For Those Who Have Changed Their Domains

You shouldn't have 404 errors. The AW pages will still exist. I did it fairly seamlessly. I debated using a subdomain to one of my main sites, but went went a domain name just parked. I've been trying to think how I can implement some SEO improvements. I will ponder that a bit tomorrow.

Mine is http://photoartresource.com/

Hopefully there are no errors (other than IE incompatibility issue).
(This of course was one step to better SEO).

the domain name you pick basically just forwards to your AW - you won't have 404 errors
whether you direct people to www.yourname.com or artistwebsites.com doesn't change the content or place they end up

I've done it with no problems Jeff.

I was wondering what the process was, I have several domains that I own so I can tie any of them to this.

Easy to do and the old xxxxx.artistwebsties.com links still work. I changed mine the day it was available.

Behind the Scenes > General > Custom Domain Name (instructions are there)


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~ Bill
~ US Pictures .com

One bit of advice for Jeff or other readers --

I've always used a GoDaddy domain for my AW -- set to 'redirect' or 'forward' to AW. Last week, when I followed the steps to do the dedicated switch, it wouldn't work. No matter how long I waited, when navigating to my AW, www.art166.com was not showing.

Until I had a sudden epiphany, that is! :-)

It seems I had to cancel the existing 'forward' instruction before going through the carefully documented FAA steps to make the domain switch. So, I went to GoDaddy and canceled the 'forward' command, waited about five minutes to be sure it was no longer forwarding, then went back and followed the new directions on AW.

Worked like a charm, with the actual switch taking about 5 minutes to show up. (Though GoDaddy had warned me that it might take up to 24 hours.)

Easy-peasy . . . when you know how! :-)

Thanks, Wendy, for that. I hope to be a week or so away from my own domain name and I had planned to use GoDaddy. I hear if you pay enough for a site, Danica Patrick will wreck in front of your house and blame it on her pit crew.

Oh, dear! Snarky Hinson! ;-)

Ok, call me stupid about these things since I don't understand.
I have my own domain though FXDomains and it is forwarded to my AW.
I don't understand the "dedicated" to FAA thing ...Am I understanding this at all? LOL! Since it is forwarded, isn't it already "dedicated?"

Donna

Donna - you may choose to have your AW site forwarded to your personal domain, as opposed to having your personal domain point at the AW.

HI Greg, and thanks.
I don't understand the difference - would you explain what that means, benefit, etc?
And, you thought I was kidding when I said I am stupid about.... ;~ o

If you click on my posted link near the top of this thread, you can see that I have my AW forwarded to my own domain. I think if one clicks on your personal domain, they are taken to the actual AW page. Hope that helps. It certainly can be confusing.

Hi all,
I'm also looking for advice and maybe it's been answered here... but here goes:

My photo site (store) is http://www.BeckermanPhoto.com (which is hosted by an ISP and maintained by me).
If you search Google for New York Photos or New York Photography you should find me on the first or second page of results.

I hate maintaining and hosting my own site. And I love the FAA / AW site. It has everything I've wanted to add to my own site.

http://dave-beckerman.artistwebsites.com/

If I redirect BeckermanPhoto.com --> dave-beckerman.artistwebsites.com will google penalize me for keyword phrase like New York photos? I don't think anyone really knows the answer to this, and maybe it's just something I'll have to try and see what happens.

So I see two potential issues: 1) Google or other search engines penalize you for redirecting (but I sort of doubt that); and 2) you don't have as much control over where and the size of important SEO phrases on your AW pages as you do with your own hosted site (and that is really something I don't know about).

I've just been on FAA for a few weeks, and really like the features.

Thanks in advance for opinions / experiences etc.

Dave

@Dave - I doubt you would be penalized. But if you are currently getting significant traffic and sales, I would not switch. The new sites are great. But we have no direct control over SEO. You may drop from the first or second page down quite a bit. Maybe you won't, but it would be a gamble.

I just don't get any of this. I already had www.Bradmartinphotos.com pointed or redirected to my AW site. Not sure which or if it matters. Do I need to do something now? It looks like Wendy did. What benefit is it to make the switch? I have had the domain for 6 years, I bought it through Lycos when I set up my photo website at tripod.com. So right now it is all fine. Do I need to undo the forward from Lycos and do it on FAA or is it fine to just leave it as is? Why?
Edit: I see Greg's link uses his own chosen domain name. I like that better. But Wendy's is still an AW address. So if i undo my lycos forward and do it on FAA will I get bradmartinphotos.com showing as the address instead of and artistwebsite?

@Greg Norrell Thank you. One vote against. "A gamble." - Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em. I do tend to gamble :)
@Bradford - if you already have your domain name pointed / redirected to AW then that's that.

