A Domain name is the address of your website. It is the string of letters + numbers you type in internet browser address bar. You may not need to change domain nameservers if you take web hosting from your domain name provider. But you will certainly have to change nameservers for Namecheap, GoDaddy, Domain.com, Namesilo etc. However, if you subscribe to a plan from the other web hosting providers, then you will have to set domain nameservers with your hosting service. In that case, you won’t change nameservers in Namecheap or other domain providers.
Note that the actual name of your website or your business can be different from your website’s domain name. For instance, if you type www.sc.com in the address bar of your internet browser, you will reach the website of Standard Chartered Bank. They could have simply kept www.standardcharteredbank.com as the domain name. However, www.sc.com is very easy to remember, recollect, speak, and type.
It’s always in your best interest to take your time, reflect on your business, do some research and choose the best domain name. In the end of this article, I have described my personal research and the best domain registrar.
Change domain nameservers process & examples
The first domain name!
The first domain name to be registered was www.symbolics.com on March 15, 1985. It was registered by Symbolics Incorporation, a computer systems company in Massachusetts, USA.
Almost four facades back, the need arose to find and identify computers on the internet. Computers are always identified by IP addresses (a series of numbers). Because it’s almost impossible for humans to remember IP addresses, the need arose for an easy to remember kind of identification. And that was the prime motivation for the birth of Domain names.
Why do you need to change domain nameservers?
Anyway, coming back to the focus point of this article. How can you change the nameservers of your domain? Perhaps, another question arises even before that.
Question: Why and when would you need to change domain nameservers at all?
The simplest and most common answer to this question is… “I just moved to a better web hosting, or I just attached my hosting to a CDN (content delivery network) service”.
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How to change domain nameservers in 5 steps
For any domain registrar or your web hosting provider, the main 3 steps are: Login, Select domain, Change to new nameservers.
A little bit detail on the steps to be followed is primarily like this:
- Open your web browser and type the domain name of your domain service provider, for example www.domain.com or www.namecheap.com or www.namesilo.com
- Go to the Domain Manager section
- Select the Domain which needs its nameservers to be set up.
- Click on Change nameservers link or button
- Modify the nameservers as per your hosting provider’s directions.
For reader’s benefit, I have explained steps specific to each domain registrar below.
How to Change nameservers in NameSilo?
Follow the steps mentioned below to change nameservers in NameSilo in less than 2 minutes
1. The first step to change nameservers in Namesilo is to log in to your account and go to my account page.
2. Next step is to go to Domain Manager in order to change nameservers in NameSilo. The Domain manager is the most prominent and most important section of the Domain seller’s “My Account” section.
3. You will see a list of all your registered domain names in a simple tabular format. Just like you change Namecheap nameservers, you will have to change nameservers in Namesilo by selecting a domain and then clicking on change nameservers icon.
4. A new page will open where you’ll have to specify at least two nameservers: Nameserver1 and Nameserver2 in order to change domain nameservers of your specific domain,. Click the Submit button after you set nameservers for domain as given by your website hosting service. Every domain seller gives you an option to add 10+ nameservers. However, in most cases only two nameservers are sufficient.
That’s all! Yes, that’s really all that you have to do to change nameservers in Namesilo! The process will take around 2 to 3 minutes and the nameservers will start propagating across the world. This propagation takes between 1 and 72 hours but in almost all cases it is fully propagated within 4 hours.
Congratulations! You have now correctly set the name servers of your domain name.
How to change DNS settings on godaddy?
- Log in to GoDaddy to change domain nameserver settings
- Choose your domain and open the Domain Settings.
- Select Manage DNS under Additional Settings if you wish to change nameservers in Godaddy account.
- Go to Change Godaddy Nameservers section in settings.
- Choose Standard if you host your website on GoDaddy web hosting or Custom if you host on other WordPress hosting but wish to change nameservers to GoDaddy ones.
- Click on Save
Set name server for Domain of your website
Its very similar to the last two i have just described. After all, changing nameservers of my domain is part of a standard website configuration. So, let’s start learning how to correctly set name server for Domain of your website through screenshots.
First step is to Log in to your Domains Dashboard. Then for the domain where you wish to set name servers, click on Manage. From a list of your domains, you can also click on the settings (cog) icon. Then click on DNS & Nameservers in the left-hand menu.
You will then see a list of nameservers attached to your domain. Now, to accurately set name server for your Domain, write your specific NameServers given in the space provided. Then click on the 3-vertical dots at the far end of the row for each nameserver.
