Cheap domain with hosting – this is where you should start by setting up your first blog. Every website, blog, online shop, or social networking site cannot exist without its unique address on the web. The right internet domain is essential when you are serious about your blog and want to turn it into a profitable online business in the future.
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I have already written about how to choose the best name for your blog here.
It is no secret that the development of any business is very much influenced by location. In the case of traditional forms of business, those who run a company or have real estate in a good location will always be in a winning position.
The location of your blog on the web is a good internet address. You have to pay colossal money for these best names – short and profitable keywords – sometimes. These domains will be rather inaccessible for us.
Therefore, if we managed to find the most suitable blog name for us – it is not worth waiting for its registration. Tomorrow our free domain may be already occupied.
When registering a domain, let’s choose a proven and reliable company, which has a great tradition and experience in this type of service.
One such company is Bluehost. Below is a description of how to register a cheap domain with hosting step by step.
Table of Contents
How to Register a Domain Name?
Why choose Bluehost?
Bluehost is one of the oldest hosting companies with the possibility to register a web domain. The company was founded in 1996 and has been known under its current name since 2003.
Bluehost focuses on the reliability and high quality of its services. This is very important because we have to make sure that our website, which we put a lot of work into, will be in good hands.
The company currently operates more than 2 million websites and has more than 750 employees.
Bluehost provides 24/7 service and assistance in every case. A team of experts is always ready to guide us and solve any problem related to hosting or domain registration.
If someone is looking for a cheap domain with hosting – Bluehost is the right choice.
After registering a domain in Bluehost, we are assured:
- access to an easy to use and intuitive user panel
- possibility to quickly change the DNS records
- protection of the domain against expiration via auto-renewal function
- protection against unauthorized domain transfer
Check if your domain name is available
After selecting several names for your site, you must first check whether these addresses are available. To do this, go to Bluehost.com and enter the domain you have picked into the search engine. By default, the .com extension is set for the name you are looking for.
You can also check the availability of a domain by entering its name below:
If the selected address, e.g. yourblogname.com, is unfortunately not available, a message will appear:
SORRY, YOURBLOGNAME.COM IS UNAVAILABLE
At this moment, proposals for free addresses will appear. These may be names similar to ours or the same, but with other extensions such as:
- .net
- .biz
- .org
- .info
We call them – Original Top Level Domain Names. They also include the .com extension, which I think is the most suitable. That’s why it’s worth looking further and choose an address with this extension.
Additionally, it is possible to register other types of domains – Country-Code Top Level Domain Names and New Generic Top Level Domain Name. However, we will not focus on them.
For example, the domain yourbestblogname.com is available and you will be informed by a message. At this point, you will also be able to put your order in your shopping cart.
Domain Privacy Protection
At this stage of the order you can also select an option: Add Domain Privacy+Protection. What does this mean? Domain privacy protection is an additional paid option – $0.99 per month – which protects us from spam attacks and makes our personal information invisible on the WHOIS website.
WHOIS is a database of all Internet domains and their owners. These data are visible automatically and contain such information as company name, address, phone number, e-mail address, first and last name.
Information about the DNS and the name of the registration company is also visible. The data available in WHOIS are entered during the registration of the domain by its owner.
Buying Domain Privacy+Protection:
- protects against spam
- makes our email address and phone number inaccessible
- protects against identity theft
- prevents false domain transfer
- protects against malware attacks
How Much Does a Domain Name Cost?
After choosing the appropriate option for us – in the SHOPPING CART window the registration price will be visible. Annual registration of the domain costs $11.99. Click the PROCEED button to continue the order.
In the next step, there is also a possibility to set up a professional e-mail address related to our domain. The service is associated with Microsoft Office 365 – after choosing one of the available plans we will have the opportunity to access the appropriate tools.
Billing & Payment Information
To finalize the transaction we still have to fill in a form with personal data. This information will be visible in WHOIS.
We choose the payment method – via card or PayPal service and purchase by clicking on Purchase Now.
If we fill in the form fields correctly, we can go to our control panel immediately after paying for the order.
