Assuming that you have now decided on what to call your domain, registering it with a  service provider such as Go Daddy, is your next step before having it hosted. I personally use Host Gator as a hosting service. This whole process can be a bit daunting if this is your first time. What I like about Host Gator is their cPanel and the Fantastico interface, which makes the whole process much easier for the newbie.

Before you can have your domain hosted by Host Gator you have to go to Go Daddy and point your domain name to your name servers on the Host Gator website.

Let me walk you through this process if this is your first time.

  1. Log into your Go Daddy account.
  2. Go to title bar and click on the “My Account” tab.
  3. Below your listed domains under “My Products” bar, click on the “domains button”.
  4. It will now list all of your registered domains. Check the boxes of those domains that you want to manage, in this case those domains that you want pointed to the Host Gator website. By doing so all of the icons in the above bar are now lit up and accessible.
  5. Choose the “names server” icon. It will give you two choices, choose the “set nameservers” option.
  6. In the box that comes up choose “I have specific nameservers for my domains”, and fill in only those that were emailed to you from Host Gator when you signed up to have your domains hosted with them. They will probably have given you two nameservers. Four blank boxes will show, leave the extra two boxes empty.
  7. Click “OK”.
  8. A window will come up stating that you may have to wait from two hours to several days for this to take effect, chances are it will happen in minutes, just so you know.

Pointing your domain to a different website is not the same as transferring them. Do not let the boxes on the right side of Host Gator header confuse you as that interface is for moving and registering your domains with Host Gator, it is not for just pointing your domains to them for hosting, while leaving them still registered with Go Daddy.

Now that your domain is pointed to the Host Gator website let me walk you through the steps to getting your domain hosted by Host Gator.

  1. When you activated your account with Host Gator they emailed you with all of your account info. It should have had a link to your cPanel. (I find it useful to have all of my links bookmarked in my bookmark bar in my browser.) “Click on that link now and bring up your cPanel”.
  2. Scroll down the cPanel page to the “Domains” bar
  3. Click on the “Addon Domains” icon under that bar.
  4. In the “New Domain Name” field enter your full domain name as, http://yourdomainname.com
  5. The rests of the fields will fill in automatically.
  6. You must enter your password that came in the email when you activated your account with Host Gator.
  7. Then click on the “Add Domain” button on the bottom of the page and you are now finished with getting your domain hosted with Host Gator.

The final and last step is getting WordPress installed. Remember WordPress.org is WordPress’ business blog service and it is for anyone serious in doing business on the Internet. It is for self hosted websites and it gives you many options needed for a meaningful website. You own and control all of the content and can host your own email accounts. WordPress has their non-business blog service at wordpress.com and it is more for the hobbyist, and non-serious businessperson.

  1. Two menu bars below the Domains bar in your cPanel you will find the “Software/Services” bar, click on the “QuickInstall” button.
  2. This takes you to the QuickInstall page, find “WordPress” under the Blog Software bar and click on it.
  3. You will see “continue” in the right hand column, click on it.
  4. Go to the box with the title, “Install WordPress” and choose the domain name that you want to use the WordPress software with.
  5. I believe that you can fill out “Admin email, Blog Title, and First and Last Name” at a later date if you choose, then click on the “Install now” button.
  6. Remember to bookmark your site and back office for ready access.
  7. Your back office in WordPress with the tools to create your web page should have an address something like this http://yourdomainname.com/wp-admin.

You are now ready to start work on your webpage using the amazing free service of WordPress. The possibilities are endless and with a little bit of creativity you can come up with an amazing webpage to market anything.

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Filed under: Web Site Development

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