Now that you’ve acquired a domain name and a hosting account, it’s time to connect the dots. This no-frills slideshow is a short guide for pointing a domain name registered at GoDaddy.com to your site with an imaginary hosting company called “hostcompany.com”.
Typically, your web host will provide you with two nameserver values in an email along with other important account information. You’ll definitely want to print everything out and keep it in a safe place. (Tip: Store an extra copy on a USB flash drive.)
After changing the nameserver info in your GoDaddy account, allow up to 24 hours (typically much less) for the changes to cycle through the Internet and make your site visible.
In the meantime, key in “free WordPress themes” to your favorite search engine and explore the myriad offerings available to you as a self-hosted teacher. One good place to start is the WordPress.org site, but there are hundreds of others.
Preview any that catch your fancy, and download the ones you really like. We’ll be uploading them to your website in the next part of this series.