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      Shortened vanity URLs

      This article outlines some of the terminologies used when referencing Vanity URLs and how to install one.

      Terminology

      URL: This is your website address i.e. www.wordpress.com/orlo


      Vanity URL: Most organisations will pay to have a vanity URL which in this case would be www.orlo.tech


      Shortened URL:  Rather than posting links out such as www.orlo.tech/pressrelease_1234 which are long, confusing and eat up your Twitter character count we can use a shortened URL. By default, your links will be posted out with the shortened URL orlo.uk. Vanity shortened URL: If you purchase your own shortened URL, which can be done from a number of locations such as 123-reg.com, 1&1, Doster, GoDaddy, you can have posts that go out with example.ly instead of orlo.uk.


      Setting up your vanity shortened URL

      Before installing your vanity URL you must first point your vanity URL to our servers in order to get it working. To do this, it is easiest to set your domain to copy ours, this way if our IP changes at any point the vanity URL’s will too.


      All companies providing domain names will have an administration panel to allow you to edit the settings and configuration of your domain. Login to this and through the provided panel you will need to setup a CNAME (also known as alias) record for your domain to point to orlo.uk. If the panel provided allows you to, you should also create what is called an A Record, pointing to 20.49.174.99 with a Host of "@". After you have completed this, it can take up to 24 hours to propagate. You can test if this has worked by going to your vanity URL and checking it takes you to the Orlo "404 Page Not Found" screen (Don't worry, this is expected).


      Once you have completed these steps you will be able to add your domain to Orlo here.


      Specific domain name provider instructions:

      123-reg: http://www.123-reg.co.uk/support/answers/Domains-Archive/Domain-Configuration/how-do-i-set-up-a-cname-record-on-my-domain-name-1198/

      1&1: http://help.1and1.com/domains-c36931/manage-domains-c79822/dns-c37586/enter-a-cname-record-for-your-domain-a643600.html

      Doster: http://www.dotster.com/knowledgebase/beta/article.bml?ArticleID=1776&type=How%20To#Nugget_2825

      GoDaddy: https://support.google.com/a/answer/47610?hl=en