names of the input fields may differ among various domain DNS providers. For instance, in some DNS providers, the “Value” field may be referred to as “Content” or “Data.”

   • When copying and pasting records, please ensure there are no extra spaces included with the names and values.

4. Next, create a CNAME record. Enter WWW in the Name field, and paste the CNAME record value from ClickFunnels into the Value field.

   

5. Similarly, add the remaining Email DNS Records to the DNS. You must verify Email DNS Records to complete the domain verification and send marketing emails from ClickFnnels. Verifying email DNS records will allow you to create custom email addresses associated with your domain, such as info@yourdomain.com.

   

   Note:

   If you already have an existing SPF record in the DNS with the root hostname “@”, merge it with the ClickFunnels SPF data by adding the include: keyword before every domain. For example: v=spf1 include:mailer.myclickfunnels.com include:example.com -all.

6. After adding these records, wait 3-5 minutes, return to ClickFunnels, and click Validate Ownership. This step ensures that ClickFunnels can establish a connection with the DNS provider. Upon successful connection, the status of the first two records will display a green checkmark.

   

7. In most cases, the records are verified promptly. However, depending on the DNS provider, they may take 24 to 48 hours to verify. Please click the Check Connection button to confirm that all DNS records and Email DNS records display a green status.

   

   Note:

   If the records do not verify after clicking Check Connection, please allow 5 - 10 minutes before clicking Check Connection again to verify the records. Once verified, the records status will display with a green checkmark. Occasionally, the verification of DNS records may take 24-48 hours.

8. Once the domain DNS records have been verified, ClickFunnels will automatically initiate the process of adding the SSL certificate to the domain. The domain's status will change to “Securing.” At this stage, no further action is required on your part; please allow a few moments for the SSL propagation to complete.

   Note:

   Allow 5-10 mins for SSL propagation. Occasionally, the securing process may take up to 48 hours to finish.

9. Once the SSL is propagated with the domain, the domain status will change to “Connected.” You may now utilize this domain for the Site and Blog app or Funnels.
   

Congratulations! You now know how to connect an existing domain in ClickFunnels.

Setting Up the Forwarding Rule

Upon completing the integration of your domain with ClickFunnels, it may be necessary to create a forwarding rule within your domain's DNS provider. This will ensure that any visitors accessing the domain without the "www" prefix (e.g., https://yourdomain.com) are redirected to https://www.yourdomain.com.

Below is an example of a forwarding rule that can be added to GoDaddy:

Check out our detailed guide about adding forwarding rules in different domain DNS providers in the article, Domains - How to Add Forwarding Rules.

How to Connect the Domain to the Workspace Site

After successfully integrating your domain with your workspace, follow these steps to connect it to your site:

1. From the left side navigation, select Site & Blog and click on the Overview menu.

   

2. Click the Three Dot ⋮ Icon and then click Site Settings.

   

3. In the Domain field, choose the domain you wish to use for your site.

4. Click the Update site button to save your changes.

Important:

The domain connected to the Site & Blog app is used for Courses, Store, Blog, Customer Center, Landing Pages, and Community. These features must share the same domain connected to the Site & Blog settings.

How to Connect a Domain to a Funnel

1. Click on Funnels from the left navigation menu.

   

2. Identify a funnel you wish to associate with your domain and click the Gear ⚙️ icon to access the funnel’s settings.

3. In the Domain field, select the desired domain from the dropdown menu.

4. Enter the desired path in the Funnel Path URL field, such as /webinar, /blog, or /about. To set this funnel as the domain’s default page, enter a single / character.

   

   Learn more about setting a funnel as a domain default page in the article, Domains - How To Set a Funnel as the Domain Default Page.

5. Click Update Funnel to save changes.

Congratulations! Your domain is now connected to the funnel. When the domain is accessed, the first page of your funnel will be displayed.