Using Your Own Domain For Your Website

All Rentec Pro and PM accounts include a free professional website located at https://propertymanage.biz/yourcompany.

If you have your own domain name (www.yourcompany.com), you can point it at your free website.

There are two options...

Option 1 will show your domain name in the address bar and requires that Rentec Direct purchase an SSL certificate on your behalf.

Option 2 will show https://propertymanage.biz/yourcompany in the address bar and requires you to purchase an SSL certificate from your domain registrar.

If you do not purchase an SSL certificate, your website visitors may see an error message like this:

To begin, add your Domain to your Rentec Direct Website settings.

In your Rentec Direct account:

1. Click on Settings
2. Under Program, click on Website
3. Under Advanced Options, enter your Domain Name (without www.)
4. Click on Save if you aren't ready to publish your website; otherwise, click on Publish
5. Once you have confirmed that your domain is pointed at Rentec Direct and operational, by completing one of the options below, you can then automatically forward your propertymanage.biz web address to your domain by checking the box that says 'Redirect propertymanage.biz/yoursite here'.

Option 1 - Instructions to configure DNS Settings

To have your domain hosted by Rentec Direct, you will need to configure a few DNS settings. These are advanced settings and should be configured by your webmaster, someone with DNS technical expertise, or with the assistance of your DNS provider. Once you have completed these steps, Rentec Direct will then host your website content and manage the SSL security certificate as well as manage the security of the website.

Step 1:

For us to order and install an SSL certificate (security encryption) for your domain so it appears without a warning in your visitors' browsers, a DNS record needs to be added as follows...

How to enter it into your DNS settings...

Example: after configuration

In order to forward requests from www.yourdomain.com to the Rentec Direct server, create the following DNS record.

How to enter it into your DNS settings...

Example: after configuration

Visit https://www.rentecdirect.com/tools/check-my-domain and enter your domain name to verify that these DNS settings have been entered correctly.

Step 2:

Contact Rentec Direct at success@rentecdirect.com and let us know what your domain name is, and that it is ready to be activated. Please indicate that you have completed the above steps in your email.

Pricing Impact: Issuing and managing an SSL certificate and providing the web application firewall to protect the incoming traffic has a cost associated with it. Rentec Direct will charge a $50 monthly hosting fee to cover the costs and overhead associated with the domain hosting.

Option 2 - Instructions to configure DNS Settings

This method is only recommended for extremely low traffic websites that are not attempting to attract new clients.

This option will redirect your domain (www.yourdomain.com) to your website provided by Rentec Direct at propertymanage.biz/yourname. Your clients who type in your domain will automatically be redirected to your website, hosted at Rentec Direct. Visitors will not see your domain in their browser's address bar, and search results will display the domain propertymanage.biz/yourname instead of your own domain.

If you have not already purchased a domain, do so from your preferred provider (Squarespace, GoDaddy, Bluehost, and HostGator are popular options, but many other providers also offer these services).

1. Register your domain with your preferred provider
2. Enable an SSL certificate for your domain. This process and cost vary with each provider; however, your provider's customer service can assist you with this process.
   1. Squarespace: https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/205815898-Understanding-SSL-certificates
   2. Bluehost: https://www.bluehost.com/help/article/ssl-certificates
   3. Hostgator: https://www.hostgator.com/help/article/hostgator-free-ssl
   4. GoDaddy: https://www.godaddy.com/help/set-up-and-install-my-ssl-certificate-562
3. Forward (or redirect) requests from your domain to your Rentec Direct website.
   1. Here are links to each of the mentioned providers' help documents on redirecting requests:
   2. Squarespace: https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/214767107-Forwarding-a-Squarespace-domain
   3. Bluehost: https://www.bluehost.com/help/article/redirecting-domain-name
   4. HostGator: https://www.hostgator.com/help/article/url-redirect-how-to-create
   5. GoDaddy: https://www.godaddy.com/help/forward-my-godaddy-domain-12123

Using your own domain has many benefits:

• Your visitors can type your domain name into their address bar to find your website, leading to increased brand credibility and trust.
• There are search engine ranking benefits to having your own domain (eg, you will show up higher on search results)
• Having your web presence on a domain provides a perception of scale. You appear to be a larger and more professional property manager.

Important Note: If you've already invested in a search engine optimization (SEO) company or haven't done extensive SEO work, please consult your SEO expert before making any website changes. Even small changes can have a significant impact on your search rankings.

Email Hosting

Would you also like to send and receive email from yourname@yourdomain.com? You can do this while Rentec Direct hosts your website.  Rentec Direct does not provide email hosting; however, we have partnered with Cevado and encourage you to take a look. You may also consider looking into Google Apps for Business. Google will provide you with the necessary settings to provide to your DNS administrator.