@Brad - if you are content having your site be a subdomain on artistwebsitesdotcom, then keep as is (although you probably should edit or remove your 'Custom Message #2'). If you want all your AW pages showing up on your personal domain, then that too is possible. I regard that as preferable. Then when you share images on social media, you are promoting your site as opposed to the whole AW domain. While we don't yet know how the new sites will fare in SEO, they definitely have far more potential than the old versions.

Greg - Thank you for better explaining it to Bradford, now I understand.

Bradford, thank you for asking what the benefit is, or what's the difference also. xx

Hi, Donna:

When you go to your AW site, in the URL you now see is donna-proctor.artistwebsites.com, not whatever your custom domain name is at FX Domains.com (which you mentioned you already have).

Simply put, with the new AW sites you have the option of having just your domain name at FX Domains appear in the URL, further customizing the appearance of your site. Abbie put the how-to here: http://1stangel.co.uk/fineartamerica .

My AW URL also used to show the artistwebsites name. It now looks like this: http://UpCloseWithMotherNature.com .

As an example, I posted on Pinterest an autumn shot last October that became popular and was reposted over 2500 times since. All those links for that image point to the FAA domain. When something similar (hopefully) happens in the future for me, those backlinks will be pointing directly to my domain.

Thanks Susan.
I totally get it now :)
So weird too... I was on my AW site 10 minutes ago w/o being logged on. My avatar was there. Now, it's gone - I've checked 3 times since then, and gone.
Yes, I see the difference with Greg's and your's...
I'll go follow Abbie's how-to.
Thanks again xx

EDIT - I just logged into my AW and my avatar was removed completely!?! I did not do that. I had to upload it again.

Donna, I don't see your avatar either. Is it still in your behind the scenes?

I also noticed you need to remove or change your custom message #2 in your header.

EDIT: YOUR AVATAR IS BACK!

Susan - See my EDIT above your comment. No, it was no longer in my behind the scenes of my AW.

Re's # 2... lol, I need to figure out how to do that. I'm there now

Donna, it could have been a blip in the system...as sometimes happens! :))

Susan - No matter, I re-uploaded. Also got rid of the # 2. Much much better. Thanks for your help.

Edit - @ Jeff - Thank you for starting this conversation. Without it, I wouldn't have known.

I am now live under my own domain on my AW: DonnaProctorArt.com

As usual - even reading Abbies how to - I'm lost - so it will just remain as is a redirect to the AW site with the artistwebsite address.

Roy -

I found the following on my AW under ".com domains" while logged in.to it. Your's should also be customized with your name. Add your own domain there, THEN you need to go to whoever it is where you bought it from and do the following. I had no problem at all.


"A Record
You have to point your A Record to the following IP address: 216.185.148.181
If it asks you for a host name, type "@" without the quotes.

CNAME Record
You have to point your CNAME Record to the following URL: custom.artistwebsites.com. Don't include http:// or any other prefixes.
For the host name, type "www" without the quotes.
Once you've set up both records correctly, you should be able to go to http://donnaproctorart.com or http://www.donnaproctorart.com in your web browser... and end up right back on this site! Please note - it can take several minutes for the changes at your Domain Regstrar to take effect. If your website doesn't appear in your browser correctly, give it a few minutes, and then refresh the page (press F5 on your keyboard)."

You can send me your domain manager log in details and I will do it for you if I can.

@Bradford -- You were still seeing the AW address on mine because I totally forgot to put the new address in my FAA 'Contact' info! Total Brain Blip! The AW addresses are remaining live, so you were able to navigate to my page the 'old' way.

Thanks for bringing that to my attention; it's all fixed now. :-)

http://art166.com

I have a question if Abbie pops back in here. On the backs of our greeting cards the URL of the AW image is printed. If we are now using a custom domain, will it still be the AW URL or one for the custom domain?

Very good question. I wll find out

Thank you! :)

I want to thank Greg, Donna, Wendy, Dave B and Abbie for their responses to my questions. It was especially helpful that Donna posted that I would see after I put in my new domain name because that is what I needed to know. The problem now is I did everything right I think and I am not seeing Bradmartinphotos.com in the address bar.

I am going to go back one more time and make sure I entered the A record and Cname record correctly. I changed my message also.

www.bradmartinphotos.com

Bradford, you're welcome. Happy my info helped you.
Something IS wrong. I SEE the link in google. First one up: BradMartinPhotos - Artist Websites but when I click it's not right. Go back and check the A record and Cname again. Perhaps you misspelled a word?

Edit just to add - I'm not thrilled that people can be taken to Pixels from our AW site. It's our's but it's not.