Blog Building: Connecting Your Domain Name To Your Web Host

Yay! You have your domain name and you’ve rented your hosting space. Aren’t you excited? You’re on the verge of having your very own website!

But first, you have to make sure the two are connected. If you purchased your domain name and hosting package together, this may already be done for you. If not, you will need to do it yourself.To do this, you’ll need some information from your new hosting company.

Read through the welcome email you received when you purchased your hosting package and look for a reference to “Name Servers.” A name server will look something like this: ns123.hostgator.com. If the information is not in your welcome email, try logging into your new hosting account and look for the information there. If you’re still unable to find it, contact customer support for your hosting company and they will give you the information.

Once you have the name server information, log into your domain name account and look for the option to update the name servers. The screen may look something like this:

Just replace each address with one of the name server addresses provided to you by your hosting company, one address per box, usually in numerical order. If your domain company has more name server addresses than your hosting company provided, just remove any extras after you’ve entered the ones from your hosting company.

Once you’ve entered all the name server information, just click “OK” and you’re done. Voila! You’re connected!

You now have a website. Of course, there’s nothing on it, but we’ll take care of that. The next step… choosing and installing your blogging software!