Verify your Bluehost domain to improve your Buzzshot email deliverability

Does Bluehost manage your domain's DNS?

Buzzshot sends emails to your players for you, such as your "Thanks for playing" emails. Verifying your domain tells other email servers that Buzzshot may send email for you, so fewer of those emails end up in spam.

If Buzzshot shows "uses Bluehost for DNS" on your domain's page, follow the steps below.

Step 1. Find your records in Buzzshot

Log in to your Buzzshot Admin account. Go to Settings → Emails → Verify Sending Domains and click Setup next to your domain. You will see three records: DKIM (a TXT record), Return-Path (a CNAME record) and DMARC (a TXT record). Steps 2 and 3 cover the first two, and Step 4 covers DMARC. Click the copy button next to a value to copy it.

Step 2. Open your DNS records in Bluehost

Log in to your Bluehost account. Go to Domains, click your domain, then open the DNS tab. Find the Manage Advanced DNS Records section.

Add the DKIM record

  1. Click + Add record and choose to add a single record.
  2. Set the record type to TXT.
  3. In the host field, enter the DKIM hostname from Buzzshot without your domain on the end (for example 20240325pm._domainkey). Bluehost adds your domain for you.
  4. In TXT Value, paste the DKIM text value from Buzzshot.
  5. Leave TTL as it is and click Add.

Add the Return-Path record

  1. Click + Add record and choose to add a single record.
  2. Set the record type to CNAME.
  3. In the host field, enter the Return-Path hostname from Buzzshot (usually buzzbounces), again without your domain on the end.
  4. In Points to, enter pm.mtasv.net.
  5. Leave TTL as it is and click Add.

Enter only the part before your domain. If the host field holds the whole hostname, including your domain, the record will not verify.

Step 3. Verify in Buzzshot

Go back to your domain's page in Buzzshot and click Re-Verify. Once DKIM and Return-Path show a green tick, go on to Step 4. Status on the Verify Sending Domains page shows Missing DMARC until you have.

Step 4. Add a DMARC record

DMARC tells mail providers that email from your domain is genuine. Your domain needs a DMARC record: Microsoft requires one, so without it emails to Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live and MSN addresses may not be delivered. Set up DMARC explains why. The DMARC row on your domain's page in Buzzshot shows what we found, with a button to copy the value you need.

First, check whether it is already there

A domain can have only one DMARC record, and a second one could make both stop working. Before you add anything, open your DNS records as you did in Step 2 and look through the list for a TXT record named _dmarc.

  • You find one: do not add another. Click Re-Verify in Buzzshot. If the DMARC row shows Verified, you are finished. If it shows Invalid, follow the warning on the page, or see Fix a record that does not work.
  • You do not find one: add it as shown below.

Add the DMARC record

  1. Click + Add record and choose to add a single record.
  2. Set the record type to TXT.
  3. In the host field, enter _dmarc.
  4. In TXT Value, enter v=DMARC1; p=none;
  5. Leave TTL as it is and click Add.

Then go to your domain's page in Buzzshot and click Re-Verify. The DMARC row now shows a green tick. On the Verify Sending Domains page, Status shows Verified and DMARC policy shows None with a green tick. None is the policy you just set, so you are done.

Troubleshooting

  • Bluehost says DNS changes usually take effect within 1 to 4 hours, but can take up to 72 hours.
  • If a record stays unverified, open it in Bluehost (the three-dot menu next to the record, then Edit) and check the host holds only the part before your domain.
  • Keep only one DKIM record with the Buzzshot hostname. If you added it twice, delete the extra copy.
  • If the DMARC row still shows Missing after you click Re-Verify, check that the record's type is TXT and its name is _dmarc, then try again later.
  • If it shows Invalid, the warning below it says what is wrong with the record.
  • If you still can't get things to verify, book a call with the Buzzshot team and we'll go through it with you.

Any questions or feedback are gratefully received. Please use the message button on the bottom right of the screen or the "Help & Support" option within the app. Or feel free to email or call.