Do You Need Domains and Hosting to Get a Website on the Internet? BlueHost Includes a Free Domain Name
Many people who are new to the Internet are often asking, “Do you need domains and hosting to get a website on the Internet?” Because website creation may still be obscure to them, newbies might think that domain names and hosting are not really needed in creating a website or are just confused on how to get the two.
Some newbies on website creation might think that once they have bought a hosting plan, they are able to set up a website without registering a domain name on any domain name registrars on the Internet. Some even provide a domain name on their web hosting that is not yet registered, thinking that they only have to provide any domain name on the hosting setup.
Using Web Hosting and Domain Name to Create a Website
So to make things clear, here is a simple explanation on how to create a website by using the two major components of website creation.
- Domain Name
To be able to purchase and set up a web hosting plan, you should first register a domain name on any domain name registrar of your choice. You just have to check if the domain name of your choice is still available. If it is, you just have to register it on a registrar and pay the necessary fees so that you can claim ownership of the domain name that you want to use.
BlueHost includes a free domain name with their web hosting plans. This is great because you don’t have to register for a domain name before you purchase a web hosting plan. You can go straight to BlueHost and purchase a web hosting plan of your choice.
- Web Hosting Plan
After you have registered your domain name, you can now purchase your own web hosting plan. This will be the storage of your website data that will be made available on the Internet. Choose the web hosting plan that best suits you needs. Then, configure your domain name DNS settings so that your domain name points to your web hosting. This will be the place that your visitors will visit to view your content.
If you are only going to test things out by creating a simple website or web page, you should choose a simple and basic web hosting plan. This plan already has features and tools that you will need to create a simple website.
If you chose BlueHost as your web hosting provider, you can either use a domain name of your own or use the free domain name that is provided by the company. Using the domain name that BlueHost provides will help you save money because you won’t have to pay the fees for registering and maintaining your domain name on a domain name registrar. This is good in the long run because you don’t have to renew your domain name every time that your contract on the domain name registrar expires. This will also rid you of hassles that are caused by forgetting to renew your domain name every year or so.