Want to take your branding to the next level by adding a custom Tumblr domain to your account? You’ve made it to the right tutorial guide.

I’ve read a bunch of posts and documents teaching people how to do this, but they all kind of confusing.

Today I will walk you through step by step how to add a custom domain name to your Tumblr blog and adjust the setting in GoDaddy to push it live. You probably should have basic knowledge of your website backend and consult your hosting provider before proceeding.

You may view the video or read the walkthrough below. I also included a handy Infographic at the bottom of this post to use as a reference for setting up your custom Tumblr domain name.

I will be using GoDaddy hosting (CPanel) and their domain manager for this tutorial. If you need help with this tutorial using a different registrar or hosting provider, please contact us.

 

Starting with a Custom Tumblr Domain Name

If you want to add a custom domain name to your Tumblr account, continue here. If you plan on using a subdomain, such as NAME.YOURDOMAINNAME.COM, then see the section below for adding a custom Tumblr sub-domain name. All steps are basically the same, there is just one extra step if you want to use a subdomain.

Log into your Domain Name Registrar (in my case GoDaddy)

Locate Your Domain and Click Manage DNS

Navigate to Your Zone Files and Locate the A-Record

Change the A Record Name to 66.6.44.4 (This is Tumblr’s IP Address)

Click Save and Navigate Over to Tumblr

Login and go to Settings. Turn on Custom Domain Switch. Add Your New Domain Name.

Click TEST

If everything is working you should see a green checkmark and you’re all done!

Everytime someone navigates to custom url they will land on your Tumblr blog page.

Also all posts that are shared on social media will be attributed to this custom domain name. If you want to edit the look of your site, all you need to do is edit the theme from the Tumblr app or desktop site as usual.

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Create a Custom Tumblr Subdomain

 

If you want to use a sub-domain, such as “blog.memo310.com” or “NAME.YOURDOMAINNAME.COM” as your primary Tumblr blog url, see this section below.

I recently had to do this with my personal blog over at MEMO310.com.

I use Tumblr as an easy way to curate news across the web and thought it would be much easier to just connect it with my current WordPress blog.

So the first step was to establish my branding by changing to a custom Tumblr domain name.

OLD: thememo310.tumblr.com.  NEW: blog.memo310.com

I already have my domain name MEMO310.com. I don’t want to change anything on this website, but wanted to create a separate section for my Tumblr feed. Thus, I opted to create a subdomain instead.

 

Steps to Add a Custom Subdomain

Log into your CPanel account

– You can usually access it directly with “www.YOURDOMAINNAME.com:2083” or by logging into your GoDaddy account. Login, navigate to “Hosting” and select the hosting account your domain is located on. Select manage to access CPanel.

 

Add A Subdomain

– Once you’re on the backend, scroll down to “Subdomains” and add a new subdomain. Fill out the short form and click “create.” In this case, I added the subdomain “BLOG.MEMO310.COM.” Confirm the subdomain was added by checking the list at the bottom of that page.

 

Modify the A Name Record

Scroll back to the top of the page and select the CPanel hosting tab. This should open up a drop down menu where you can select “domains.”

Once you reach the domain page (in my case list view), select the primary domain that you just created a subdomain with. In my case that would be MEMO310.com.

That should take you to a page with 3 tabs. Go ahead and click the DNS ZONE FILE tab. You should see a bunch of options, but you are looking for whatever you just named your subdomain. So in my

That should take you to a page with 3 tabs. Go ahead and select DNS FILE ZONE. You should see a bunch of options on this page, but you are looking for the correct records under A(Host). Whatever you just named your subdomain, locate that record under the host section of the list. So in my case I have a subdomain “upload.memo310.com” so it says upload in the host section. I want to use “blog.memo310.com” so I will select the record that has “blog” listed in the host section. Click the EDIT button under actions on the right.

Change the “points to” record to 66.6.44.4. (This is Tumblr’s IP address.) Here is GoDaddy’s official help page if you want more details about this step.

After copying and pasting that number, click save.

 

Navigate to Tumblr and Update Your Custom Domain Name

Now you need to login to your Tumblr account and update your Tumblr blog with your new domain.

Login to Tumblr

In the top right, click on the profile icon and select “settings.

Select your Tumblr blog from the right sidebar.

Under the username section, you will see your Tumblr URL, click edit.

Toggle “Use a Custom Domain”

Now change your domain name to the custom domain you just created. So in my case, I add “blog.memo310.com.”

Click the TEST button.

If you followed this tutorial correctly, it should appear green and you are now good to go.

All of your posts on social media will be attributed to this new domain name and you can edit and modify the theme from the usual Tumblr editor you have come to love.

If any of these steps are confusing, or you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If this Quicksnip blog helped you, please support us by clicking one of the share buttons and leaving a thank you in the comments section. Thanks again!

 

Create a Custom Tumblr Domain Name Infographic