Previous article: Step #1 - Gaining Access to Sticky.io & Sticky Checkout
Why do I need a Cloudflare Account & Domain?
As customers navigate to your Shopify Store and checkout, we need to redirect them to Sticky.io Checkout. Part of that redirect requires a domain to direct them to.
Below, we will guide you through the entire process from registering an account to getting a domain and configuring it.
Once we've knocked this out, we'll tackle integrating Shopify.
Read the article below, or watch the video below to get started.
Without further ado, let's begin!
Acquiring a Free Cloudflare Account
To start, let's register for a free Cloudflare account. If you have an existing account, you can skip this part.
Navigate to cloudflare.com and sign up for a free account.
Following, you'll be presented with 4 plans to choose from. Free is all you'll need for Sticky.io Checkout.
Registering Your Domain Through Cloudflare
Once you've registered your Cloudflare account, you'll be taken to the domain registration page. Accessible under Account Home.
Here you can either:
If you don't have a domain, click on "Register a domain".
If you have an existing domain, enter it in the "example.com" field.
NOTE: If you don't have a domain, we suggest purchasing one from GoDaddy with none of the extras.
Once either step has been finished - enter the domain and click Quick Scan for DNS Records > Continue.
After clicking Continue, we'll be redirected to the Plans page and much like our Account, the Free plan is sufficient for Sticky.io Checkout.
And lastly, the Activate Cloudflare page. Similar to prior steps, we'll just click Continue to Activation.
Once we click Continue to activation, Cloudflare will recognize that the Nameservers have yet to be updated.
We'll put Cloudflare on the back burner. Do not close this page. We need to copy the nameservers on this page to our domain registrar.
Verify & Update Nameservers
Next is verifying and updating your nameservers. This is crucial as it directs your domain's traffic through Cloureflare's network. Enabling services like CDN (Content Delivery Network), security protection and performance optimizations.
Unfortunately, this part of the setup guide can't cover every major domain provider. (e.g GoDaddy, Namecheap, Bluehost). Thankfully, Cloudflare has provider-specific instructions here. - We'll cover what the process looks like for GoDaddy here.
Registrar Requirements:
Identify your domain registrar from where you created your domain. (e.g. GoDaddy, Namecheap).
Make sure DNSSEC is off
Refer to step-by-step instructions specific to your DNS provider (e.g., Namecheap, Google Domains).
Replace Current Nameservers with Cloudflare Nameservers
Update your current nameservers with those provided by Cloudflare in your DNS provider's settings.
Ensure all changes are saved within your DNS provider’s interface.
Instructions for GoDaddy
To begin, login to GoDaddy. Following, My Account > My Domains.
Once loaded, you'll land on your GoDaddy Domains Portfolio Page. Click DNS > Your Domain.
Next, we'll navigate over to Nameservers > Change Nameservers.
This will prompt a small window to appear, and we'll choose > I'll use my own nameservers > Add each Cloudflare nameserver individually > Save.
Remember the Cloudflare tab I told you not to close? Go back to it and copy the nameservers. We discuss this here - Registering Your Domain Through Cloudflare.
After saving, an additional window will appear just reaffirming what you just did and we'll click Continue.
After you click continue, refresh the page and make sure the nameservers mention Cloudflare. At this point, everything on GoDaddy is done, and you can close the tab.
The domain propagation process generally takes 30 minutes to 1 hour, but could be up to 24 hours.
Simply navigate back to Cloudflare > Account Home. Here you'll see the status of the domain. It will either be Invalid nameservers or Active.
NOTE: While we recommend reviewing the next step, Configure SSL/TLS Encryption - this cannot be done until the domain propagates. While critical to launch, it will not prevent you from doing other steps of the integration.
Configure SSL/TLS Encryption
If this sounds intimidating, I promise it's easier than the header suggests. Once the domain has propagated and is "Active" we can continue.
To begin, navigate to Account Home > Your Domain. Once you've opened your domain on the left navigation menu open SSL/TLS > Overview > Configure.
After clicking Configure. We'll be presented with two options. By default, your domain will be configured under Custom SSL/TLS <> Flexible.
While Custom SSL/TLS is selected, click Full. Afterwards, click Automatic SSL/TLS > Save. As illustrated below. Once you save, refresh the page and make sure your changes reflect.
And... that's it! I promised this was the easy part. Next is fetching the API Token!
Generating Your Cloudflare API Token
To fetch your API token, navigate to My Profile > API Tokens > Create Token.
Following, Cloudflare provides a few API token templates to choose from. We'll click Edit zone DNS > Use template.
Afterwards, there are two adjustments we'll make prior to saving our new API Token.
Let's change the name to something unique. We'd suggest Sticky.io Checkout.
Update Zone Resources to be All Zones from Specific Zone.
Once finished, click Continue to Summary > Create Token.
Once you've created the token, copy and paste it in your notepad as we'll be needing it shortly.
One step closer to launching! Click here to visit the next article and continue your implementation. Step #3 - Sticky Checkout - Connecting Your Shopify Store & Cloudflare.