It’s unavoidable. To have a website you need two very important things:
- A domain name (like outboxonline.com)
- A web hosting service – the place where you’ll put the files that make up your website so that you can access them through your domain name (see above)
These can be mysterious and often confounding propositions – where to begin?
If you’re just starting out, I recommend that you buy both before you do anything else about your website (or figure out if your web designer will take care of it for you). And buy them for as long as possible – usually it’s cheaper that way & search engines favor long-term sites.
I often get asked where to purchase both domain names & web hosting, and I use and recommend both SiteGround.com and BlueHost.com. They’re competitively priced, have great customer service, and allow you to do everything you could possibly need to do to administer your website online. Your mileage may vary, however, as no web host is perfect.
If you already have a domain name, but no hosting package, I recommend that you get a hosting package through the same company (ie: registrar) that owns your domain name. This isn’t necessary, but in the long run it’ll make your life easier. If you own your domain name through a company that is difficult to work with (you’ll know this because you have trouble contacting them, and when you finally do it’s like talking to a pile of rocks), you can transfer it to another provider. This can sometimes be a painful process, but it’s worth it. Here are the basic steps:
- You contact your existing domain name registrar and have them unlock your domain name. Domain names are locked so that people can’t just initiate a transfer of other people’s domain names to their own account without permission – it would be chaos.
- You also ask your existing registrar for the “authorization code” that you’ll need to complete the transfer. This is like a password that only you know to make sure only the owner of the domain name can transfer it.
- You initiate a transfer at your new registrar & provide them with the authorization code.
- You wait a few days for the transfer to take place.
- Once your domain name is fully transferred, you should make sure you close your account with the previous registrar so you’re no longer paying them for a service they’re no longer providing.
If you already have a hosting package with the company to which you transferred your domain – have them update the “DNS settings” so that the domain name is connected to your hosting package. Your website can now go live! Unlike with domain names, if you had a hosting package with another provider, you don’t need to transfer it – as long as you’re set up with a new hosting package with your new provider, you can just cancel the old one and ideally get a refund for any unused paid time.
Here are some interesting things to note about hosting packages & domain names:
- You might be asked about private domain registration – this is because there’s a public database (the WhoIs database) that keeps track of everyone who owns a domain name & their contact information. If you don’t want that information public, you can pay to have the information replaced by the information of the service you’ve employed – thereby masking your info. If for whatever reason the feds or interpol or someone needed to get at it, they certainly could, but a regular person could not. Hopefully, that’s not much of a concern for you!
- You might be asked if you want to pay for your domain name to be “certified” – there’s really no reason to pay for this.
- You’ll often get a whole bunch of choices when it comes to hosting packages – like Windows vs Linux (the answer is almost always Linux – but your web designer/developer can let you know if they need the specific development languages supported only by Windows).
- There’s also the choice of how much data you plan to transfer & how much storage you need – unless you’re hosting lots of audio and video files on your own server – you can probably stick with the cheapest option. Keep in mind that companies like BlueHost won’t bring your site down if you exceed the amount of bandwidth allocated b/c suddenly something you wrote on your blog blows up – they’ll gracefully handle it and give you the chance to upgrade and pay for the additional traffic. There are other companies (like one whose initials are N.S.) who will just bring your site down causing you major headaches to resolve and blemishing your online reputation. However, paying for a mid-range or higher-cost hosting plan often puts you on faster server hardware, thereby making your site load more quickly. There are things you can do to your site to optimize it to load quickly (like WordPress caching plugins) but nothing speeds up your site like super amazing server hardware.
- And then there’s the option of owning multiple domain names — there are two things you can do if you have multiple domain names:
- If you want to own multiple domain names but have them all point to one website, you can just place a “permanent redirect” on all but the one connected to your hosting account (which would be your primary domain).
- If you want to own multiple domain names for multiple sites, you don’t need multiple hosting accounts – you just need to make sure your hosting account supports the ability to host multiple domain names (it’s usually slightly more expensive).
Once you have your domain name and hosting package organized, you’ll need to keep track of your account access info. Even if your web designer/developer(s) will be handling everything for you, it’s *very important* that you know your administrative login & password (and a phone number for the provider), plus the FTP login & password. If your web designer gets hit by a bus (*knocking on wood*) – what will you do if you don’t have that info?
If someone owns your domain name and hosting package on your behalf (which is completely fine) – just make sure you’re also listed as an administrator on the account.
Phew! It’s lots to know – but just like managing any project, even if you’re not doing the work yourself, it’s best to understand the work being done.
If you’re going to need an author website in the next 3 months, send me a message and we’ll have a short conversation to figure out what kind of website you need and we can get started asap. The whole process can take anywhere from 2-4 weeks, even at the fully customized level.
Want a cheat sheet for how to introduce yourself as an author to grab attention and let fans know your sweet spot?
Sign up below to get the free magic formula, along with blog posts created to help authors market themselves through their websites, delivered directly to your inbox.
Honestly your information is very help to me as I was planning to get a new website done soon.
I have a question, do I need to buy a hosting package if I only want to point my Blog on Blogger to my personal URL. Currently i’ve been paying $79/yr for a basic hosting package with Godaddy. I had someone set up my pointing on my Blogger Blog to my URL, but now i’m not sure why i’m paying $79/yr unless I needed it to have the pointing, what’s your thoughts?
You only need a hosting plan if you’re hosting your site yourself. If Blogger is hosting your blog (and it sounds like they are) then all you need is your domain name (ie: your url).
