Custom Domain & Subdomain

Your ScaanMe card always lives at a clean, shareable web address. Out of the box that address is your personalized link on the ScaanMe domain — something like scaanme.com/yourname — and, when your administrator has the feature switched on, the very same card is also reachable as a subdomain, yourname.scaanme.com. This guide explains both layers: choosing the slug that forms that address, and going one step further by serving the exact same card on a domain you own, such as card.yourbrand.com.

Why bother going beyond the default link? Trust and brand recall. A prospect who sees card.yourbrand.com on a business card, an email signature, or a QR code reads it as *your company's* address, not a third-party page — which lifts click-through and makes the card feel like a permanent part of your brand rather than a profile on someone else's site. The underlying card, its content, its analytics, and its CRM capture all stay exactly the same; only the address in the browser bar changes.

There are two distinct concepts here, and it helps to keep them straight. A subdomain (yourname.scaanme.com) lives *under* the ScaanMe domain and is free and instant — it is really just a prettier form of your personalized link. A custom domain (card.yourbrand.com) is a domain *you* bought from a registrar like GoDaddy or Namecheap and pointed at ScaanMe; it is a paid-plan feature that requires a one-time DNS change and a short admin approval. The rest of this guide walks both, field by field.

What it is and where it lives. Every card has a Personalized Link field in its editor — open the card, find Personalized Link near the top, and you'll see your ScaanMe domain shown as a fixed prefix with an editable box after it. Whatever you type there becomes both your path link (scaanme.com/yourname) and, when subdomains are enabled site-wide, your subdomain (yourname.scaanme.com). The two always point at the same card, so you only ever choose this slug once.

Pick a slug that is short, lowercase, and memorable. Use only letters, numbers and hyphens — no spaces, no symbols, no emoji. Good examples are ahmed-khalil, glow-clinic, or voltline. Think about how it will be *spoken* and *typed*: a slug a customer can read off your card and key in without a second look is worth far more than a clever one they get wrong. The slug must be unique across ScaanMe, so if your first choice is taken you'll need a variation (add your city, your role, or a short word).

Edit it, then check the live preview. As soon as you change the slug, the helper line directly beneath the field — labelled vCard link (or Store link for stores) — updates to show the full clickable address. Click it to open your card in a new tab and confirm it resolves. Save the card to lock the change in. The path form works immediately; the yourname.scaanme.com subdomain form works whenever your administrator has the subdomain feature enabled for the whole site.

When the field is locked. The personalized-link box only appears, and is only editable, when your plan grants it. On many plans the slug is set once and then disabled (greyed out) to keep links stable — you'll typically see it editable on a freshly duplicated card or when an admin has flagged the card as link-editable. If the field is greyed out and you genuinely need to change the slug, contact your administrator. This deliberate lock protects every QR code and printed card already carrying the old address from suddenly breaking.

This is a plan feature — confirm it first. Connecting your own domain requires a plan that includes the Custom Domain entitlement. You can verify this on your Plans page: the Custom Domain line shows Yes or No for your current plan. If your plan doesn't include it, the moment you try to open the connect-domain screen ScaanMe redirects you to the Plans page with the message "Your current plan does not include a plan to link your domain. Upgrade to a domain linking plan." Upgrade first, then come back.

Your plan must also be active (not expired). Even with the right entitlement, the connect-domain screen checks that your subscription is still within its validity window. If your plan has lapsed you'll be sent to the Plans page with "Your plan is over. Choose your plan renewal or new package and use it." Renew before attempting to connect, otherwise the domain form simply won't open.

Buy and have access to the domain you intend to use. You connect a domain you already own at a registrar (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Bluehost, Cloudflare, and so on). You don't have to point your whole root domain at ScaanMe — most people use a subdomain of their own domain, like card.yourbrand.com or links.yourbrand.com, so their main website keeps working untouched. Make sure you can log in to that registrar's DNS panel, because the one required step happens there.

Where it lives. Custom domains are connected per card. Open the specific card or store you want to brand, then go to its Connect with Custom Domain screen. Because the domain is tied to one card, double-check you opened the right card first — a domain you connect here will serve *this* card and no other.

Read the three areas on the page. At the top sits a small form with a single Custom Domain field and a Save button. Below it, a Connected Domain table lists every domain request you've made for this card with its live status. To the right, a numbered Steps to Add a Custom Domain panel spells out the exact DNS record to create. A blue banner at the very top reminds you that DNS changes can take 24–48 hours to propagate.

