You can now use a custom domain for your Meetup group! If you don't have a domain name already, you'll need to choose and register one. You can register a domain name from the registrar of your choice such as the ones listed below.
Once you have a domain name registered, you'll need to create a CNAME record. A CNAME, or Canonical Name, record is an entry within the Domain Name System (DNS) that specifies where a user can find your web pages, or any other URL. Yeah, it's pretty “techie,” but basically you'll use this to associate your custom domain with Meetup Group pages.
Each hosting service has slightly different ways to create CNAME records. Guidelines are provided here for some of the common services. When in doubt, check with the particular company you're using for additional help or instructions.
Keep in mind that changes to CNAME records may take several hours to take effect. Until then, your default Meetup group URL will continue to work.
Once you have created a CNAME record directed back to www.meetup.com, you will need to go back to your 'Group Settings' section for your Meetup group:
1.Enter your domain name in the 'Domain Name' field
2.Click 'Submit'
3.Once we verify the domain name, we'll send you an email
4.You can click on the link in the email, and go to the 'Group Settings' section (make sure you are signed in)
5.Click the 'Activate' button on the right
This will implement that domain name for all of your group's pages.
Here are some step-by-step instructions for a few registrars:
Go Daddy
1. Log in to your account at www.godaddy.com.
2.Open the Domains tab and click on My Domain Names. That'll direct you to the Domain Manager page.
3.Click the domain that you want to use for your Meetup group.
4.Click the Total DNS Control And MX Records link at the bottom of the section called Total DNS.
5.Click Add New CNAME Record in the section labelled CNAMES (aliases).
If you've already created a CNAME record for your Meetup group's
address, click the pencil icon next to the CNAME record that has
already been created (such as 'www').
6.For the Alias Name, enter only the subdomain of the address you want
to use for your Meetup Group pages. For example, if you picked
www.mymeetupgroup.com as your address, enter 'www' for the alias.
7.Enter www.meetup.com as the Host Name. Use the TTL default setting of 1 hour.
8.Click OK, and then click OK again.
Click here for their help section
ix web hosting
1. Log in to your account at ix web hosting.
2.Click Manage under the Hosting Account section.
3.On the left side, select the domain you'd like to use with your Meetup group.
4.Next to DNS Configuration, click EDIT.
5.Click Add DNS CNAME Record.
6.Below Name, enter only the subdomain you want to use. For example, if
you picked www.mymeetupgroup.com as your Meetup group's address, just
enter www as the entry below Name.
7.Enter www.meetup.com under Data.
8.Click Submit.
Click here for heir help section.
1and1
1.Log in to your account at https://admin.1and1.com
2.Click the Administration tab.
3.Click Domains. This will take you to the Domain Overview page .
4.From the New drop-down menu, click Create Subdomain. (**If you've
already created a subdomain for your Meetup group's address, skip to
step six.**)
5.Enter only the subdomain you want to use, and click OK. For example,
if you chose www.mymeetupgroup.com for your Meetup group's address, you
should enter 'www' in that field.
6.Click the checkbox next to the subdomain that you will be using. (Example: www.mymeeuptupgroup.com)
7.From the DNS menu, click on Edit DNS Settings.
8.Select the radio button next to CNAME.
9.Enter www.meetup.com next to Alias.
10.Click OK.
Click here for their help section
Network Solutions
1. Log in to your account at www.networksolutions.com.
2. Click the"Account Manager" tab.
3. Click the "Domains" tab.
4. Click "Manage Domain Names."
5. Select the check box next to the domain you're using.
6. Click Edit DNS.
7. On the DNS Manager Settings page, in the Host Aliases: CNAME Records section, click Add/Edit.
8. Enter "www" in the Alias box.
9. As the host name, enter www.meetup.com
10. Click Continue.
Click here for their help section
Register.com
1. Log in to your account at www.register.com.
2. Go to "Account Manager."
3. Select your domain name and go to the section, ""Advanced Technical
Settings". Under this section, click on the link "Edit Domain Name
Alias (CNAME)"
4. Enter "www" in the box to the left of your domain name.
5. Enter www.meetup.com in the box to the right.
6. Click Continue.
Click here for their help section
Yahoo!SmallBusiness
1. Log in to your account at smallbusiness.yahoo.com.
2.Click Domain Control Panel under the domain you want to use with your Meetup Group.
3.Click Manage Advanced DNS Settings.
4.Click Add Record.
5.In the Source field, just enter the subdomain you want to use. For
instance, if you designated www.mymeetupgroup.com as the address of
your Meetup group, enter 'www' in the Source field.
6.Enter www.meetup.com in the Destination field.
7.Click Submit.
Click here for their help section
FAQs
I use my domain to receive e-mail at my custom domain (ie. info@meetupgroup.com), but now I'm no longer receiving these e-mails.
Make sure that you do not change the Mail Exchange (MX) record for your
domain. You should only change the CNAME record for your “www” alias.
In order to make it so that your domain address
(http://meetupgroup.com/ (no “www”)) will point to your Meetup Group
address (http://www.meetupgroup.com/), you should set up a domain or
web forwarding from meetupgroup.com to www.meetupgroup.com.
When I try to submit my domain, Meetup says my domain is not valid.
A valid domain contains only the part of the URL that contains the
hostname. For example, in the address
http://www.meetupgroup.com/manage/settings/domain/, the hostname is
“www.meetupgroup.com”. Make sure that you don't have any of the other
parts of a URL, the prefix “http://” or any trailing slashes (“/”).
What's the difference between the Meetup Custom Domain feature, domain masking and domain forwarding?
With domain masking, when a user goes to your URL, (ex:
http://www.yourgroupname.com/), the address bar of the browser will
remain the same when a member clicks around through the pages of your
group.
With domain forwarding, when a user goes to your URL, the browser will take you or "forward" you to www.meetup.com/your-group and that's what shows up on the address bar.
A group set up with a custom domain will appear as http://www.yourgroupname.com/ in the address bar to users while actually being on the meetup.com website. Unlike masking, the URL will change when you go to different pages but the web address in the browser will continue to show your URL combined with the page, like this: http://www.yourgroupname.com/photos or http://www.yourgroupname.com/calendar/event/12345/
I go to a registrar but there are a bunch of options to choose from. Do I select Register Domain or Web Hosting?
Meetup hosts your group so you are only registering a domain. You will
simply need to point your domain to us and follow the steps in our
Group Settings page to set up your Custom Domain.
What will happen to my old address?
If a member goes to your group, your old address will forward to your
group's custom domain. For techies, we will be doing a 301 redirect to
your custom domain.
When I go to my domain I get a “The page you're looking for doesn't exist.” error!
It is likely that we have determined that your custom domain is no
longer pointing to www.meetup.com, so we have disabled your domain.
Logon to http://www.meetup.com and your group should appear in your
list of Meetup Groups. You may revalidate your domain in your Group
Settings page.