Hi Kate. I wish I had found this article about 3 years ago (or similar info if it was posted much later. At the advice of an acquaintance, I started with godaddy to register my domain, then instead of sticking with them (and they seemed like a good company), I switched to another company to host because an acquaintance told me they used this (other) company for their site. That was the WORSE mistake and decision ever. I had to pay transfer domain fees. Secondly, the person didn’t tell me that this was a Canadian company. Even though they had an 800 customer “no” service number, the average hold time was 30-45 minutes!
Next, my site got hit with pornographic comments and emails to where even after reporting it, nothing was done on their end, I continued to receive them and ultimately decided to shut the site down myself early way before it was time to renew.
I think the next time, I’m going to follow your suggestion. I also did what another person (above) did and used google to grab a domain, but it only last for a year. I NEVER got a renewal notice from google and forgot to renew it.
I may even go with godaddy. on that one as well.
Thanks so much!
Hi Kate,
Would very much appreciate some advice please as it would be right to say that I am a novice to all of this.
1. Understand you need hosting i.e., a space to actually ‘put’ your website on I believe.
At the moment just have several domain names which I have been purchasing and that’s practically it. My question – if I have a hosting package with a hosting company can I change to another host at will if I pay them on a monthly basis or am I suppose to give ‘notice’.
2. If I am contracted in for a certain time a year, 2 years etc., understand you are in an agreement but after the period am I free to go anywhere I choose then and again is there meant to be a ‘notice period’ or do you just change and the hosing company find out automatically once your website is redirected by another host.
3. If you are tied into a period with a particular hosting company, but want to move within that time can you and if so, would there be any penalties for doing so.
3. What is meant by self hosting i.e. do you actually still need to have the services of a hosting company or can you do it yourself and if so what would be the procedure and the pros and cons of doing so.
Thanking you in advance of your reply
Many thanks.
Bea
Hi Bea, You can change hosts at ANY time, in the middle of your existing hosting plan or after it’s over. Whether they’ll reimburse you for any expenses paid by you is up to them and determined by your contract. I’ve never heard of a penalty (like canceling a mobile phone contract for example) for canceling. No need to give notice. Self hosting is possible if you have the technical skills to be your own web server administrator and have a web server machine you are willing to run 24/7, and very few people are able to do that — it’s probably not a choice that makes sense for you. But if you’re interested in learning more, check this out: http://www.boutell.com/newfaq/creating/hostmyown.html
very useful information. thanks for your advice.
clear and helpful, thanks!
I am searching for domain booking sites and found this very useful article. Thanks for honest, clear and precise information.
Hi, thanks for your information, very helpful! Quick question about ‘renewing’ domain names. I bought my domain name from Register.com and it said that it would be valid for 1 year. Almost immediately after obtaining it, I transferred the domain name to Vistaprint as they are hosting my website. I am now receiving reminder notifications from Register.com that I need to renew my domain name… Is this right? do I do it with Register.com or is it no longer with them. Do I need to renew with Vistaprint? Thank you for your help, any info will be appreciated :).
@Andrea – glad the info is helpful! If I was you, I would double-check with Vistaprint that they, indeed, have your domain name registered with them. If so, you can safely ignore the reminders from Register.com as they no longer have anything to do with your domain name other than being the service through which you originally registered it (based on what you’ve told me). Then, you’ll want to make sure that you’re on a renewal plan with Vistaprint so that you know when you need to re-up with them so that your domain name remains yours. Good luck!
Just started collecting info regarding website selling and these stuffs. Can you just help me out with one thing which i really don’t understand — what happens to the hosting charges when i register a domain name under a hosting plan and i sell it to other person? When i sale the domain to other person how can i stop paying the hosting charges or any charges related to that particular domain.
@Hesham – that will depend on your contract with the host. If you’ve agreed to pay for hosting for a certain amount of time, it doesn’t matter what happens with the domain — you’ll need to honor your contract. If you’re paying monthly for hosting, just let the hosting service know that you want to cancel your service & they will be able to do that for you based on the contract that you signed — so likely it’ll either be cancelled at the end of the month, or you’ll only have to pay for the part of the month until you cancelled the service.
Kate, thanks for the clearly written info.
Hi Kate
I am in the process of starting a website for my small cake business. I’m not very clued up on what I need to do to start the process. I have been looking at Domain names on Go Daddy. I have finally found one that is available for me to use. If I purchase it through them along with the web hosting service, how do I create a website? Is this through the web host? Also, I would like the package that includes business email addresses. How do you access the emails?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Hi Laura — you’ll either need to have (already or by using innumerable online tutorials) the skill set to know how to create a website (using something like WordPress) or you’ll need to hire someone who does. The web host doesn’t create websites, they just provide a platform on which they run. How you access any emails that you receive at your domain email address will depend on the kind of email account you set up with the host — they’ll be the people who can answer that question for you. Good luck!
I just purchased a domain name (1 month ago) for 1 year through go daddy and its being hosted on another site. I now want to change hosting to ipage which gives 1 free of domain and would host for a certain $ /month. Would I lose the amount I paid to go daddy for the domain?
April — it’s entirely up to the contract you signed with GoDaddy when you purchased the domain name & what their customer service department is willing to do for you. I suggest that you contact them, let them know what you want to do, and see what they say. Good luck!
hi kate, just found your article and i am trying to find out if i can redirect my Blogger blog/site to my custom domain without needing a webhost… does Blogger still host the blog even if it now shows up on my custom domain?
thankful for any help to clarify this and thanks for great writing!
anna
@Anna — if Blogger has a way to add a custom domain name to your site then you won’t need separate web hosting. I suggest you read this: https://support.google.com/blogger/troubleshooter/1233381?hl=en#ts=1734115
Thank you! Simply an easy to understand explanation and how to for domain names and hosting. Your website is so straight forward!! Love it! Thank you for sharing your valuable knowledge!!