Help Center

Adding DNS Records Made Easy: Email, Landing Pages, FQ & SSL

When you connect your own domain to LeadCenter — for sending emails, hosting landing pages, your Financial Questionnaire, or getting the secure padlock (SSL) — we ask you to add a few DNS records at your domain provider (GoDaddy, Cloudflare, Namecheap, etc.).

You don't need to be technical. Think of DNS records as entries in your domain's address book:

• Some entries tell email services: "emails from my domain are genuine — deliver them to the inbox, not spam."
• Some entries tell browsers: "this part of my website lives at LeadCenter — send visitors there."
• One entry proves you own the domain, so we can issue the https padlock for it.

All you do is copy what LeadCenter shows you and paste it into the right boxes at your provider. This guide shows you exactly how.

Before you start

• Know where your domain's DNS is managed and have the login ready. This is usually where you bought the domain (GoDaddy, Namecheap…) — but if your website team moved it (for example to Cloudflare), it's there instead.
• Open your records in LeadCenter and keep them in another browser tab, so you can copy each value: DNS & website script settings. Section I holds the email records; Section II holds the landing page, FQ, and SSL records.
• Always copy the values from your LeadCenter screen — the examples in this article are samples only. Your values are unique to your account.
• Check whether your domain already has records with the same names. Two records sharing a name will conflict, and the new one will not work.

The records you may be asked to add

1. Email sending records (4 records)

What they do: they let LeadCenter send emails as you@yourdomain.com and help those emails land in the inbox instead of spam.

• Add all four records — email verification only passes when every one is in place.
• Keep the underscores: _dmarc and _domainkey must start with _.
• When done, return to LeadCenter and click Verify Domain.

Check for an existing DMARC record first. A domain may only have one _dmarc record. If your firm already publishes one — common if you have ever done email compliance work — do not add a second. Two DMARC records invalidate each other, which can affect all of your email, not just LeadCenter's. Keep the record you have, or ask whoever manages your email security before changing it.

About p=none. This is a monitoring-only policy. It lets you see how your domain is being used without changing how any email is treated, which makes it a safe starting point — but it does not by itself stop anyone spoofing your domain.

2. Landing Page domain (1 record)

What it does: it shows your LeadCenter landing pages on your own web address, like app.yourdomain.com.

• In the Host box, type only the subdomain part — for app.yourdomain.com, that's just app.
• Leave TTL on Automatic / default.

3. Financial Questionnaire (FQ) domain (1 record)

What it does: it shows your Financial Questionnaire on your own web address, like fq.yourdomain.com.

• Same idea as the landing page record — type only fq in the Host box.

4. SSL certificate record (1 record)

What it does: it proves you own the domain so we can issue the https padlock for your landing page or FQ address. Without it, visitors would see a security warning.

• This record appears in LeadCenter shortly after you save your domain — refresh the page if you don't see it yet.
• The Name looks like random letters and numbers — that's normal. Copy it exactly.
• Records must be added within 72 hours of certificate creation. After that the request expires and needs a reissue.
• After adding, it can take up to 24 hours for the certificate to be issued. The status updates automatically.
• Using Cloudflare? Set this record to DNS only (grey cloud) — not proxied.

The one rule that prevents most failures

Most DNS providers automatically add your domain to whatever you type in the Host/Name box. So you type only the part before your domain — which is exactly what LeadCenter shows you.

Why "doubling" happens. We show a Host of lcm._domainkey.
- Type lcm._domainkey → GoDaddy saves it as lcm._domainkey.yourdomain.com — correct.
- Paste the full lcm._domainkey.yourdomain.com → it becomes lcm._domainkey.yourdomain.com.yourdomain.com — doubled, and it will never verify.

The exception. A few providers (mostly cPanel-based hosts) do not add your domain automatically. On those, type the full record name (add .yourdomain.com to the end of what we show). When unsure: save the record, re-open it, and check the final name matches ours exactly — nothing doubled, nothing missing.

Quick reference

Find your provider

Click your provider below for a worked example and step-by-step instructions.

After you save

• DNS changes take time to spread across the internet — usually minutes, occasionally up to 24–48 hours.
• Email records: return to LeadCenter and click Verify Domain.
• SSL record: nothing to click — the certificate status updates automatically (up to 24 hours).
• Each domain in DNS & website script settings shows its own status — Pending or Verified for email records, Pending Validation or Issued for SSL certificates.
• Landing page / FQ records: once live, your pages open on your own address with the https padlock.

If it's not verifying — quick checklist

• Re-open each record at your provider. Is the final name doubled or missing your domain? Fix it using your provider's tab above.
• Does the domain already have another record with the same name — an existing _dmarc, or an app CNAME from a previous service? Two records sharing a name conflict. Remove or update the old one.
• Did the underscores survive? _dmarc and _domainkey must keep the leading _.
• Any extra spaces before or after a pasted value? Remove them.
• On Cloudflare, are the records set to DNS only (grey cloud)?
• Added the SSL record more than 72 hours after the certificate was created? It needs to be reissued — add the new record LeadCenter then shows.