Hello everyone.
We have now added the ability to run the chat from your own domain.
For the more technical users: this means that you’ll be able to CNAME to our domain.
Running the chat from your own domain is a great idea for a few reasons:
- Branding: Visitors will expect your domain name to match or resemble your company name.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Running the chat off of your own domain may help increase the search ranking of your domain.
- Avoiding third party cookie issues: Allow users to enter the chat without having to click a button to join.
Third party cookie issues are the most important issue that’s solved with custom domains.
Cookies are small pieces of data that are stored on your computer when you visit a website. They help keep you logged in, maintain your preferences and much more.
Normally, when you embed your chat onto your website, the domain the chat runs from will be different from the domain it’s embedded on.
Some companies have abused this in the past, and have tracked users across many different websites that they visit.
No one likes their privacy being invaded, which is why browsers have created restrictions preventing all websites from setting cookies in a third party context.
While we do not sell any user data to advertisers or other companies, or track users across different websites, we are still subject to the same restrictions.
When you visit a chat and we aren’t able to set cookies on your device, we require you to click a button to join the chat, which allows us to set cookies on your device.
This helps keep you logged into your account, and saves any changes you make to your chat preferences.
If you’ve had this happen to you before, this should look a little familiar:
With Custom Domains, we’re finally putting this issue to rest.
By running the chat from your own domain, you’ll be able to avoid third party cookies entirely.
This issue is really important for us to solve for everyone.
Starting today, custom domains are supported on all paid plans at no extra cost.
Basic, Community and Pro all include one custom domain, and the Business plan includes five custom domains.
You can also purchase additional custom domains at $5 USD per extra domain.
Custom Domains apply to your organization, so once you set this up, all of your chats within your organization will work on your domain.
If you don’t have an organization and have a classic chat, you can contact us to convert it to an organization.
Setting Up Your Custom Domain
Adding a custom domain is as easy as a few changes to your DNS records.
Simply go to your Organization’s Settings, and select Custom Domains.
From there, you’ll be taken to a page where you can input your custom domain.
Once you’ve entered your desired domain, click Continue.
Once added, click on “View DNS Records” and a window will be displayed showing the DNS records you need to add.
Once this record is added, you can refresh the status of your custom domain.
When you see the status showing as Active, you’re all set!
Now you just need to update your embed codes so that they use the custom domain.
A more detailed version of these instructions can be found here.
Custom domains are available on Basic, Community, Pro, and Business tiers. We recommend you give them a try if you own your own domain. If you have any questions about setting this up, or want to provide any additional feedback, you can contact us and we’ll be happy to speak with you. Feedback from the owners helps keep Minnit the best chat platform available.
Happy chatting!
Jesse
Note: This post was updated on May 13th, 2022 to reflect the new setup instructions for custom domains.