Understand the order of operations. The correct flow is: (1) add the DNS record at your registrar first, (2) then submit the domain here, (3) then wait for the website admin to approve and link it. The on-screen steps are deliberately ordered this way — adding the DNS record before submitting means that by the time the admin reviews your request, the domain is already pointing at ScaanMe and can be switched on cleanly.

Open your registrar's DNS panel. Log in to wherever your domain is registered (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Bluehost, etc.) and find the DNS management section for the domain you're connecting. You're looking for the place where you can add a new DNS record. Every registrar phrases this slightly differently — "DNS", "Manage DNS", "Advanced DNS", "Zone Editor" — but they all let you add records of a chosen type.

Add a CNAME record with these exact values. Choose CNAME as the record type, then fill it in: Type = CNAME; Host = @ (this represents your root domain — for a subdomain like card.yourbrand.com you'd instead put card here); Value / Target = your ScaanMe app host (the connect-domain page prints this for you, e.g. staging.scaanme.com on staging or scaanme.com in production — copy it exactly, with no http://); Proxy Status = DNS only; TTL = leave on Auto. The on-screen table shows precisely these five values for you to copy.

Save the record at your registrar. After entering the CNAME, click your registrar's Save/Add button so the record is committed to your zone. Nothing about ScaanMe changes yet — this step just tells the global DNS system that your domain should hand visitors over to ScaanMe. Leave Proxy Status on DNS only; turning on a registrar's proxy/CDN at this stage can interfere with how ScaanMe issues the HTTPS certificate for your domain.

Cloudflare users follow a slightly different recipe. If your DNS is managed by Cloudflare, click the Cloudflare DNS Settings link on the connect-domain page for the dedicated guide. In short: add an A record for the root (@) pointing to the server's IP with the orange proxy cloud enabled, and a CNAME for www pointing at the ScaanMe host with the proxy disabled (grey cloud), then set up the page rules shown there. Cloudflare's proxy and SSL behaviour differ enough that following its specific instructions avoids redirect loops.

Type the domain into the Custom Domain field. Back on the connect-domain page, enter the domain exactly as you want it to appear — for example card.yourbrand.com or yourbrand.com. Enter it without http:// or https://; the field's hint says "Don't use http:// or https://" and the page will even strip a prefix if you paste one in. The input is validated against a proper domain pattern, so a typo or an entry with spaces won't be accepted.

Click Save to submit the request. On success a green banner confirms it, reading along the lines of "CNAME record is correctly pointing to [the ScaanMe host], and your domain request is successfully submitted." Your new entry now appears in the Connected Domain table with a yellow Processing badge. At the same moment, ScaanMe emails the website admin to let them know a new domain request is waiting — you don't need to contact anyone separately.

Two guards may stop a duplicate submission. If the domain you entered is already connected to another card or store anywhere on ScaanMe, you'll see "This domain already connected to another business card / store." And if you've already requested this exact domain for this card, you'll get "Domain already requested." Both are protections against pointing one domain at two different cards, which DNS cannot do — each domain can serve exactly one card.

An admin reviews and links your domain. Submitting doesn't make the domain live by itself. The request goes to the website administrator, who verifies the DNS is pointing correctly and then attaches the domain to your card. Until they do, your row stays on the Processing badge. This human step is intentional — it lets ScaanMe confirm the DNS and provision a valid HTTPS certificate for your domain before it goes public. It can take some time, so submit a day or two ahead of any print deadline.

Read the status badges in the Connected Domain table. Each request shows one of four states: Processing (yellow — submitted, awaiting admin), Connected (green — live; your card now serves on this domain), Disconnected (red — was live, now turned off), or Rejected (red — the admin declined it, usually because the DNS wasn't found). A small link icon next to each domain opens it in a new tab so you can test it the instant it turns green.

Allow time for DNS propagation. The blue note on the page says it plainly: DNS record changes can take 24 to 48 hours to propagate. During that window your domain may not resolve everywhere yet, even after the admin has linked it — that's normal internet behaviour, not a fault in your setup. Test from a different network or device, or wait a few hours, before assuming something is wrong. Once propagation completes and the badge is green, the domain loads your card over HTTPS like any other website.

