In this video, I’m gonna show you how to use your cPanel account to create subdomains and also add-on domains. So the first thing you need to do is log in to your cPanel web host account, and then scroll to the bottom. Under Domains, you would see a few links here; and the first is Subdomains; second is Addon Domains; third is Parked Domains; and so on.
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So let’s first create a subdomain. Now, in many ways, a subdomain can be treated as a different domain name altogether. And in fact, as far as search engines are concerned, they usually treat subdomains as a new domain name.
Now, there are a few reasons you may want to use subdomains instead of subfolders. The first is to create different portions of your website that focus on different aspects. So for example, I may want all my members to log in at members.youractualurl.com. And then you’d see that cPanel automatically map this subdomain that I’ve created to the document route, and also to the specific folder that matches this subdomain. So if I create members.youractualurl.com, then any website, or all the files, all the pages that I want to appear at members.youractualurl.com, I would need to upload it to this folder via FTP. And let’s click on Create.
Okay, so it says, ‘members.youractualurl.com has been created’. And let’s go back…now you can see I have two subdomains. The first is members.youractualurl.com, and the second is test.youractualurl.com. The difference between these two is that the first subdomain is not redirected, and the second is redirected to www.clickbank.com.
So the second reason really you may want to create a subdomain is to create a redirect link, that whenever someone types in ’test.youractualurl.com’ into their web browser and they will be taken to this website instead. So this is a simple way, actually, to create affiliate links.
So now, let’s go back and let’s take a look at how to create add-on domains. Now, I’m back on the main page, so I’m gonna scroll to the bottom and click on Addon Domains.
Now, before you can add a new add-on domain, there are two things you need to do. First of all, make sure that you have actually registered the new domain name that you wanna use; and second, make sure that the new domain name is pointed to the said DNS server as the first domain name that you are using. This is very important; otherwise, the add-on domain feature will not really work.
So now, let me add on a new domain. Okay? And cPanel has checked and verified that this is a correct domain name type. Okay? So youractualurl.com, and then you would find that cPanel automatically creates the subdomain FTP user name, and also the document group, which now goes to public_html/youractualurl.net.
So what this means is that cPanel has created another folder within the root of my website. So when I want to use this domain name, I need to upload my files or set up a new blog in this particular folder which is available or accessible through my FTP program, okay? But I can also change this if I want to. So I’m gonna make it a little simpler…okay? I’m just going to our cPanel to create a new folder called ‘net’, and this folder will be used for my new add-on domain, youractualurl.net.
Now, unlike a subdomain, which is basically an extension before the main domain name – for example, test.youractualurl.com, or members.youractualurl.com – an add-on domain is a completely new domain name that you can map to the same web hosting account, as long as the web hosting account has cPanel, and as long as they have enabled the add-on domains feature, you can add on as many domain names as you want. So this really helps you to save money in terms of not getting a new web hosting account for each domain name that you want to use. You can just get one web hosting account, and then add on multiple add-on domain names. Okay? And then you need to enter a password, but you can also click on a password generator, okay, and you can also generate as many passwords as you want until you find something that you’re pretty much satisfied with, and click on ‘I have copied this password in a safe place.’ Basically, this just tells you that you need to remember this password, so you better copy this password and save it on your computer. And then click on Use Password.
And now, you’ll see both the password fields have been filled, and the password indicators show that the password strength is very, very strong. Okay? So now, click on Add Domain.
So that’s how easy it is to create add-on domains in your cPanel account. So once you create an add-on domain, then you just need to upload the files to the correct folder that matches your add-on domain. And then you can send visitors to the actual domain name itself. For example, youractualurl.net or whatever domain name it is that you have registered.