Using a Vanity URL with your Zap Website

Using a Vanity URL with your Zap Website •Getting a Vanity URL •Pointing your Vanity URL to your Agent Website URL sometimes is referred to as the web address or domain name. A vanity URL makes it easier for people to remember your web address. It should refer to you or your business (think www.janesmith.com or www.janesmithrealestate.com). Getting a Vanity URL You can purchase a vanity URL with a domain registrar such as GoDaddy. Use the search box on the domain registrar's home page to see whether the URL you want is available. If the URL is available, buy it! If it isn’t, try another one. The search results page will often display some domain name alternatives that are available for purchase. Some tips on selecting a name: •Pick a name that is easy to spell, so people can pass it on via word of mouth. •Shorter domain names are easier to remember--and type! •Use .com as your domain. The .net and .org domains are not considered as "professional" as .com domains. The .org domain is still perceived as nonprofit. Domains like .info and .biz are often associated with spammers. Most companies charge an average of $10 per year. Some domain registrars will try to sell you a package of extra items that you may not need. Look carefully on your checkout page to make sure you are only purchasing a domain name. You will NOT need to pay to have your website hosted, as Zap will be hosting your website. Pointing your Vanity URL to your Agent Website Once you have purchased your personal URL, you will want to have it forward people to your Zap website. The steps to complete this process can vary a bit depending on where your URL is hosted. 1.Go to your URL provider (for example, GoDaddy) and change the settings for your URL. 2.Look for the option to have your URL forward visitors to a different website. 3.Use your Lead Generation URL as the address you’d like to forward customers to. ** For namecheap, here are the steps: https://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx/385/77/how-do-i-set-up-url-redirect-for-a-domain How do I set up a URL redirect for a domain? You can set up a URL redirect to forward your domain (e.g., http://yourdomain.tld) or subdomain (e.g., http://subdomain.yourdomain.tld) to any destination page of your choice. Usually, when you set up a URL redirect for a domain, it takes 30 minutes to take effect. It is possible to set up a URL redirect from Namecheap's side for domains that are using our BasicDNS, BackupDNS, PremiumDNS or FreeDNS. Visit this page to check all available redirect types. To set up a URL redirect, follow these steps: 1. Sign into your Namecheap account (The Sign In option is available in the top hat of the page). 2. Select Domain List from the left side menu and click the Manage button next to your domain: 3. Navigate to the Advanced DNS tab at the top of the page: 4. Find the Host Records section and click the Add New Record button. Click if you're not able to edit Host Records. 5. Select URL Redirect Record from the drop-down menu for Type, put @ (your bare domain, e.g., yourdomain.tld) for Host and enter the URL you would like to redirect to into the Value line: 6. Click on the Save All Changes button. To redirect www.yourdomain.tld or any subdomain such as blog.yourdomain.tld to a URL, enter www or blog for Host accordingly: 7. After the setup, you might also want to check for conflicting records for the same Host and remove them, if there are any. The records you need to check may be of Unmasked/Masked/Permanent URL Redirect Record, A Record or CNAME Record types. Here is an example of conflicting records: Redirect a domain/subdomain to a specific page on a website and pass values via query strings (for domains pointed to our BasicDNS): You can also use URL Redirect to forward users to a specific page at the destination URL and pass values via query strings to the destination. It is important to note that the value in the Destination URL affects where and how the URL is redirected. Host name Destination URL Redirect type www1 http://destination.com Unmasked / Masked or Permanent (301) www2 http://destination.com/ Unmasked / Masked or Permanent (301) www3 http://destination.com?1=2 Unmasked / Masked or Permanent (301) www4 http://destination.com/page?c=d Unmasked / Masked or Permanent (301) In the first case, www1.yourdomain.com will not pass values to the destination URL, so www1.yourdomain.tld/xyz.html will redirect users to http://destination.com only. In the second case, www2.yourdomain.tld/xyz.html will redirect users to http://destination.com/xyz.html (pay attention to the / in the configuration). In the third case, www3 combines query string values (if any) and passes them to the destination URL. For example: www3.yourdomain.tld/something?a=b will redirect users to http://destination.com/something?a=b&1=2 In the fourth case, www4.yourdomain.tld/example?a=b will redirect users to http://destination.com/example/page?c=d&a=b That's it! ** Here are a few things to keep in mind when you set up forwarding: •Make sure you’re using your exact Lead Generation URL. You can copy your Lead Generation URL from the My Website page in Zap. •Don’t opt to forward with masking. This can create duplicate results for search engines to try to index and can negatively impact your SEO, and it can also lead to broken links or things not working correctly on your Zap site. •They say it can take 24-48 hours before the forwarding will be activated. (However, in my case, with namecheap the forwarding was activated IMMEDIATELY.)