Before we get on to linking your domain to your host, here is a quick talk about domains and what you should be thinking about if your haven’t got one yet.
So if you have tried to come up with catchy names for websites before then you may realise how hard it can be to pick one.
A good rule of thumb is to keep them short, try for a two word domain if you can and make sure its a .com first and foremost ,if you can’t get a .com suffix then the next best thing is .org then .net.
These are considered top level domains located in the root zone of the Domain Name System’s name space. (This is an actual thing )
If that all sounds a bit like a “Galaxy Far Far Away”, then all you really need to know is those three are the most popular extensions.
Just remember over 50% of sites searched by google are .coms
Right, back on subject…
How to Point Domain to Host
So, by now, you may have found a domain you like and you might also have found some reasonably priced hosting packages…
So how do you link the two together?
Here are the following steps to link your domain:
- Setting your domain to point to your host
- Adding your domain to your Hostgator account
In this example I am going to be using the Namecheap for my domain registrar and Hostgator for the web host, as these are the two main products I use personally.
I have found they are very compatible as Namecheap allows me to buy all my domains for a decent price ( over 40 and counting ) and Hostgator allows me to install as many sites as I like on their popular baby plan option.
Now if you are using other products then that’s fine this method is pretty much the same whatever registrar or host provider you are using.
First of all we need to set up your hosting:
If you have chosen a host, or have a hosting plan already, then these steps should be fairly straightforward as the hostgator cpanel is pretty much identical to most of the hosting control panels around.
Register or log into your account, you should see a set up like the following below, some control panel screens might look slightly different visually, but all have pretty much the same layout and functionality.
You want to click on the control panel option on the right of the screen, do so and you will be transported to the main control panel section…
This is the main hostgator cpanel where all your add-ons and plugins live, its layout is designed to show everything available to you on one screen
So now from here we need to find our Name Server addresses, this will be further down on the right hand side of the screen, you will have to scroll down a bit first.
These are the servers we need to point our domain to.
You have the primary name server and the secondary name server.
Take note of this information or keep this window open for copying and pasting into namecheap.
Next you want to go over to the Namecheap site, if you haven’t already got a domain then you can simply search for one in the main search bar on the front page.
By typing the domain into the box Namecheap will search to see if that particular name is already taken, if it is you could then see if the .org or .net versions are available.
On the other hand if the .com is available then it usually only costs around $9 to register it.
When you register a domain the usual period of registration is a year, you can increase this to 2 or 3 years, its up to you.
Just know you are only ever really renting a domain, you never actually own it, but as the registrant you can use it pretty much indefinitely, as long as you Keep paying for it.
If you are buying a domain for the first time then you will have to register for an account, this is very simple and can be done in a few minutes.
Once you have bought your domain you will be able to see it in your dashboard, this is a convenient and easy place to view all you domains in one place.
you can choose at this point to set the auto renew switch in the middle to on, this will make sure that it is re-registered again when it comes up for renewal.
Now we want to click on the manage button just off to the right side of our screen, this will take us to our domain settings.
This gives you the option to choose what names servers to link you domain to.
You want to change the domains setting to Custom Domain and put in your hosts Name Servers copy and past both the primary and secondary server references in to the boxes.
When we link our domain to our host we are essentially linking a human readable domain name to an IP address, This is your hosts address where you site will be located.
Once you have entered the server name information save the settings, this will now ensure that your domain is pointing to your host.
Now we will go back to to our host to add our domain to our account.
Once you are back into the main control panel window scroll down until you see the Addon Domains option ( as seen below).
You will now be taken to another page where you can enter the domain that you want to add on.
Put your website address into the top box, the other boxes should auto fill.
Now click on the Add Domain box.
This should then successfully link and create a directory for your domain name.
Once this is done you will be given the option to install a WordPress site in this domain directory.
You can create many sites this way, by simply linking them individually to your hosting and creating a separate WordPress installation for each of them.
This is a super quick way to create a simple site quickly.
If you want read a more complete guide, one that shows you how to do all of the above, plus how to set up your WordPress account and add your first post…
Then download the free PDF here – How to create a website with wordpress PDF