How to create a professional website: step by step guide

 

1. Domain Name

A domain name is like your online address. This is where your website lives.

You will get one free domain name with Bluehost, or you can use any of your existing domain names if you already have one purchased. (Even if you don’t need the free domain name now, you can use it later.)

If you have not yet decided on your domain name, this guide will be helpful to you. You can also use a free service like BustAName to find a good domain name for your business.

2. Payment Mode

When purchasing your web hosting and domain, you can make payment via credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Be sure to have your payment mode on hand.

Now let’s buy our hosting plan…

The step-by-step guide to buying a web hosting plan:
To begin, head over to the Bluehost homepage and click on “get started now”.

start a blog

This will take you to a page where you will see three different packages from which to choose.

Here are my recommendations:

Running only one site: Basic
Running more than one site: Plus
Need SSL and dedicated I.P. address: Prime
Click on “select” in front of the plan you have chosen.

Note: In this tutorial, I’m buying the Starter plan for 12 months. The process is the same regardless of which plan you choose.

Step 1: Choose a new (free) domain, or use an existing domain.

After selecting your plan, you can either choose to get a free domain name from Bluehost, or you can use any of your existing domain names.

Remember that you can use your free domain name later if you don’t need it now.

You can also claim your free domain at a later point. Just email Bluehost’s customer service team and they’ll help you out.

If you are using an existing domain name, you need to change the nameservers at your domain registrar to:

NS1.Bluehost.com
NS2.Bluehost.com
If you want to keep things simple, enter the domain name you wish to buy in the “new domain” field, and your free domain will be activated with the web hosting plan.

Click on “next”, and from here, the remaining steps will be very simple.

Step 2: Enter your account details.

In this section, you need to enter your details (name, email address, address, etc.).

Make sure you verify every detail, especially your email address. Your login and hosting information will be sent to your email address.

Step 3: Select the right package.

This part is crucial, and you should pay extra attention here to make sure that you are not overcharged for add-ons that you do not need.

Choose your hosting package for a 12, 24, or 36-month term.  You will notice that the price decreases as the tenure increases.

Be sure to deselect the options “Site Backup Pro” and “Sitelock Security” as you don’t really need them.

Step 4: Complete your hosting purchase.

hosting-payment-confirmation

Before you make your payment, I suggest that you scroll up and verify all of the information once again.

By default, you will see the option to make payment via credit/debit card only, but if you want to make payment via PayPal, click on “more payment options” and it will reveal the pay by PayPal option as well.