Step 1: Set up a White Label on your main domain or subdomain by adding a CNAME record.
If you have decided to use White Label, first of all, you need to set it up on your hosting. After that, you will also need to create a White Label in your personal Travelpayouts account. With this sequence, the changes in the DNS records will be loaded faster.
There are two ways to create a White Label: set up on the primary domain or on the subdomain of any level. Both options are described in detail below.
Setting up a White Label on a subdomain
Let’s review the process of setting up a White Label on a third-level domain (for example, avia.your-website-name.com):
1. Go to the DNS settings of your domain.
2. Create the CNAME record for the domain in the DNS settings on your hosting. The CNAME record should look as follows: "avia.your-website-name.com IN CNAME whitelabel.travelpayouts.com." ("avia" is just an example, you can use your own domain name).
Hint for beginners: in the DNS control panel, you often need to specify only the name of the subdomain, for example, avia. That is, the name of the main domain in the name field does not need to be entered. In any case, the system itself will notify you of an input error.
Important: The CNAME should be an entry in domain DNS settings; you don't need to create a subdomain for White Label on your hosting.
You can find examples of creating CNAME records in different control panels here.
3. Done! The configuration is complete. Now you have to wait for your provider to update your domain data. This process may take up to 72 hours.
Setting up a White Label on the primary domain
1. Set up a 301 redirect of the domain your-website-name.com to www.your-website-name.com.
You can do it with the help of the hosting panel (don't forget about redirecting from https) or use the htaccess file. To do this in the root directory of your website you must create the file ".htaccess" with the following content (if the file already exists, simply add this entry to it):
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^[^.]+\.[^.]+$
RewriteCond %{HTTPS}s ^on(s)|
RewriteRule ^ http%1://www.%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]
2. Set up forwarding from www.your-website-name.com to whitelabel.travelpayouts.com.
To do this create a CNAME record in the DNS settings of your hosting. The CNAME record should look like: "www.your-website-name.com IN CNAME whitelabel.travelpayouts.com.".
You can find examples of creating CNAME records in different control panels here.
3. Wait up to 72 hours after you created CNAME in domain settings and the White Label setup is finished.
Important warning: a record like "*.your-domain.com IN A 192.168.0.1" (where the IP address of your website is specified instead of 192.168.0.1) may block the CNAME record.
Note for experienced website managers: you can configure A record for the master domain without using www and redirect. As a result, the White Label will open on the master domain (or any subdomain for which you will create an A record). The only restriction is that the IP address of the White Label, which is specified in the A record, may change. We do not inform you about the change of address anywhere, so you need to track it yourself.
Next steps
After you have finished setting up a White Label on the hosting, you need to create a White Label in your Travelpayouts account. For detailed instructions, see the Create a White Label in the affiliate dashboard article.