This is part  2 of a 4-part series that goes over the very basics of blogging for people new to the blogging world. Click here to view part 1

Part Two: The Basics of Blogging

In this post, the second in our series on the Basics of Blogging, we are going to look at how you can attach your domain name to the web host that you have selected. Choosing a web host was the topic of our first post, so please feel free to revert back to that article if you have not yet picked out your host.

Adding your domain name to your web hosting account is a necessary step in the process of getting your site live on the internet. As you likely already know, your domain name is the address that will be used to find your site online, and it makes up the other half of the equation (along with web hosting) that needs to be completed before you can have a presence on the web. Once you have both a domain and web hosting, you are just a few short steps away from having your own live website.

Registering a Domain Name

Before we get into the specifics of adding your domain to your host, we should briefly touch on the task of registering a domain name. The good news here is this – you likely won’t find an easier task in the entire process of building your website than the job of registering a domain. All you need to do is visit the website of a domain registrar, pick out your chosen name (one that is available, of course), and pay a small fee. That’s it. Some of the popular domain registration sites include godaddy.com and namecheap.com.

While you may have your heart set on a ‘.com’ domain extension, remember that there are plenty of different extensions available to pick from. Among some of the interesting extension options are ‘.net’, ‘.shop’, ‘.online’, and many more. The price of your domain registration will depend on the extension you pick, so keep that factor in mind.

Adding Your Domain Name

When the time comes to add your domain name to your web host, you are going to have two different possibilities depending on the path you have selected. If you have chosen to host your website with the same company that you used to register the domain, there is likely nothing else to do. For instance, if you registered your domain with GoDaddy and also purchased one of their web hosting packages, everything should already be set to go. The process is usually automatic when you stay within the same business for both registration and hosting, so it may be that you are already up and running.

However, that won’t be the case when you use different companies for registration and hosting. So, if you have selected namecheap.com as your registrar, for instance, and another company as your host, you are going to have to point your domain in the right direction. To do so, you need to identify the ‘nameservers’ that are associated with your hosting account. Basically, nameservers are going to tell the internet where your website can be found.

The action that you need to take in order to connect your hosting account to your domain name is simply updating the nameservers associated with your domain. You will go to hosting account, find the nameservers for that host, and then copy/paste that information back into the appropriate spot in your domain registration account. If you have any questions about where the nameserver information can be found, or where it needs to be entered, the ‘FAQ’ section on the hosting or domain registration websites should be able to help you out.

Give It Time

In the high-tech age, we are all used to instant gratification with nearly everything that we do – but that isn’t necessarily going to be the case when it comes to updating your nameservers. There may be a bit of a delay – up to 24 hours or so – before your domain will actually connect with your host. Be patient, and don’t try to solve any problems until an appropriate amount of time has passed.

Once you have connected your domain to your host, you will be one big step closer to presenting your website to the world. In part three of this series, we are going to talk about how you can install WordPress on your new website!