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The first step to starting your website is to add a domain to your hosting account. If you haven’t registered a domain yet, we recommend using the Account Control Center interface or visiting Pair Domains to register one. See How to Choose the Perfect Name for Your Domain for helpful tips about selecting a domain name.
Note that the process of adding a domain is not the same for Shared, VPS, or Dedicated accounts. To see instructions for adding domains to these accounts, visit our How to Add a Domain to Your Hosting Account.
Adding a Domain to a New WordPress Site
You can add a registered domain to a new site during the creation process.
- Log in to the Account Control Center (ACC)
- In the left sidebar, click WordPress
- In the drop-down, click Create Site
- Fill out the email address, site nickname, and site title
- Under the Domain heading, select Host a new domain that you own
- In the available field, enter the domain name
- Click Create
Once successfully created, a new page will appear and display your new site information. The next step is to Point the Name Servers to Your Account.
Make special note of the Name servers. You will need these for the next step.
Adding a Domain to an Existing WordPress Site
If you have already created a site and want to host it under a different domain, you can add the domain to the site.
- Log in to the Account Control Center (ACC)
- In the left sidebar, click WordPress
- In the drop-down, click List Sites
- Click the name of the site to which you would like to add a domain
- Under the main heading, click the Domains tab
- Click the Add Domain button
- Select Host a new domain that you own and enter the domain in the available field
- Check the box next to Make Primary if you want the new domain to be the primary domain for the site
- Click Add
Once successfully created, a new page will display your domain hosting information. The next step is to Point the Name Servers to Your Account.
Make special note of the Name servers. You will need these for the next step.
Pointing the Name Servers to Your Account
While the hosting account may now know that it’s supposed to have the domain, your domain registrar doesn’t. You need to alert your domain registrar to allow the hosting account to access and host your domain. To do this, you need to go to your registrar and give them the name servers you were given for the domain.
Each registrar is different, so look at your registrar’s documentation for the specific steps to this process. If you used Pair Domains as your registrar, you can find the steps in their Changing Name Servers article.
Give the changes 24 to 48 hours to be processed. After this period of time, your domain should be successfully added and ready to host a website.