You have the web hosting package and you’ve bought the domain name and now you need to put the two together so that you can display a website.
Before you can follow this tutorial you’ll need to have done two things first.
Registered a domain name. You can’t point a domain at a website if you don’t own a domain name! If you haven’t got yourself a domain name yet then you can start by reading the article. How To Setup Web Hosting.
Purchase a web hosting account. Your web host is where your website files are kept and you’ll need a host to provide you with the DNS settings (or Domain Name Servers) you need to point the domain at your hosting. See How to Choose a Web Host if you haven’t completed this step yet.
Connecting your domain to your hosting,
Step 1:
Find your web hosts’ DNS (domain name server) settings.
Usually these look like ns1.example.com & ns2.example.com.
You should have received these via email when you signed up for hosting.
Step 2:
Add name servers to your domain with your registrar.
Log into your registrar account and find the section for custom name servers.
Most registrars will have it labeled as DNS Settings or Domain Name Server Setup.
Step 3:
Wait up to 72 hours for the changes to take effect.
Once the name servers have been updated, it can take a while to take effect.
Sometimes your name servers might update and change over in two hours or less. You can keep checking if you like.
Here is a detailed breakdown of each step to help you point a domain name to your website:
Find your domain name server settings. When you join a web host you usually receive a confirmation email which gives you login details like your username and password. In this welcome email, you should have also been sent the DNS or domain name server addresses to use.
These will look like this: ns1.example.com. More popular hosts with lots of customers might have ns359.example.com. If you don’t have these then you can find them by:
Asking your web host. A simple email or support ticket to your web host such as Hostgator will get you an immediate response. You can then note down your name servers and move to step 2.
Logging in to your admin panel.
Most commercial, shared hosting companies use an admin panel or commonly referred to as CPanel (an easy to use interface to manage your hosting). The name server addresses are sometimes displayed in the sidebar of this panel – depending on the host.
Whichever way you find the DNS addresses, when you have them you can move on to the next step.
Save your name servers with your registrar. The next step once you have your name servers is to log in to your registrar admin panel, find the domain you want to set up and copy-paste the name server addresses into the DNS Settings or Domain Name Server Setup area. This changes for each host, but most of them will be labeled either DNS, Name Servers, or Domain Name Servers.
If you really cannot find where to save your DNS settings then you just need to submit a support ticket or log into live chat with your domain registrar (Namecheap) asking for their help. If you include the domain name you want to update and the name servers from your web host in the ticket, most registrars will update them for you.
Wait for your DNS settings to update. It can take 48-72 hours for the DNS to update (also known as DNS Propagation). When this happens, people who visit your domain name (i.e. yourname.com) will see the landing page or live folder of your web hosting account.
In some cases this change can happen in less than 30 minutes as modern technology makes the process much quicker. Once it has gone through, you have successful pointed your domain name to your website, YAY!
If this is your first domain name, you don’t have to worry about Addon Domains. Just point your nameservers as shown in the video. When you decide to register another domain, this is when you would use this feature.
Now you are ready to learn how to build a website from scratch. You are probably wondering why I am recommending you to use WordPress. For one simple reason, Google and other search engines LOVE LOVE LOVE WordPress websites.
Here are 3 main reasons why:
#1. Google Loves Content – WordPress was Made for Content Marketing.
When WordPress originally launched, it was created as a content-based platform for bloggers, journalists and content marketers alike. WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS) It’s actually one of the main reasons why WordPress has grown into the most widely used CMS on the web.
#2. Google Loves Optimized Content – WordPress is SEO-Friendly
Organic Search Engine Optimization is something that is stressed a lot online. WordPress has several options that allows us to easily help you keep your website out-ranking your competition in the search engine results. There are default features as well as plugins that can help you monitor your analytics and drive traffic.
#3. Google Loves Mobile-Friendly Websites – WordPress Responds to Those Standards.
WordPress has the robust ability to easily create a responsive layout that goes beyond just a separate mobile site. A responsive website automatically adjusts to the various viewing screens users use today (desktop, tablets and smartphones), rather than just to smartphones.
A few other things that I would like to mention is that when you are filling out your credentials as Joe is showing you in the video, when you choose a name for the Admin User, don’t use the word ADMIN. Hackers can easily figure this out and hack your website. Choose an Admin name that is easy for you to remember but very difficult for someone else to figure out.
Also, once you choose your admin name, you CANNOT change it. So choose your Admin name wisely. Your blog title can be changed in your WordPress back office. When choosing your password, choose a password that is easy for you to remember but very difficult for someone else to figure out.
You can always change your password later. When choosing my passwords, I use the password generator in my cPanel. They create some really strong passwords. I use them and copy them to my clipboard.
If you see this message when you try to type in your domain name “Index of /. cgi-bin/” means that the DNS servers hasn’t got updated yet and/or that you don’t have an index file in your public_html directory.
In other words you haven’t put anything on your new website yet. Once you have installed WordPress on your domain, to get into your back office use yourwebsite.com/wordpress/wp-admin.
If you still see the Index of /. cgi-bin/ message, it’s likely that you installed WordPress in the /wordpress/ folder. You can also ask your hosting provider if they can help you move the installation to the root folder of your domain name.
I hope this article was informative for you.