And that’s all. You are done.
Note: Your Hosting company will provide you with correct nameservers settings and nameservers details.
How to change Namecheap nameservers?
1. Log into your account to change Namecheap nameservers.
2. Under Domain List in the left sidebar, click the “Manage” button in your domain’s row in order to change Namecheap nameservers.
3. Now, under Nameservers, choose your preferred option to change DNS settings from the drop-down menu. Don’t forget to click the green tick.
- If you wish to point your domain to Namcheap.com default nameservers, select BasicDNS to change Namecheap nameservers
- If you have hosted your website on Namecheap’s shared hosting plan, choose Namecheap Web Hosting DNS to change nameservers in Namecheap.
- In most of the cases, if you host your website on any other web hosting service, you should choose CustomDNS option. Here you will have to provide your custom nameservers, and not change Namecheap nameservers.
4. Click the green tick to finish changing Namecheap nameservers and you are done.
Once you have bought the domain name and changed the name servers of your domain, you will want to start preparing the best looking high performance website. There’s nothing other than Bootstrap to help you do that. Click the video image below to start your 30-day FREE trial and learn how to quickly create a clean and fast website.
How do I change nameservers to Cloudflare?
If you have taken the FREE CDN service by CloudFlare, then you will have to go to your domain registrar e.g. namecheap, and change nameservers to cloudflare. If your domain name provider is Godaddy, change nameservers to cloudflare ones there as well.
See my following article on how to very quickly setup Cloudflare CDN in the correct manner.
How to QUICKLY setup FREE Cloudflare CDN for WordPress website. Cloudflare features, cache, security. Cloudflare console tutorial. Configuration tabs explained
1. Log in to Cloudflare to change Cloudflare nameservers assigned to your website.
2. Select your property where you wish to configure nameservers to Cloudflare ones.
3. To change nameservers to Cloudflare, now copy your assigned Cloudflare nameservers shown in “DNS” tab.
4. Lastly, you will have to log in to your domain name manager to change nameservers to Cloudflare provided ones in the “change nameservers” section.
That’s about it. Changing Domain nameserver is not a difficult or time-consuming tasks at all if you buy your Domain from any of the Top Domain name providers.
The best domain name sellers
One point I thought I would mention the end… For my own use, I have experienced namesilo.com as the best domain name provider. Just like you, while researching for a domain name provider to buy my domain www.fivestepguide.com, I went through a lot of websites including godaddy.com, namecheap.com, namesilo.com, domain.com and many others.
GoDaddy is the most popular mostly because of marketing and promotions. However, if you wish you to open a new website and plan to keep it for several years to come, you will have at least 2 annual expenses just on domain name. Firstly, the annual renewal charges for your domain name and secondly, the WHOIS protection.
I found Namecheap.com and Namesilo.com to be the cheapest ones in the long run. All because it offers the cheapest first-time buy price and renewal price. Moreover, they offer free WHOIS protection.
Just like GoDaddy, all companies Domain.com, Namecheap.com, Namesilo.com run superb promotions all year round. You may click on the following banner to buy domains from your preferred provider.
- NAMECHEAP.COM – Superb offers with FREE whois privacy
- DOMAIN.COM – The 2nd largest domain name provider with excellent service
- NAMESILO – low-cost domain name seller for almost all TLDs (extensions like .com, .net etc)
Thank you for reading this article. I have written several other such Website or Technology related articles in other sections on this website. Please read the following related articles shown below.
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FAQ (Frequently asked questions)
Do I need Domain name to start a website?
Domain name is the address of your website. Its is just like the house number, street number, city and country. It is the name by which people recognize your website. A visitor types the domain name in internet browser address bar to start a new journey.
How much does it cost to buy a domain name?
A new purchase can cost anywhere between $4 to $100. A domain name renewal can cost more or less similar. It depends on the domain name seller if it is running any offer. Namecheap.com and GoDaddy have many offers year-round for domains ending with different TLDs. For instance, makeavacadopudding.com domain name on Namecheap.com can cost you USD 8.88 while GoDaddy can get you the same for just USD 3.39.
Can I get a FREE domain name?
You can get a domain name for FREE! Visit www.dot.tk to get a free domain name
What if I do not change the domain nameservers?
Nameservers are your website’s address. If you do not tell your domain name its complete address, it won’t be able to find a way to access its content. In effect, your website won’t be visible to anyone and won’t have an existence on the internet? If you do not change your nameservers, from where will the content of your website load?
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