How to Add a Domain Name to Your HostM Hosting Account

To add a domain name to your hosting account:

1. If you have not yet registered the domain name: Register the domain name via the My Domains section of the Client Lounge, or via the website of any other domain provider.

   If you have an existing domain registration: Ensure that your domain provider permits you to change the nameservers (DNS) of the domain that you wish to host with us.

   Once you have a registered domain with HostM or another domain provider, you’re ready to proceed to the next step.

2. Sign in to your account at the domain provider’s website, then change the nameservers (DNS) of the domain to:

   ns1.hostm.net
   ns2.hostm.net
   ns3.hostm.net
   ns4.hostm.net

   If HostM is your domain provider, this can be performed via the My Domains section of the Client Lounge.

   Ensure that the total number and names of the nameservers match those of what’s listed above.

3. Sign in to the Client Lounge.

4. In the list of hosting accounts, select the cPanel button for the hosting account you wish to host your domain on.

5. In the Domains category, select AddOn Domains.

6. Enter the following details:

   • New Domain Name: example.com

   • Subdomain: example.com

   • Document Root: public_html/example.com

   Replace example.com in the the above values with your actual domain.

   Be sure to enter the values in all lowercase, and without the www. prefix.

   For example, example.com would be correct, while Example.com and www.example.com would be incorrect.

7. Click ONCE on the blue Add Domain button. IMPORTANT: This may take up to several minutes to process, so please be patient and wait for the success message.

8. To send and receive email for your newly-added domain, sign in to your cPanel. Under the Email section, click Email Accounts or Forwarders, then add the desired email address.

   For more information about the differences between email accounts and email forwarders, see our Email Hosting page.

   Email accounts can be accessed using an email app or webmail. The correct access details are found at the Info page for your hosting account at the Client Lounge.

9. To upload your website to your newly-added domain:

   To install WordPress on your domain: skip this step, and instead check out our guide to installing WordPress on your domain.

   To upload your site using Adobe Muse: skip this step, and instead check out our guide to publishing your site using Adobe Muse.

   To upload your site using RapidWeaver: skip this step, and instead check out our guide to publishing your site using Rapidweaver.

   To upload your website using a modern FTP app:

   The exact FTP settings to enter into your FTP app are found on the hosting account’s Info page in the Client Lounge.

   Once connected, open the public_html folder and within it you should find a subfolder with the same name as the domain you just added.

   For example, if the domain you’ve just added is example.com, you should see a subfolder named example.com inside the public_html folder.

   Simply upload your web site into the subfolder that has the same name as the domain.

10. It may take several hours for ISPs worldwide (including your internet connection provider) to recognize the nameserver (DNS) changes you made in step 2.

    Once recognized, your email and website traffic for that domain should begin arriving at your HostM hosting account.

    Note: If you have not yet installed or uploaded a website to your domain, meaning a welcome page does not exist, you’ll see a “403 Forbidden” error when you try to visit your domain in a web browser.

11. We recommend waiting at least 72 hours after the DNS change before closing your old hosting account, in case you discover that you’ve forgotten to transfer some files or settings from it.

12. While waiting, you might want to check out our guide on how to make your website accessible via HTTPS (SSL).

13. If, in addition to hosting the domain, you wish to also transfer the domain registration from another domain provider to HostM (so that you can perform subsequent domain renewals via the Client Lounge at HostM’s domain registration rates), see our domain registration transfer tutorial after completing the above steps.