Unlinking a domain. To stop serving the card on a domain, open the Action dropdown on that row and choose Unlink, then confirm in the dialog. This removes the request and detaches the domain from the card so it can be reused elsewhere — your card stays exactly as it was and remains reachable on its ScaanMe link the whole time. Unlinking only changes ScaanMe's side; the CNAME record still sits in your registrar's DNS until you delete it there too, which you should do if you're done with the domain.

Prefer a subdomain of your own domain over your bare root. Connecting card.yourbrand.com rather than yourbrand.com means your main company website keeps running untouched while your card gets a branded address. It also makes the DNS change a single, isolated CNAME that can't affect your email or homepage — a much safer edit than repointing your apex domain.

Lock your personalized-link slug before you print anything. Decide on your slug, save it, and only then generate QR codes, order cards, or build your email signature. Because the slug is often locked after the first save, treating it as permanent from day one avoids the pain of reprinting. If you must change it later and the field is greyed out, that lock exists precisely to stop you from breaking links already in the wild.

Submit your custom domain ahead of any deadline. Between DNS propagation (up to 48 hours) and the admin approval step, going from "submitted" to "green and live" is not instant. If you have a trade show, a launch, or a print run tied to the domain, add the DNS record and submit the request several days early so it's safely Connected before you need it.

Copy the Value field straight from the page — never type it from memory. The CNAME target is the exact ScaanMe host shown in the on-screen table, and a single wrong character means the admin won't find your DNS and the request gets Rejected. Copy it character-for-character, leave off any http://, and keep Proxy Status on DNS only unless you're explicitly following the Cloudflare guide.

Keep your registrar and ScaanMe in sync when you unlink. If you unlink a domain in ScaanMe, remember to also delete the matching CNAME (or A/CNAME pair on Cloudflare) at your registrar. Leaving a stale record pointing at ScaanMe for a domain that's no longer connected just creates a dead link and can confuse a future reconnection of the same domain.

What's the difference between a subdomain and a custom domain? A subdomain (yourname.scaanme.com) lives under the ScaanMe domain — it's free, instant, and is just a tidier form of your personalized link. A custom domain (card.yourbrand.com) is a domain you own and point at ScaanMe; it's a paid-plan feature that needs a DNS change and admin approval. Use the subdomain for a clean free link, and the custom domain when you want the address to carry your own brand.

Do I need a paid plan for both? No. The personalized link and its subdomain form come with your card (the slug field appears when your plan grants personalized links). The custom domain is the part that requires a plan with the Custom Domain entitlement — check the Custom Domain line on your Plans page; it reads Yes or No for your current plan.

Why is my domain still showing Processing? Processing means your request is submitted but the website admin hasn't linked it yet, and/or DNS is still propagating. Confirm the CNAME exists at your registrar with the exact Value from the page and Proxy Status on DNS only, then give it up to 24–48 hours. If it flips to Rejected, the admin couldn't verify your DNS — fix the record and submit again.

Do I get HTTPS (the padlock) on my custom domain? Yes. Once the admin links the domain and DNS has propagated, ScaanMe serves your card over HTTPS so visitors see the secure padlock. This is part of why approval isn't instant — keeping Proxy Status on DNS only (outside the Cloudflare flow) lets the certificate provision cleanly. If you see a certificate warning right after going live, it usually clears once propagation finishes.

Can I connect more than one domain to the same card? Each domain can serve only one card, but you can submit multiple domains for a single card — they'll each appear as their own row in the Connected Domain table. You cannot, however, point the *same* domain at two different cards; ScaanMe blocks that with the "already connected to another business card / store" message because DNS can only resolve a domain to one destination.

Will changing my personalized-link slug break my old links and QR codes? Yes — that's exactly why the slug is often locked after the first save. Your card's path and subdomain both derive from the slug, so changing it invalidates every printed card, QR code, and saved link using the old one. Treat the slug as permanent; if you genuinely must change it and the field is greyed out, ask your administrator, and plan to regenerate any QR codes afterwards.

My subdomain (`yourname.scaanme.com`) doesn't load — why? The subdomain form of your link only works when your administrator has enabled the site-wide subdomain feature. If it doesn't load, your path link (scaanme.com/yourname) always works as the reliable fallback, and you can ask your admin whether subdomain serving is switched on. The path link is what we recommend printing whenever you're unsure.