WinRed Custom Subdomains

To comply with the restrictions put in place by Apple and Facebook as it relates to pixel events, organizations can now create a WinRed subdomain on their website (eg winred.yourdomain.com).

Each organization will be allowed one WinRed subdomain. The only permitted subdomain will be winred.yourdomain.com.

The millions of one-click users who are logged in on secure.winred.com may not be automatically logged in on your subdomain due to browser (eg Safari) restrictions on cookies. These logged-in users convert far higher than non-logged-in users. So, we recommend only sending Facebook traffic to this subdomain.

Please note, that this solution may change in the future - we are watching large platforms closely to see how they address the problem in the coming months.

Table of Contents:
Setting up your Subdomain
Add your Domain to WinRed Settings
Adding CNAME record to your DNS
What WinRed Needs to do
How to Find a URL for Each Page
Using this Domain for Facebook Ads

Adding a Subdomain for State Level Accounts
Updating Google Tag Manager

Setting Up Your Subdomain

Setting up your subdomain requires 3 parts:

1. Add your domain in the WinRed Settings > Pages for your organization

2. Add a CNAME record to your DNS (additional details below)

3. WinRed will make a technical update

Part 1 - Add Your Domain to WinRed Settings

1. Navigate to portal.winred.com

2. Navigate to Organization’s settings

3. Navigate to the Pages tab

4. Enable the “Yes” toggle for Create a WinRed Subdomain

5. Enter your custom domain

6. Click “Save”

You’ll know that these steps have been successful when you see:

Part 2 - Adding a CNAME Record to Your DNS

You should be able to add a CNAME wherever you keep your domain’s DNS. Below are step-by-step instructions for 3 of the most popular options: GoDaddy, AWS, Cloudflare.

GoDaddy

1. Find your domain and click “DNS”

   1. You may need to click on “Manage Domain” and then click on “DNS”

2. In the Records click “Add”

3. Fill in the new record:

   1. Type = CNAME

   2. Host = “winred”

   3. Points to = “secure.winred.com”

4. Click Save

5. Tell WinRed that you’ve added the CNAME record to your domain

Now, let WinRed know that the CNAME record has been added to your domain.

AWS

1. Go to Route 53

2. Go to Hosted Zones

3. Click on your “Domain Name”

4. Click “Create Record”

5. Fill in the new record:

   1. Record Name = “winred”

   2. Record Type = CNAME

   3. Value = “secure.winred.com”

6. Click on “Create Records”

7. Tell WinRed that you’ve added the CNAME record to your domain

Once you have Created the Record, let WinRed know that the CNAME record has been added to your domain.

CloudFlare

1. Choose your Domain and click “DNS”

2. Click “Add Record”

3. Fill in the new record:

   1. Type = CNAME

   2. Name = “winred”

   3. Target = “secure.winred.com”

4. Click “Save”

5. Go to “SSL/TLS”

   1. If the value is “Full” then stop. Tell WinRed that you’ve added the CNAME record to your domain

   2. If the value is “Flexible” or “Full (Strict) then continue on the steps 6-11

6. Go to Rules

7. Create a Rule

8. Fill in the Rule:

   1. https://winred.yourdomain.com/*

      1. NOTE: Do not forget the trailing “/*”

   2. Then the settings are: “SSL”, “Full”

9. Click “Save”

10. Verify the Rule is turned On

11. Tell WinRed that you’ve added the CNAME record to your domain

If the value is “Full” then stop. Tell WinRed that you’ve added the CNAME record to your domain.

If the value is “Flexible” or “Full (Strict)” then continue on the steps 6-11

Once you have created the Rule and verified that it is on, let WinRed know that the CNAME record has been added to your domain.

Part 3 - WinRed Will Make a Technical Update

After you have let WinRed know that the CNAME record has been added to your domain, then WinRed will make a technical adjustment.

This adjustment will allow WinRed donation pages from your account to be populated on winred.yourdomain.com

How to Find URL for Each Page

1. Edit a page

2. Click on the “Advanced” tab in page builder

3. Click the “Yes” toggle for Show WinRed Subdomain URL

4. Copy the URL

5. Once you have created the record, let WinRed know that the CNAME record has been added to your domain.

Subdomains for State Level Accounts

when using the custom subdomain for a state-level account, you should drop the candidate slug from the custom domain link.

For example, this is your normal WinRed link:

secure.winred.com/candidatename/example

This is what your link will look like with your custom domain:

winred.candidatename.com/example

This change just applies to state-level links.

Updating Google Tag Manager

If you are firing your Facebook pixel through Google Tag Manager, remember to update the domain that you are firing your pixel on from secure.winred.com to Winred custom subdomain.

You can find more information on how to integrate your Facebook pixel and Google Tag Manager here.

Facebook

Now that you have set up your WinRed subdomain you can set up 8-pixel events to optimize your Facebook ads. To do that you’ll verify your domain with Facebook and add pixels events via Google Tag Manager. If you have questions please reach out to your Facebook representative.