Buying A Domain And Hosting Tutorial

So if you have landed here you obviously want to learn about buying a domain and hosting step-by-step. If not then there tons of other great articles and tutorials on this website for you to read

This is step 1 in our multi-part tutorial on building a website from scratch series of guides. We are going to build the website WebsitesUnderTheHammer.com together step-by-step. The first thing you will want to do when starting a new project is give it a name. This is even more true in the internet world because domain names can be very limited. You can’t go and call your big idea something simple and think that you will get the .com for it as there is a high chance it has already been taken.

Finding A Domain

Choosing The Domain Suffix (.com, .org, .net etc)

For most projects you do, that are worldwide such as this one, you are going to want to get hold of a .com domain. Problem is with the .com is that it is the most registered and camped on. A lot of people have bought domains just to hold them hoping they will gain in value even though they are not using them. So with this in mind, you will have to be creative. So using your brain while buying a domain and hosting can score you a fantastic one.

• If you cant find any .com‘s available that you feel would work then you could go onto a .org (the next strongest domain). Problem with the .org domain suffix is that it gives the impression that you are a non-profit organisation.
• The next after a .org is the .net – this signifies that you are an internet based entity that doesn’t deal with business in the real world. Might suit whatever it is you are doing though. Probably not good for what I am doing.
• Then comes .info which is starting to become more popular nowadays.

In all fairness you could use any domain suffix but the ones mentioned above are the prime examples in my opinion. Local domains such as .co.uk are only really any good for local based projects.

Finding A Dropped Domain

A great way of finding a strong domain name that may have been around for several years (Google loves older domains) and also a way to generate ideas is to search JustDropped.com. JustDropped.com allows you to search for domains that have been abandoned by there owners by keyword. The domain may still have traffic going to it and even backlinks, giving you a head start.

Searching For Available Domains

Now, if you are asking “how do I search for an available domain” then I suggest you head to HostingBest.co.uk and use there Domain Finder Tool. Here you can type in phrases to search for and choose the suffix from the list of major ones. As you see in the next picture, Im searching for WebsitesUnderTheHammer.com. I know this is available because I have checked before and has been used by somebody for a project that got abandoned. The domain has age but no backlinks unfortunately. Backlinks would have been a bonus but im not to worried about it.

Buying A Domain And Hosting

After Finding A Domain Comes Actually Buying A Domain And Hosting

So now we have found a domain that we want we can go ahead and purchase it. In the next image you see what comes up for a successful search for a domain that hasn’t been registered yet.

The next logical step in our buying a domain and hosting tutorial now that we have found the domain that we want to buy is to actually buy it! Click ORDER NOW to go to the next screen to purchase it for 1 year, add more if you want to invest although not necessary. On the next screen you need to tick all the boxes to activate all the features for the domain to be set-up during purchase. You also need to leave the Name-servers as they are because they are set up to work with HostingBest.co.uk.

Next to the domain name is a red link entitled [No Hosting! Click to Add]. Click this to add a hosting package (if you have hosting ignore this step). On the next page you need to select a hosting package. Bronze should be fine for a first project and maybe a few little other ones as well. Once clicked it will then ask for the domain you want to use. If you have already chosen one then it will say “Use a domain already in my shopping cart” and should show the domain you have chosen above the Continue button. Select the appropriate option and click Continue. The next stage is to choose the period of hosting. You need to select at least 1 year for the free domain. Click Update Cart after selecting the period of time for the hosting.

Click UPDATE CART at the bottom of the new page (make sure you have selected all the options) to go to the next step.

The Paying Part Of Buying A Domain And Hosting

Now you have a domain and a years hosting in your cart you need to pay! Click the Checkout button to finalise it. You will need to enter your details if you are new to HostingBest.co.uk or sign in if you are a returning customer.

The next page is pretty self explanatory and you just need to read through it to make sure everything is right as you cant get a refund for a domain name! Agree the terms and conditions and click Complete Order.

Once you have pressed Complete Order it can take a couple of minutes for it all to filter through and set-up. If you have any problems just get in contact with the support and they will sort it out for you.

Finalise Buying A Domain And Hosting

Congratulations!

If you have got here and everything is all set-up correctly then thumbs up to you! You have been succesfull in buying a domain and hosting and you can get started developing.

Setting Up An Email Address

I always think the first step after buying a domain and hosting is to make sure you have a main branded email address set up for everything. Lets head over to the control panel for your hosting (cPanel) by going to members.hostingbest.co.uk and signing in. Look for the “My Services” tab and go into it. Find the newly bought domain and click the symbol on the far right of the domain name that looks like a green arrow. here you can see some basic info and change the password for the hosting control panel. After you have chosen a rememborable password, take not of the username. The username is usually the first 8 characters of your domain name.

Now go to http://”youredomainname.com”/cpanel to see the control panel. So for my site it is http://websitesunderthehammer.com/cpanel. Here you will have access to all the needed options for the domain and hosting you just bought. Take a while to look round and see what you can do, its pretty awesome stuff and you could spend ages looking at the new features. For now, lets go to the “Email Accounts”  and enter an email address to attach to your domain. Something like info@, admin@ or yourname@ your domain is fine. Im going for admin@ as a professional email address to use. You can access this at “yourdomain.com”/webmail and entering the email address with the password to view your emails for this address.

Did You Do It?

Have you succeeded your mission in buying a domain and hosting? Why not comment and tell us what you have bought and what you are planning on doing with it. You may hear some suggestions from some well experienced web masters on how to do it