In the first step of my Beginners Guide to Create a WordPress Website, I will tell you how to register a domain using on of my favorite domain registrar, CrazyDomains.
But First, What is WordPress?
If you want to build a good, responsive and functional website by yourself, you need to choose a platform. “By Yourself” here refers to people who are not website designers, or developers and wish to create a website without any development knowledge. Yes, you people can create a complete website without having to hire a web development company like us.
So, what is a platform?
When we talk about platform, it generally means a content management system or CMS. A CMS is a pre-built web application that is installed on your server and serves as a tool for you to create your website and manage the content. This is different from the traditional approach of coding a website using HTML, CSS and then scripting it using a server-side scripting language like PHP. If you are looking for a customized solution, take a read on our article Why Custom-Built Websites are Better. But, for a simple informational website, WordPress is one of the most widely used and popular CMS used by millions of users. It has made creating a website accessible to everyone.
Now, without spending more time in telling you the basics, let me consider that we have selected WordPress as our platform and are ready for the first step, register a domain.
How to Register a Domain
In order to setup your own WordPress website, the first thing you need is a domain name. Domain name is the URL of your website and comes in various extension options like .com, .org, .in, etc. The selection of extension mostly depends on the purpose and sometimes on availability. With millions of websites on the interest today, getting the first domain name that you thought off available is very difficult. A .com domain is mostly used for commercial purposes and should be good for you.
Note: In my second step, I will be guiding you how to purchase a hosting plan from Bluehost When you purchase hosting from Bluehost, it gives you a free domain with shared hosting plans. So you may get a domain there instead of here. In that case, you can skip to the next step here.
To register a domain, you need to go to a domain registrar website. My favorite is CrazyDomains since it gives the best renewal prices as compared to many other providers.
To book a domain using CrazyDomains, go to crazydomains.com website. The website may redirect to another extension domain depending on your country.
Enter the domain name that you want to purchase in the text box and hit the search button. It will give you an option to add it to your cart if the domain name with your preferred extension is available. Non availability means that the domain has already been purchased by someone else. It will also show you other available options with other extensions. CrazyDomains also allows you to back order a domain. This means you can reserve the domain on its next availability with a small fee. I personally do not recommend this option.
If you did not find your domain available, you can try another search until you find the best one that suits you.
After adding your domain to the cart, you will see the cart popping out from the right. By default, it shows 2 years, but you can change it later. Click on “Go to Cart” button.
Complete Your Order
On the next screen, you can change the number of years. If you are starting your first website and are not sure if you will want it for more than a year, go for one year and click “Pay Securely” button. In the next step, you will need to create an account. Click on “Sign Up” button and fill in your details. After creating your account, login to your account to continue. The website will give you some options like making your domain faster, security, etc. You may skip those options for now and click on “Continue Order” button.
Make your payment on the next page using your credit card. Your domain is booked after the payment is processed and you will taken to your dashboard. It will take a few minutes to show your domain in your dashboard, but after everything is done, it looks something like this.
The dashboard will show all the domains booked under your account from where you can manage its settings. Now, before making any changes, you need to purchase a hosting. I’m going to tell you the best place to get hosting in the next step.
The longer you wait to take action, the more you fall behind.
