Account Settings
About Your Account Subdomain
Applies to: All ONTRAPORT accounts.
A subdomain is a subsection of an overall domain. For example, maps.google.com is a subdomain of google.com as is translate.google.com. When you create a subdomain in ONTRAPORT (which is super-easy and takes about 5 seconds), you are personalizing what comes before our ontraport.net domain. When you have set this up, it will look like: mybusiness.ontraport.net.
Why Create the Subdomain
It means we allow you to personalize the links in your outgoing emails so that your contacts have a more branded experience when they interact with your emails and other items. For example, you can choose Maryscookies.ontraport.net as a custom subdomain if that is how your customers know and recognize you. This personalization increases email delivery while simultaneously adding all the benefits of online tracking that advanced online marketing requires.
Example
The link in the example email below leads to your website and utilizes your subdomain.
What Are the Benefits
Fully branded experience
This is awesome because it creates a more fully branded experience for your business. Now, when your prospects look at where you’re linking them, rather than it looking like you’re using some marketing service, it will look like you’re running the whole show yourself, which rocks.
Better email deliverability
For an array of complex reasons, this new way of linking will make it so that that our already industry-leading inbox delivery rates get even better.
How to set your custom subdomain
When you log into your account for the first time, you'll be presented with a pop-up window that allows you to choose a subdomain. From that moment forward, your email links will use the new URLs.
Some customers just use their name, others use their website name, and others use a catchy marketing tagline. For example, marysmith.ontraport.net or maryswebsite.ontraport.net or getmaryscookies.ontraport.net.
How to setup a completely unique URL
Have a Domain
First you need a distinct domain to use - that is, one that doesn’t already have your website or something else living there. Grab one at the registrar of your choice (ex. NameCheap.com).
Note: Changing the name servers on an existing domain results in the loss of all content on that domain. You cannot use that domain for email, landing pages, or any other function other than as the custom subdomain.
Point the Name Servers at ONTRAPORT
Next you’ll need to point the DNS for that domain to us, at ns1.ontraport.com and ns2.ontraport.com. Check with your domain name registrar for instructions on how to do that.
Note: Changing your domain's name servers to ns1.ontraport.com and ns2.ontraport.com will result in all existing content disappearing from that domain. When pointing a domain to ONTRAPORT using our name servers you cannot host other content on that domain, have email or email addresses for that domain, and cannot add other zone file records such as TXT, CNAME, etc. It can only be used as your custom subdomain.
Other Places your Subdomain Will Show Up
Your new subdomain will be used for:
Your affiliate links
Another new feature in this release is a new promo tool-type that we’re calling ‘standard links’. Unlike the existing ‘direct link’ tool, these new affiliate links redirect through your custom domain on the way to the page you’re promoting. The advantage of this is that if you need to change the URL that you want to promote, you can easily do so on the fly and all your affiliate's links will still work to drive traffic to the correct page!
Hosted forms
When you have us host a form for you (rather than having to post them yourself to the internet), the page on which they get hosted, now features your subdomain. It will look something like this: http://hostedforms.yourdomain.com/1/4802/32/9a6.
Hosted Files
When you host a file with us in order to offer as a download or attachment, it will now feature your subdomain. It will look something like this: http://www.yourdomain/dloader.php?file_id=7743&stamp=132
Landing Pages
Host your landing pages at your subdomain - that is, you'll be able to enter it in the "Use Your Own Domain" area when you go to set the hosting for your landing page.
Unsub links
The link your contacts (hopefully never) click to unsubscribe from your mailings feature your subdomain.
Tracking scripts
The snippet of code that goes on each of your website’s pages that lets us know and report to you which pages your contacts are visiting and for how long will now feature this subdomain. It looks something like this: http://yoursubdomain.com/tracking.js.
How to Verify Your Personal Info
This section provides the legally required physical address for all your mass emails. If you don't fill it out, we'll use the address you signed up with, which may be your home address.
What is an email FROM address?
An email FROM address shows up in the from line of any email you send. By default, any email coming from ONTRAPORT is sent from the initial email FROM address you added when setting up your account.
You need to set up an email FROM address in your account so that you are able to mail on behalf of your own domain (YourSite.com). This hides the fact that we're sending for you and makes it look like your emails are coming directly from you rather than from ONTRAPORT.
How to add an email FROM address
- Go to Admin > E-Mail > E-Mail ‘FROM’ Address Set Up
- Click Add E-mail
- Type an existing email address of yours into the text field and click Add Email
- Confirm your email FROM address by logging into your email account and clicking the link in the confirmation email.
Important Facts & Best Practices
- The email from address is different than the Reply-To Email address, which is the address people will email if they click "reply" to your emails.
- If you lose the confirmation email before confirming an email from address, you are always able to send yourself another confirmation email by clicking Re-send Confirmation in the email from address setup menu.
- After setup, some contacts using Outlook, Hotmail, or Windows Live will still see your emails as coming from [Your account ID]@ontramail.com because those providers show what’s called the "true sender".
- If you have more than one from address stored, don't forget to set a default.
- You will receive better client recognition and thus higher open and delivery rates when mailing from your business domain or own domain rather than from that of an email service provider.
Your Timezone and ONTRAPORT
Your timezone setting in ONTRAPORT determines the moment when scheduled steps on your Campaigns, Rules and Sequences fire. This means that unless you indicate otherwise in a Campaign, the time automated actions take place is based on your time zone.
However, broadcast email sends that you schedule from the Contacts Collection are based on the timezone of the computer from which you schedule the email (using Geolocation), NOT the timezone set in your ONTRAPORT account. This is also true of dates and times that are recorded in a contact's Contact Log as well as the the following fields within a contact’s record: ‘Date Added,’ ‘Last Activity,’ and ‘Transactions.’ Dates and times in these fields are shown in relation to the timezone of the computer from which you're viewing the data.
How to Set Your Timezone
- Go to Personal Settings in the top menu
- Find the User Details section
- Click the Timezone field
- Select your Timezone
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