17 of 26

The next step in the domain creation process was to log onto my web host and configure my domain.  With Host Gator, you do this by going to http://[your domain name]/cpanel.  This is pretty clearly explained in the registration email that they send you.

Upon logging in, I was greeted with a pleasant “Welcome New User” dialog box that asked me if I’d like help getting started.  Normally I’m one to skip this sort of hand holding in software applications, but in this case I was happy to let it help me since I had no idea what I needed to do.

Can I help you?  Sure, why not…

The wizard proceeded to walk me through a number of steps to do things such as choosing my language, setting up email accounts, and adjusting a number of important settings.  It did an excellent job of explaining everything that I needed to do.  It also gave a nice overview of the file and directory structure of the website and how to access your files.  I highly recommend going through the wizard to get started.  If you’re unsure of what you want to do with any steps then you can skip them for now and go back to them later.   You can run the wizard at any time from the Host Gator Control Panel.  Overall, I was very impressed with how user friendly the whole experience was (and I am not easily impressed when it comes user friendly experiences).

Next:  WordPress, Here I Come!

Thanks to my wife, I was off to DreamHost to register my domain name.  After using their tool to make sure that the domain name was available (phew!) I set up my account, gave them my credit card information, and created the domain.  I got a confirmation email that said “Your domain should be registered within 30 minutes, and you will receive another email confirmation when complete!”.  Sure enough, 10 minutes later I was notified of a successful registration.  Yay, I had my own domain!

Now the only thing left to do was to set the DNS information for the domain since I wasn’t also using DreamHost to host my domain.  However, before I could do that I needed to head over to Host Gator and set up my web hosting.  The process there was very simple as well.  I created an account, chose the hosting plan I wanted and gave them my credit card information.  Within a few minutes, I received a confirmation email telling me that my account was all set and they gave me the IP address and a temporary URL I could use to access my domain until DNS was properly resolving my domain name.  They also provided me with the DNS information that I needed to give to DreamHost.

Armed with the DNS information from Host Gator, I logged onto my DreamHost account and updated the information there.  DreamHost said it may take up to 24-48 hours for the DNS information to propagate.  Being the impatient person that I am, about an hour later I opened up my browser and typed in “17of26.com”.  It worked!  All I got was a blank HTML page because I hadn’t set anything up yet, but my domain was alive.

Next:  Configuring my Domain

The first step in creating this site was to decide on a domain name registrar and a web host.  Fortunately, my wife (who definitely does her research!)  has owned several domains for a while now so I just asked her who I should use.

For a domain name registrar, her answer was DreamHost.  Their registration fee is fairly standard ($9.95/year) and they offer a privacy service which hides your personal contact information from WHOIS queries.  This was definitely something I would want and is not offered by all registrars – I was (very easily) convinced.

When it came to the web host, my wife suggested Host Gator.  I did a quick comparison of their prices to DreamHost, and Host Gator was significantly cheaper.  A basic plan that hosts one domain is $4.95/month if you pre-pay for 3 years (per month costs are a bit higher for shorter terms).  They’re also currently having a 20% off summer sale if you sign up before August 1st.  I signed up for two years and with the 20% off I felt like I got a pretty darn good deal.

Next:  Creating 17of26.com