So I have put off starting up a new WordPress website for a few months now, because I delivered my super adorable baby boy in January this year. And any parent will often find that they do not have the luxury of working several hours at a go (which most developers truly enjoy). Well, I’ve finally found some time for myself, and I will release a series of posts for anyone looking to install WordPress on their own VPS, starting from getting a domain name. This is real time as I am also in the process of setting up my new family website! 🙂

At this point, I am assuming you already have a running VPS, all set up and secured. If not, check out this post on how to configure your VPS.

Step 1: Register a Domain Name
I have been using NameSilo for all my previous domains as they are the cheapest that I have found so far. Their prices are super competitive! At the pricing page, click on the renewals tab to ensure that you get the same competitive price for every renewal each year, and that the low price you’re seeing is not due to a discount for that year’s registration only. For e.g., the .me domain costs $6.29 currently due to a promotion price, but for subsequent annual renewals, it will cost $16.99, so if cost is a consideration, then maybe I will consider something else.

For this purpose, I have chosen the .casa domain because it aligns exactly with what I want to register; $6.29 for first registration and the same price for the subsequent annual registrations. I will go ahead and add it to my cart.

I love NameSilo, because every domain you register comes with FREE WHOIS Privacy. Without WHOIS privacy, any information about you will be out there in public domain, and spammers usually take advantage of this information. Be sure to select WHOIS Privacy in your Privacy Setting. If you do not want it to auto-renew, select ‘NO’ (also in the image) as the default is ‘YES’. Auto-renewal makes it very convenient for you to keep your domain name as it will automatically charge your credit card and you will not forget about it. On the other hand, if you prefer to manually make payment and keep track, like I do, then go ahead and select ‘NO’. Before your domain expires, NameSilo will send you an email to remind you to make payment.

Enter NSILO1OFF in the coupon code box to get $1 off your registration too.

Once you click the Submit button to redeem your coupon, your cart should look something like this:

Now go ahead and click on Continue to enter your details and make payment. If you are a new user, be sure to enter accurate information about yourself as it is a regulation to do so. And TA-DA! You are now a proud owner of your own domain name!

Proceed to Step 2 to configure the DNS settings for your domain.