diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0c795ac..9dc73c7 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -11,13 +11,12 @@ This repository was originally forked from `@henridwyer`, many thanks to him for
 
 # Usage
 
-Use this image with a `Dockerfile` such as:
-```Dockerfile
-FROM staticfloat/nginx-certbot
-COPY *.conf /etc/nginx/conf.d/
+Create a config directory for your custom configs:
+```
+mkdir conf.d
 ```
 
-And a `.conf` file such as:
+And a `.conf` in that directory:
 ```nginx
 server {
     listen              443 ssl;
@@ -43,6 +42,8 @@ services:
             - 443:443/tcp
         environment:
             - CERTBOT_EMAIL=owner@company.com
+        volumes:
+          - ./conf.d:/etc/nginx/user.conf.d :ro
   ...
 ```
 
diff --git a/example/Dockerfile b/example/Dockerfile
deleted file mode 100644
index 21c5edd..0000000
--- a/example/Dockerfile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-FROM staticfloat/nginx-certbot
-COPY *.conf /etc/nginx/conf.d/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/example/nginx.conf b/example/conf.d/nginx.conf
similarity index 100%
rename from example/nginx.conf
rename to example/conf.d/nginx.conf
diff --git a/example/docker-compose.yml b/example/docker-compose.yml
index 8e4bad8..3337320 100644
--- a/example/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/example/docker-compose.yml
@@ -2,10 +2,13 @@ version: '3'
 
 services:
   proxy:
-    build: .
+    image: staticfloat/nginx-certbot
     restart: always
     environment:
       CERTBOT_EMAIL: "your.email@example.com"
     ports:
       - "80:80"
       - "443:443"
+    volumes:
+      - ./conf.d:/etc/nginx/user.conf.d :ro
+
diff --git a/src/scripts/entrypoint.sh b/src/scripts/entrypoint.sh
index c8cbf07..b2f5fc4 100644
--- a/src/scripts/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/src/scripts/entrypoint.sh
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@ trap "kill 0" EXIT
 # Source in util.sh so we can have our nice tools
 . $(cd $(dirname $0); pwd)/util.sh
 
+# first include any user configs if they've been mounted
+link_user_configs
+
 # Immediately run auto_enable_configs so that nginx is in a runnable state
 auto_enable_configs
 
diff --git a/src/scripts/util.sh b/src/scripts/util.sh
index 61a457f..8f0d5bb 100644
--- a/src/scripts/util.sh
+++ b/src/scripts/util.sh
@@ -92,3 +92,21 @@ is_renewal_required() {
     is_finshed_week_sec=$(( ($one_week_sec - $last_renewal_delta_sec) ))
     [ $is_finshed_week_sec -lt 0 ]
 }
+
+# symlinks any *.conf files in /etc/nginx/user.conf.d
+# to /etc/nginx/conf.d so they are included as configs
+# this allows a user to easily mount their own configs
+link_user_configs() {
+    SOURCE_DIR="${1-/etc/nginx/user.conf.d}"
+    TARGET_DIR="${2-/etc/nginx/conf.d}"
+
+    echo "symlinking scripts from ${SOURCE_DIR} to ${TARGET_DIR}"
+
+    if [ ! -d "$SOURCE_DIR" ]; then
+        echo "no ${SOURCE_DIR}, nothing to do."
+    else
+        for conf in ${SOURCE_DIR}/*.conf; do
+            ln -sv "${conf}" "${TARGET_DIR}/$(basename ${conf})"
+        done
+    fi
+}