(This is part of the How to Create a Blog Series.)
So you have successfully acquired your first domain name following the steps in the previous tutorial, and now it’s time to sign up a web hosting plan to host your domain name and blog files.
For personal and small-business blog, you will be fine to start with a shared hosting plan. Basically, a shared hosting plan is less expensive than the dedicated server hosting plan.
In a shared hosting environment, you will be sharing web server space with others and don’t always get full control over what you can do with the server. But you’re provided with a web-based control panel system, such as cPanel that allows you to control certain aspects of your website and server administration though a standard web browser.
The few common things you can do in cPanel are the following;
a. Using Fantastico for quick and easy installation of software such as WordPress, Joomla and etc.
b. Creating emails for your domain names.
c. Managing all your domains.
d. Creating, deleting and administering MySQL databases. (WordPress uses MySQL database)
e. Logs files for monitoring.
Choosing the Right Web Host for Your Blog
There are many web hosts that charge less than 8USD (RM25) per month for their unlimited domain, unlimited disk space and bandwidth shared hosting plan. Some well-known web-hosting companies include Hostgator, Bluehost, Hostmonster and Dreamhost.
This blog is hosted in Bluehost (Steps on how to sign up Bluehost are below). At the same time, I’m using others such as Hostgator and Hostmonster. Hostgator is pretty popular among the affiliate marketers. You will find lots of positive feedbacks about Hostgator in many forums, especially WarriorForum.
The only problem with reading these feedbacks is that no matter how good a web host is, you will find a small group of people said something bad about it. Yes, there’re no 100% positive reviews!
This is what makes it so confusing to lots of beginners when it comes to choosing a perfect web host.
Fortunately, web hosting is something you can change if you’re not happy with what you’re using.
So if you’re new, I would suggest you to go for either Bluehost (cheaper) or Hostgator. Well, if you do receive other recommendations, then just go for it.
For this tutorial, we will go through how to sign up with Bluehost.
1. First, go to http://www.bluehost.com
2. Click the huge Sign Up Now button.
3. On Sign Up Now page, enter the domain name you’ve registered in the previous tutorial in the Enter Domain Name field of I Have a Domain Name section. Then click the Next button.
4. You will get to Sign Up Now page.
Enter all the required information in the Account Information section.
In the Package Information section, choose the hosting plan you wish to sign up from the Account Plan drop down menu. Obviously, the longer term the cheaper you pay.
SiteLock Domain Security and Site Backup Pro are 2 features that add additional protection to your blog. I would encourage you to sign up for the Site Backup Pro if it’s within your budget, else just uncheck it.
5. In the Billing Information section (at the bottom), you can choose to pay with Credit Card or PayPal. Select your option, enter the required information and click Next.
6. Once the payment gets through, you will get to the Welcome page with a message saying a confirmation email is sent to your inbox. Continue by clicking the Create your password link.
7. On the Set Your Password page, enter your new password and desired PIN and click the Submit button.
*The PIN is only used for verification during support.
8. Using the new password, you can login to your web host and get to the cPanel now.
Now you’re done with signing up Bluehost. Let’s find out how to connect your domain name to this hosting account.
Connecting Your Domain Name with Web Host
To do that, you need to get the DNS addresses of the Bluehost.
1. Log in to your web host cPanel.
2. On cPanel, click the Domain Manager tab.
3. Then click the Name Servers tab on the right. You will see 2 DNS addresses of Bluehost. Copy these 2 addresses on a notepad. You will need to enter them in Namecheap later.
4. Now, log in to your NameCheap account.
5. Click the view link in the Number of domains in your account row.
6. Click the link of the domain name that you want to do the editing.
7. On the Modify Domain page, click the Transfer DNS to Webhost option on the left.
8. Enter the 2 DNS addresses you have copied above and paste them in the 1st and 2nd fields. Click the Save Changes button.
Alright, these are all the steps you need to successful connect your domain with a web host. You can confirm the connection is successful by browsing your site. You will probably see a homepage with Bluehost banner.
(This is part of the How to Create a Blog Series.)