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How to Set Up a Custom Domain for Your Affiliate Portal

Learn more about our domain aliasing feature & how to set up your custom domain.

Written by Nikhil Kandpal

In this article we will discuss:

We've also included a short FAQ section at the bottom of this article.

Note: Custom domains are a Scale plan feature. To find out how you can upgrade your plan, check out this article.

Custom domains

When you sign up for a Tapfiliate account, you get your own, Tapfiliate-hosted affiliate portal where your affiliates can sign up for your program and login to their affiliate accounts.

With domain aliasing enabled, however, you have the option of setting up your own custom domain.

So instead of the standard https://yourcompany.tapfiliate.com address that comes with your program, you can set up your affiliate program in your own domain, or change the top-level domain (TLD) to one of your choice, like this: https://affiliates.yourdomain.com

We also take care of arranging a dedicated SSL certificate to secure this domain for you.

White Labeling and Branding

Tapfiliate’s Enterprise plan allows you to fully white-label your affiliate portal. This includes removing Tapfiliate branding from affiliate dashboards and login pages, as well as using your own custom domain. To enable white labeling:

  1. Navigate to Settings → Branding in your Tapfiliate account.

  2. Enable the white-labeling option.

  3. Configure your custom domain (see the next section for details). With these settings, you can also embed the affiliate portal into your product backend, making it appear as a native part of your platform.

How to set up your Custom domain

We've prepared a short, step-by-step guide explaining how you can begin to set up your custom domain.

To set up a custom domain, please follow our dedicated guide:

  1. In Tapfiliate, go to Settings → Branding options → Custom Domain and enter the subdomain you want to use.

  2. Tapfiliate will provide a CNAME value.

  3. Access your domain’s DNS settings (e.g., through your domain registrar or hosting provider) and add the provided CNAME record.

  4. Wait for DNS propagation to complete. Tapfiliate will automatically issue an SSL certificate for your custom domain.

When set up correctly, we automatically purchase an SSL certificate and install that on our end - this is included with the Scale plan. If your SSL certificate appears not to have been set, then there may be an issue with your CNAME set up.

If you encounter any issues setting up, please take a look at the Troubleshooting section below, where we go over some common issues and solutions.

Troubleshooting

‼️My SSL certificate isn't being generated

If the certificate isn't generated, it may be due to a number of reasons:

  • The DNS settings need some time to propagate - after following the steps in our CNAME set up guide, please allow up to 24 hours for your new settings to propagate and for your new domain to become accessible.

  • You're using Cloudflare - we have a dedicated section regarding these cases. Please read on below.

‼️My custom domain doesn't work right away or isn't working

There may be a few reasons why the custom domain isn't working. If you're having trouble, we suggest the following:

  • Wait for the DNS settings to propagate - After indicating your custom domain in your platform, please allow a few minutes for your SSL certificate to be generated and your custom domain to go live.

  • Make sure your CNAME is pointing to your affiliate portal domain - you can find this and set it in your Branding Settings. Make sure it matches the one in your DNS, and that it does not include the https:// before it.

‼️My HSTS subdomain isn't working

HSTS is not supported. Our SSL certificates can only be issued if you have an HTTP address.

If your subdomain address contains this, you have two ways you could proceed:

  • Disable the HSTS subdomain.

  • Get a separate subdomain without HSTS for your affiliate program.

‼️I'm using Cloudflare

Cloudflare has a different way of configuring a CNAME setup, which you can find documented here.

For the SSL certificate to be generated, please ensure that you have the "Always use HTTPS" setting OFF. The certificate authority must check ownership of the sub-domain, which it does by checking a file over HTTP. Using HTTPS will result in failure to generate the SSL certificate.

Managing Affiliate Account Settings and Deep Linking

If you change your program’s domain, affiliates may encounter issues generating deep links. To resolve this:

  • Ensure that the domain configuration in your program matches the format affiliates use for deep linking. For example, if your program uses the non-www version of your domain, affiliates should create deep links using the non-www URL (e.g., https://example.com/path instead of https://www.example.com/path).

  • No additional changes are required in the affiliate accounts if deep linking works with the configured domain.

FAQ

❓Is this feature available on my plan?

Custom domain is available with our Scale and Enterprise plans. If you'd like to gain access to this feature, you may upgrade your plan in your Billing page.

❓Is white labeling available on my plan?

White labeling, including the ability to remove Tapfiliate branding and embed the affiliate portal, is available exclusively on our Enterprise plan or as a paid add on with other plans. To access this feature, you may upgrade your plan in your Billing page or contact us to enable this feature as an add on.

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