You should also check the e-mail address you provided when registering the domain. Bluehost will send us a message asking us to confirm our details. We must do this within 14 days, otherwise, our domain will be deactivated.
Control panel
To manage the domain, we will need access to the control panel. For this purpose, we create a password associated with the domain name we have previously registered. After confirming the password, click Create Account.
After logging into our new account, Bluehost.com will welcome us with this screen.
The user panel is clear and intuitive to use. In the My Domains window, we will see all registered addresses with their expiration dates. To enter the settings of a given domain, click the Manage button.
Domain Management
Renewal, Contact, Security
For a given domain we can change individual data in the following categories:
Renewal – in this tab we have the possibility to enable and disable the Auto-Renewal function. We are informed exactly when a given address will expire and we can pay for it earlier. You can read more about the domain life cycle here.
As I have already written in this post “How to choose a blog name” the proper blog name is very important. Sometimes we have to spend a lot of time finding it. That’s why, thinking seriously about blogging, it’s worth enabling the option of automatic address renewal.
Our domain will expire after one year if we do not pay for it. Then someone else can take over and register it. And re-purchasing the domain can be much more expensive than extending it. Any domain renewal for the next billing period can also be combined with paying for Domain Privacy+Protection.
Contact – in this tab you can see the data we provided during registration. Domain registration contact information is considered public information and is displayed on the ICANN WHOIS public directory. Additionally, it is possible to change the data of the person responsible for DNS management and to change the data of the person making the payment. By default, this information concerns the person who registered the address.
Security – the tab allows you to enable or disable the possibility of transferring the domain to another registrar. By default, the transfer of the domain is blocked. Additionally, we will find information on the protection of our data resulting from the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). The Security window also allows you to generate the EPP/Auth code necessary for the transfer of the domain to another registrar.
DNS and Settings
DNS – this window allows us to manage DNS records. What is DNS? Domain Name System is a system whose task is to translate a domain name understood by humans (e.g. smartaffiliatekit.com) into IP addresses that are assigned to computers and other devices on the Internet. In the DNS system, each domain is presented as a record (DNS record). Each of them has a specific name and purpose assigned to it.
Settings – in this window we can enable/disable the Malware Scan function, which protects against malware and we can manage the Domain SMS Notification option – that is, all the information about our domain that we can be informed about via SMS.
DNS Record Types
Below is a list of the most important DNS records with their functions:
- A Record – Shows the domain address as IP.
- CNAME (Alias) – is presented in the form of a name which is an alias for the domain it indicates.
- MX Record (MX Entry) – indicates the location of the mail server for the domain.
- SRV (SRV Service) – allows you to define the IP address for a specific service, in other words, it indicates the server that provides the service for the domain.
- TXT (Text) – allows you to enter any text information describing the domain.
- AAAA (IPv6 Host) – An AAAA record is used to specify the IPv6 address for a host.
Cheap Domain Registration With Hosting
Domain registration for free
But registering a domain alone is not enough. To be able to create a blog or any other website you will need hosting. Free blogging platforms provide such a service, but if you want your website to look professional, a better solution is your domain with hosting.
This solution gives us full control over the site. We are also sure that no one will delete or block access to our account. Such cases are possible when we will use free blogging platforms.
When choosing a hosting service it is worth using a proven provider. Bluehost is a leader in this field. Currently, it operates a large number of sites around the world. It is recommended by WordPress.org – probably the best blogging platform.
At Bluehost.com you can register a cheap domain with hosting!
After choosing one of the available hosting plans – we have the possibility of free domain registration for a year.
Web Hosting Plans
Bluehost offers the following hosting plans:
At the beginning of our adventure with blogging, you can use the Basic plan, which currently costs $2.95 per month.
The Basic package offers:
- 1 website
- 50 GB SSD storage
- Unmetered Bandwidth
- Free SSL Certificate
- Standard Performance
- FREE Domain Name
- 5 Parked Domains
- 25 Sub Domains
Choose the option most suitable for you and create your online business today!
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