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How to Connect Domain Name with Web Hosting Service? (Step-by-step)

how-to-connect-domain-name-with-web-hosting-service-unmaskwp

Are you also the person who bought a domain and hosting from two different companies?

There can be a number of reasons to do that. Most of the time a good deal makes you do so. After getting a good deal you might be intimidated by the fact that there is a technical hurdle.

The question of how you will link the two to work together as a website.

Well, this article is all about that. In this article, we’ll provide you with a step-by-step guide to link your domain and web hosting together.

Before jumping into the tutorial to link the two, let’s find out what a domain name and web hosting are. If you’re familiar with the technical aspects of both you can skip till here.


What Is A Domain Name?

A domain name is an address where your users will find your website/online business. Simply put the URL to your website, like unmaskwp.com for our website.

So as we all know the internet is a network that connects the world through thousands of miles of cables.

Yes! Cables! Internet might come to your phone via a cell tower but the cell tower is ultimately connected to cables underground. Though Elon Musk is going to provide you with internet via StarLink satellite until then it is what it is.

So coming back to the topic, every computer is connected via the internet and every computer has a unique IP address assigned to it.

Now IP address is a combination of random numbers and dots, that can be a bit difficult for humans to remember.

This is where alphabetical or alphanumeric domain names come in. These domain names simplify the process of remembering the web address.


What Is Web Hosting?

We understood what a web address is, now what is web hosting? Web hosting provides you with the space to host the files that make your website live.

And before you ask, NO we cannot just use our computer hard drive to do that. We need to buy a web hosting plan from a web hosting company.

The IP address we discussed in the previous section is the IP address assigned to you by your web hosting company when someone will enter your website’s URL or domain name.

This computer or the space provided by the web hosting company contains all the files needed to make your website look and operate like a website.

When somebody accesses your website, the person or robot is actually accessing the files stored on the web hosting company’s computer.

So both web hosting and domain name are required to make a website.


Connecting The Web Hosting And Domain name

Now we know what a domain name and web hosting are. Let’s see how to connect them. In this example, we will look at how to connect Cloudways web hosting and the GoDaddy domain.

After purchasing our web hosting plan from Cloudways we need to launch our server and application. The process is given below.

Step #01 – Log in to CloudWays and Launch a Server

  • First, you need to log in to your Cloudways account. Then click on the Servers tab in the top left of the menu bar.
  • You will see a screen like this after clicking on servers. Click on the Launch button to launch your server.

Step #02 – Configure Your Server – Choose WP Version, Server Location, etc.

After that select your preferred CMS, we selected WordPress. Enter your application name, server name, and project name. After that select your server location based on the location of your target audience. Then click on Launch Now. It will take some time to add a server.


Step #03 – Open Application Settings

Once the process is complete, you will see something like this on the screen. Click on www and then click on Your Application.


Step #04 – Add Primary Domain Name

On the next screen click on Domain Management then enter your domain name like www.yourdomain.com and then click on Save Changes.


Step #05 – Add Server IP in Domain Panel

Now login to your GoDaddy account with your credentials. Then click on Domain on your dashboard and then go to manage DNS.

You will see a screen like this. Delete the marked entries. We will create new entries from scratch.

After deleting the entries click on Add to add new entries for our Domain name.

For the first one select A from the Type dropdown. Type @ in the Name field now for the value tab go to your Cloudways Platform screen and click on Access Details and copy the Public IP as shown in the image below.

Paste the copied Public IP address in the Value field. Leave the TTL dropdown to default and click on Add record.

Click on Add again. Select CNAME from the Type dropdown. Type www in the Name field. Enter your domain name as yourdomain.com in the Value Field. Leave TTL as Default and Click on Add record.

You have successfully connected your domain name to your web hosting service. The process is almost similar for all Domain registrars and Web hosting providers.

One more step could be to secure your website using the free SSL certificate provided by Cloudways. To do that Click on the SSL Certificate tab and select Let’s Encrypt, if already not selected, enter your email ID and domain name and click on Install Certificate.

And you are done with the domain and web hosting setup. To access your website’s WordPress Dashboard click on Access Details. There you can find the login details of your WordPress Dashboard.


Final Words

Now that your domain name is connected to the web hosting service, you are ready to start working on your website.

There’s a chance you may not see the website opening instantly with the domain name as sometimes it takes 24-48 hours to reflect the DNS changes. You can also try opening your website in a different browser or incognito mode to avoid any caching issues.

Also, here’s how you can create your own online store on WordPress.

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