Hosting Your Creative Business Site
Now that you’ve purchased your domain name, you need to get a hosting account. Your website host is where the files that make up your website live. You can buy your hosting from your domain registrar (Domain.com) but I don’t recommend having all your creative business eggs in one basket.
Instead, I use and recommend Hostgator. They allow you to host as many individual sites as you like, and are very reasonably priced.
To get started, go to www.Hostgator.com and choose the Baby plan. On the next page, enter the domain name you purchased the other day, and click “continue.” Follow the steps to checkout, and once you’re finished you should receive an email with instructions from Hostgator. It will include your IP address, login information, and your nameservers.
Nameservers are what tells the Internet where to find your domain, so when visitors click a link to your site or type the address into their browser, they always get to the right place. To set your nameservers, head back over to GoDaddy and log in, then click “My Account.” Next, click the name of your domain. On the next screen, click “nameservers/set nameservers.” In the pop-up box, choose “I have specific nameservers for my domains,” and enter the nameservers Hostgator gave you in the boxes. Click “okay.”
It will take a few hours for your nameservers to “propagate” – which means make their way across all the Internet. You’ll know when this has happened because you’ll be able to log into your cPanel account using your domain, like this: http://yourdomainname.com/cpanel rather than the IP address Hostgator sent you.
In the next post, we’ll take a look at your hosting account’s control panel, set up your email address, and install your website.
Talk with you soon, Alease
P.S. Are you looking for additional Free Resources for your Creative Business? Then download the School of Creative Business' 101 Free Resources to Grow Your Creative Business. Download your copy Here!
