What is domain mapping?
Domain mapping replaces your onsugar.com url with your custom domain name. For example, you could domain map mysite.onsugar.com to mycustomdomain.com.

How do I map my domain?
To map your domain, you need to complete the following three steps.

1. At your domain registrar, forward yourdomain.com to www.yourdomain.com. Make sure you select "301 moved permanently" when you set your forwarding.
2. Set your www CNAME to yoursite.onsugar.com
3. Enter www.yourdomain.com into the "Custom Domain URL" field on the domain mapping page. To get to the domain mapping page, click on "Domain Mapping" in your site's dropdown menu.

Please note: be sure to change yoursite and yourdomain to the actual URLs you are trying to map.

Are there any restrictions with domain mapping?
Due to legal restrictions, we cannot offer free Getty Images to sites that do not end in onsugar.com. If you choose to map your domain to your onsugar site, you will no longer have access to our free Getty images, and will be fully responsible for any licensing of images that you publish on your blog. To learn more, read our full Terms of Service.

Additionally, due to technical restrictions, we cannot offer the ability for your commenters to post their comments directly to Facebook.

What is the difference between forwarding and mapping?
When you forward a domain, users type in yourdomain.com into their address bar and get redirected to yoursite.onsugar.com. With domain mapping, users will never see onsugar.com in the address bar.

I mapped my site, but I still see yoursite.onsugar.com in the address bar. What is happening?
Once domain mapping has occured, it will take 24 hours for all the links to forward correctly. After that period of time, yoursite.onsugar.com will begin forwarding to yourdomain.com, and your onsugar.com url will no longer appear.

Do you have GoDaddy.com specific instructions?
Yes. If you use GoDaddy.com as your site registrar and would like to map your domain, simply follow the directions below.

1. Login to your GoDaddy account
2. Go to "My Domains"
3. Click on the domain you want to map.
4. Click on the “Nameservers” icon, change it to “Parked nameservers” and then click OK (this may already be set).
5. Click on the “Forward” icon  and then click the enable forwarding box. In the blank field type http://www.YOURDOMAIN.com and then select 301 moved permanently. When finished, click OK.
6. Click on the “Total DNS Control and MX Records” link in the middle of the page (this might not show up until the nameservers have been set).
7. Under the CNAMES section, find the www line and click on the pencil icon at the end of the row.
   Here you need to enter an alias name: www
   The points to host name should be: YOURURL.onsugar.com
   Change the TTL to 1/2 hour and click OK
8. Now go back to OnSugar and click on the “Domain Mapping” link in your drop down menu. Here add www.YOURDOMAIN.com in the field and then click “Map to This Domain”
   Note: Make sure that you change YOURDOMAIN.com and YOURURL to their respective links.
   
   

What are widgets?
Widgets are content boxes you can add to your side column. By default, each OnSugar site comes with About Me, Followers, Latest Headlines, Popular Posts, and Latest Comments. You can edit these and/or add additional widgets to your site from the widget management page. To access that, click on the "Widgets" link in your site's drop down menu.

How do I add a widget?
To add a widget, click on the type you would like to add on the left hand column of the page labeled, "Available." Once you do this, your widget will be added to the right hand column, "Active." The added widget will also immediately appear on your site.

How do I remove a widget?
To remove a widget, click the “x” next to the widget you’d like to remove. Please note that if you used the "Text or HTML" widget to create a widget, removing it will delete it completely.

How do I rearrange my widgets?
To rearrange your widgets, simply drag and drop the boxes into the "Active" column.

When I add a widget, it asks me how many I want displayed. What does that mean?
Many of the pre-made widgets we provide publish a list of items such as latest comments, latest headlines, etc. You can edit how many of those items show up by entering a number. For example, if you choose 5 on latest headlines, then your 5 latest headlines will show up. If you don't enter a number, 10 items will appear by default. 

How many widgets can I add to my site?
You can add as many widgets as you'd like!

When I create my own Text or Html widget, do I have to give it a title?
You do not have to give your widget a title. This is especially handy when adding images or ads.

How do I embed a widget from someplace else?
To embed a widget from somewhere else, click the "Text or HTML" widget in the Available column. Then before pasting the code into place, click on the "switch to Raw HTML" link below the rich text editor. This will toggle the content, and you will see your post's code. Paste the html embed code here, hit save, then drag your widget into place.

I put widgets into Column 2, but they’re not showing up on my site. What is happening?
In order for the second column of widgets to appear on your site, you need to be using a theme that accommodates it. In the featured themes section, any theme marked “3 Column” will be able to accommodate both columns.

How do I add Column 2 to my custom theme?
If you’re an advanced theme developer, you’ll want to know that the second sidebar can be called with {$sidebar2}.

How do you post by email?
To post by email send an email to YOURBLOG@onsugar.com. So if your onsugar blog is myblog.onsugar.com, you would send an email to myblog@onsugar.com. The first time you send a post by email, you will get a confirmation code. To activate it, click on the "Post by Email" tab in your profile settings.

How long will it take for my post to publish to my blog?
Your blog post should appear in about 5-10 minutes.

How can I add tags or categories to my email posts?
You can add tags and categories by adding either (or both) of the following lines to your email:
tags: example tag1, example tag2
cat: example category1, example category2

What does show my location mean?
If you select to show your location and are posting from a device equipped with geo-tagging (such as an iPhone), a link to your location will appear in your published post.

Can I turn on/off my location preference on a per post basis?
You can turn your location on or off by adding one of the following lines to your email:
geo: true
geo: false

Why am I being asked to verify my post?
Different email providers offer different levels of security. To ensure that you were the one trying to post to your site, we sometimes require a verification. To verify your post, just reply to the email you receive. You do not need to include a body or subject line.

If you would like to avoid this step, you may want to consider using an email provider with added security such as gmail or yahoo.

See an example of what the email and resulting post will look like