How to change dns with namecheap
Purchasing your domain name for your website? there's quite a few options to choose from when it comes to what registrar to choose.
I prefer namecheap for most of my domain needs, in this article I will skim over why I love Namecheap and show you exactly how to change dns with namcheap.
You don't need to overspend because it's easier!
Many people starting out opt for buying their domain name from the same company as their hosting.
This allows for easy start up because the domain you buy will already be pointed to the correct DNS or (domain name server)
You don't need to pay big dollars! After this article you will know how to point your cheaper domain to the correct host yourself .... Literally 5 extra minutes that can save you money is worth the effort, trust me.
What we will cover in this article
- A quick rundown of what "Pointing your DNS" means
- Where to buy your domain to save money
- How to acually point your DNS
- Wrapping up DNS day!
What does "pointing your dns" mean?
When you start a website or blog on the web you need an "address" that is your home base, this is your domain.
My domain for the website you are reading now is wornbee.com
OK, now that's pretty simple.
We have our website's name, next we need somewhere to actually "store" our website files.
How it works
When you search for a website online you are inputting a domain name into the search engine, at this point the search engine needs to know where the files of your website are located.
This is where dns comes in, the settings here will tell the search engine where to find your files ie YOUR WEBSITE.
Obviously this all happens stupid fast but that is what is happening in a nutshell!
Saving money and getting more options
As I talked about above, when you purchase web hosting the hosts will usually sell domain names as well.
This makes it easy to get up and running, everything is set up without you needing to do anything else.
The drawback of this is it's more expensive and you may have less flexibility later on as you grow and evolve into a web master!
Pointing your dns is simply buying a domain on a much cheaper platform and then pointing that domain to the web host of your choice.
The domain wornbee.com was purchased on namecheap, then I pointed that domain to Ghost CMS and hosting.
This allows me to use Ghost (which I love) and still buy my domain names at the best price!
For all of my other projects I use either Wealthy Affiliate or Siteground for hosting, both are awesome and I recommend them highly.
*Use Siteground if you have some experience with building websites
- Use Wealthy Affiliate to learn everything you need to get started online!
The best place to buy domains
I use and love namecheap, they have awesome customer service and I have never had ANY issues what-so-ever with any of their products.
I want you to succeed blogging, through my content I will show you some call outs like the one above that explains my strategies and how I'm thinking while I'm writing to help you!
Back to business!
OK, let's jump right back into it.
I have used many registrars in my day and I have purchased multiple domain names, there are a few things I want to clear up about domain names and registrars.
It doesn't really matter where you buy your domain
Domain names are names, that's it.
As long as you buy the name through a decent company with a good reputation you will be fine.
Some people, (especially beginners) that think "if I spend more, it must be better quality!" This is not the case with domains, find a good name and buy it as cheaply as possible.
WHO IS privacy Â
There are some laws that go into website building and domains, one of them is there needs to be a person or entity that owns that domain and it is public information on file and accessible.
This means that without who is protection ANYONE could look up who owns ANY domain and website.
Who is privacy is a feature that allows you to have complete privacy (which I highly recommend) by having your registrar be the who is look up, this protects your personal information.
Here's the thing, some domain registrars actually charge money to have this protection!
Here's a screen shot from a very popular registrar ...
They charge $14.95 per year for privacy, I understand that I may sound like cheapo here but why waste money?
Plus once you start to get more and more domains as you grow in online business these small fees start to turn bigger.
Here's a screen shot straight from namecheap ...
This is just one of the reasons I really like namecheap.
The dashboard is easy to learn and their products and service are top notch.
Don't miss my full namecheap review coming soon!
Sign up in that nifty floating oval on the right >
No spam, no ridiculous claims, just good blogging advice.
How to change your dns in Namecheap
Let's get started!
Once you sign into namecheap and buy your first domain it's time to point that baby to your host let's get started ....
After you create your namecheap account and get your domain, sign into the dashboard.
On the left hand side you will see a tab called "domain list"
Click this tab and a list of all domains you have with namecheap will open up ....
You want to click on the "manage" tab to the right of your domain .... Notice how my FREE domain privacy is ON.
Once you open the manage tab you will see a screen that looks like this ...
My arrows show the name servers, by default the name server will be set to "namecheap basic DNS" as shown by my other cool arrow.
OK, so next we need to know what our host's name servers are.
I will be using Siteground for this example, if you have a different host just hit up there support and they can let you know what you need.
On to Siteground ....
Once you get to the host's dashboard, (in this case Siteground) all you need to do is find the nameservers ....
You can even Google the name of your host followed by name servers, I personally like to confirm the proper servers on the actual hosting dashboard myself. Â
The green bubble says it all ..
- ns1.siteground.net
- ns2.siteground.net
These are the proper name servers for Siteground, now we need to tell search engines that the website files are located here, in Siteground or wherever your host is.
Back to namecheap ...
Now that we know what to put in, let's get this thing done!
Head back over to namecheap and click the small drop arrow next to "namecheap basic DNS."
Inside of the drop down you will see "custom DNS" (circled above) Click on this and open up the three options.
- Namecheap basic DNS (default)
- Namecheap web hosting DNS
- Custom DNS
For this article we are going with "custom DNS" click here and there will be two sections that appear ...
Ahh ha! now simply input your hosts nameservers 1 and 2 in the lines like this ...
Remember that this is for Siteground only in this article, just input the correct servers for your host in both lines and click on the green check mark to the right.
That's it, you have pointed your cheaper domain in a matter of minutes. You now have more flexibility and control over your domain, plus FREE privacy!
Keep in mind that it will take some time for the changes to be recognized around the world but it usually only takes a few minutes.
Wrapping up Â
You came here looking to learn how to change your dns with namecheap and I hope this article gave you exactly what you were looking for.
Once you get the hang of this it will literally take you less than 5 minutes to get done and you will save money and be using a top quality domain and other service provider.
Thanks for reading!
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