Once you buy a domain, you should be ready to spend some money on a few things such as hosting, theme (optional), etc. Why is this so? Website data resides on the server. Hosting companies sell space on servers or an entire server for a specific duration i.e. month, year, years, etc. If you use a CMS, you will only have to pay the web hosting fees. If you don’t use a free CMS, you’ll have to hire someone to build a website for you. The developer may charge several hundred dollars for building a website according to your requirements. You’ll have to pay the developer extra money if you want the developer to make some changes to your website or add new features. Thus, in addition to web hosting, you will have to spend money on the developer. I bought a domain name now what? Well, here we have shared 7 things you should do immediately after purchasing a domain:
I bought a domain now what
Buy hosting
The website files and assets reside on a server running database server, web server, and other software. You can buy a server or space on a server from web hosting companies. Although you’ll find several hosting companies on the web, people without a solid technical background must choose a shared hosting company. The best shared hosting service providers are Bluehost and Hostgator and the best hosting plan for beginners is the Hostgator Baby plan and Bluehost Plus plan. The Basic and Baby plans allow you to host multiple sites. They are affordable (3.50/month for Hostgator, 5.95/month for Bluehost) are reliable (99% uptime).
Change nameservers
Changing the nameservers is the next thing you should do after buying a hosting plan. Why change nameservers? Once you buy a domain, the domain registrar will point your domain to a parked page. If you want people to access your website, you’ll have to change the name servers to the one shared by your web host. Once you purchase a hosting plan, you should change the nameservers immediately and install the software you want to use.
Install WordPress
Hostgator and Bluehost allow you to install various software. Although several free content management systems are available on the web, I would recommend WordPress. Why WordPress? With WordPress, you can build any type of website within half an hour (or less if the site is a simple blog). For example, you can launch an eCommerce website, forum, business website, church website, service website, classified ads site, etc with WordPress. Two things that power WordPress sites are theme and plugins. A theme can be of various types. For example, a multipurpose template lets you build any type of site. A business theme lets you build a business website. The plugins add new features/functions to your website. For example, an SEO plugin such as the Yoast alternative plugin will add functions to add titles/meta description tags, meta robots directives, etc to the website.
Once you install the WP using the 1-click installer tool, log in to your website and install a WordPress theme. If you’re looking for a professional theme, you should have a look at the Divi WordPress theme, GeneratePress Premium, or Astra Pro. GeneratePress Premium and Astra Pro are lightweight WP themes. Divi is a heavier theme than GeneratePress Premium and Astra Pro but it is of multi-purpose type and is powered by the Divi Builder which is one of the best page builders in the industry right now. Once you’re done installing the theme, spend some time customizing it or import the ready-made templates. Then, install the best WordPress plugins. Theme or plugin.. what you should install first? You can install plugins first or theme or vice versa.
Create Google search console and Bing webmaster accounts
Google Search Console, earlier known as Google Webmaster Tools & Bing Webmaster Tools, will allow you to submit the website sitemap, monitor the organic traffic, check incoming links, etc. The two tools will also display errors Google and Bing crawlers encounter while crawling your website. When you try to add your website to Bing Webmaster Tools/Google Search Console, you’ll be prompted to verify your website. The two tools support various website verification methods. For example, one of the website verification methods is to place the HTML code (verification tag) in the website’s heading section and click the verify button displayed by the Google Search Console/Bing Webmaster tools.
Create Social Media accounts
Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are used by millions of people every day. It is thus important to establish your presence on these social networking portals by creating your company’s or website’s official pages and sharing the blog posts on your pages. You can also join groups on social media sites and share the website URL or blog post URLs in the groups. Once you create a FB page, you can invite your friends to like your page. If you create a Twitter profile, you can share the profile’s link on FB and ask your friends to follow your profile. You can also follow other users. On Twitter, if you follow someone, the person may follow you back.
Work on your website
Launching a website isn’t enough. If you want people to visit your website, you’ll have to work on your site’s content or on social media profiles to have massive social media followers. The more content your website has, the better are the chances that your site will get traffic from search engines such as Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, etc. If your site gets traffic from search engines, you can monetize it with Google Ads. If most traffic to your site is from Facebook, Twitter, etc, you can monetize it with affiliate networks.
Closing words
The above steps will not only ensure that your website will be live but also teach you various things that you must do as a website owner.
