Having a custom domain elevates your website to that next step in terms of professionalism. They’re easier to remember, and it can help make you look legit to potential clients. With Adobe Portfolio, using a custom domain has never been easier.

Purchase Your Domain

Most dot-com domains range from $9.99 to $12.99 per year, depending where you buy from. The go-to place for domains is GoDaddy. While GoDaddy offers a plethora of other services like email hosting, website hosting, etc., they’ve always been known for their simple domain purchasing and management process.

Search for Your Domain

Even if there’s not a live website at the domain you want to use, someone else might actually own it. GoDaddy makes it easy to search and find a domain that’s suitable for you.

Once you decide on a domain, GoDaddy (or the registrar you choose) will walk you through the purchasing process. They’ll market their other services to you; just skip these, unless you really have done research ahead of time.

GoDaddy oftentimes has promo codes available, especially for first-time buyers. If you do a Google search for “GoDaddy promo code,” you might be able to find something that could save you a couple bucks off your purchase.

Setting Up Your Domain

Once you’ve purchased “yourname.com,” it’s time to set it up. In the upper right hand corner of GoDaddy’s website, you’ll see your first name, with a drop-down arrow. If you click on this, it’ll present a few menu items to you — including “Manage My Domains.”

Once you click this link, it’ll take you to a page that displays all of the domains you’ve registered. Click on the domain you want to point to your Adobe Portfolio site.

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Changing DNS Settings

domainname2You’ll be taken to a page that shows you all the information you’ve ever wanted to know (and then some) about your domain. Click on the tab called “DNS Zone File.” Here, you’ll see a table with a bunch of random numbers (which are IP addresses) and different symbols.

The ONLY thing you have to change is the row(s) under A Record (the first table). You’ll want to click on the pencil icon in each row, and change the “Points To” IP address. For the first row you change, you’ll want to change the IP address to 104.156.81.119. For the second row, you’ll want to change it to 104.156.85.119.

Note: If you don’t see a second row, go ahead and click “Add Record,” select “A Record” from the drop-down options and then enter “@” under “Host,” and the IP address under “Points To.”

Changing these rows “points” your domain to the Adobe Portfolio server.

Let Adobe Portfolio Know About Your Domain

domainname3Login to Adobe Portfolio, and then go to “Edit My Settings” (the gear icon in the left sidebar). A modal pop-up window will appear. Click on the third option, “Domain Name.”

Here, it’ll give you the same instructions as above. But because you’ve already completed those steps, all you have to do is type in your custom domain name, click “Apply,” and then “Done.”

It’s as simple as that. Your new domain name might take a few hours (between 24 and 72 hours to be safe, but usually these changes go quicker) to go into effect, but until that time, you can keep on using “yourname.myportfolio.com” like before.

What if it’s Not Working?

If it’s not working, and you’ve double-checked the steps above, Adobe Portfolio has a great help guide walking you through it. It also walks you through if you’re using a domain registrar other than GoDaddy.

Things to Keep in Mind

You might have noticed from the first screenshot above, I have multiple domains. One of those has an “I” in the name instead of a “Y.” If you have a name that can be spelled two different ways, it might not be a bad idea to invest in both domains.

Additionally, just because you have a custom domain name, doesn’t mean you’re going to be found on the front page of Google immediately. Google typically refreshes domain names within two weeks, so your site might not show up for a few days. And even after it does, where it shows up is based on your content, and how well you are able to write for search engines. There’s a whole science to that called Search Engine Optimization, but know that text is important on your website for this very reason.