Easy way to connect domain name and website hosting from separate providers

In order to create your website, you need a domain name and hosting.

However, you should be aware that hosting for websites and hosting for domain names are two very different services.

Web hosting deals with the online storage of your website’s data as opposed to domain hosting, which involves getting a web address for your website.

Using your domain name, which is also your website’s internet address, users can access the files on your hosting server that houses your website.

Many service providers offer both domain hosting and web hosting, making it convenient to get both services from one place, but depending on your website needs and budget, you might want to think about separating the two.

Connecting your domain to the hosting

Domain names are used to identify IP addresses that are hosting websites.

As a result, it follows that each domain must be aware of the IP address it should use as a pointer.

You only need to tell it how to point to your hosting.

1. Both domain and website hosting with the same provider

By default, a domain name purchased from a domain registrar is pointed to the web hosting services offered by that registrant.

If both are hosted by the same company, that is typically all that is required to set up a domain name with the website hosting.

2. Different domain name registrar and website hosting provider

Redirecting your new name to another company’s hosting services is a different matter, although it is a very common practice.

It is also very easy to do.

1. Navigate to your cPanel from your website hosting account. If your hosting company does not utilize cPanel and instead uses an in-house hosting administration platform, contact their customer service for assistance in setting up your hosting to add a new domain, then proceed to step 2 below. If they use cPanel, however, begin at step 1.
   • Access cPanel and search for “Addon Domains.”
   • Enter your new domain name and click the “Add Domain.” button.
   • Then, go to your hosting account to get the provider’s name servers. Alternatively, you can contact customer service for this information. Bluehost’s name servers, for example, are ns1.bluehost.com and ns2.bluehost.com.
2. Next, go to your domain name registrar’s administrator panel.
   • Look for domain management options to find the nameserver settings.
   • Change the nameservers setting to “custom” and enter the nameservers for your website hosting provider.
   • Save your changes, and you are done!

The configuration is complete, however, it may take a day or two for the adjustments to be applied globally.

After that, you can access your website by typing in your domain name.