[WordPress Blog Setup Series ①] Buying a Domain and Verifying Owner Email
Deciding to start a WordPress blog to build your own independent space and generate income sounds simple, but the very first step — connecting a domain and hosting — turns out to be full of hurdles.
Based on the process I went through myself, step by step, here’s an A-to-Z walkthrough anyone can follow, even with zero coding knowledge. Throughout this series, I’ll use the placeholder domain myexample.com as an example.
This first part covers the very starting point: buying a domain and verifying owner email.
What Exactly Is a Domain?
Before jumping into the purchase process, let’s clarify the concepts.
- Registry: The organization that manages a specific top-level domain (TLD). For example, VeriSign runs
.com, Google Registry runs.dev, and Identity Digital operates hundreds of other extensions. - Registrar: The retailer that actually sells domains to consumers — companies like GoDaddy, Namecheap, and Cloudflare.
In other words, if the registry is the “wholesaler” of a domain, the registrar is the “retail store” we actually interact with. No matter which registrar you buy through, you end up registered with the same registry, so the registration itself carries the same weight. The differences come down to price, ease of management, and extra features.
Step 1: Choosing Where to Buy Your Domain
To buy the domain that will become your blog’s address (myexample.com), you can use Namecheap, GoDaddy, or many other domain registrars. The basic principle is the same no matter where you buy, but each provider has distinct characteristics.
Comparing Major Registrars
Namecheap Affordable pricing and strong optimization for WordPress integration make it a favorite among bloggers worldwide. It offers a beginner-friendly interface and free WHOIS privacy protection by default. It’s been a steady favorite among developers and small business owners for over 20 years.
Spaceship A newer brand owned by Namecheap, offering a modern, no-frills checkout experience. .com registration and renewal pricing sits at roughly $9.98/year — lower than even wholesale in some cases — and notably, the registration price and renewal price are the same. It’s often cited as having one of the cleanest UX in the industry.
Cloudflare Registrar Uses a unique model of selling domains strictly at-cost, with no markup. For .com, this typically runs about $9.15–$10.46/year, making it one of the cheapest renewal prices among trustworthy registrars. WHOIS privacy is always free, and DNS management runs on Cloudflare’s world-class infrastructure. However, it doesn’t accept new domain registrations — only transfers — so it’s commonly used by first registering elsewhere and then transferring in.
Porkbun Known for competitive pricing, free WHOIS privacy across all domains, and a clean, modern interface. .com renewal pricing usually runs around $9.73–$11.08/year, often slightly cheaper than Namecheap. One limitation is that support is email/ticket-based only, with no live chat.
GoDaddy The world’s largest registrar by volume, with strong brand recognition, but its recommendation has been declining lately. Notably, a February 2026 terms-of-service change reclassified all customers as “business customers,” removing EU consumer protection clauses and adding mandatory arbitration clauses. Aggressive upselling of hosting, email, SSL, and website builders during checkout is another common criticism. Pricing also tends to run at a premium compared to alternatives. Comparing 5-year .com costs (domain + privacy), GoDaddy runs about $155 versus roughly $46 for Cloudflare — a difference of about $109 per domain over five years.
Choosing Criteria
- If price is your main concern: Cloudflare (transfers only) → Porkbun, NameSilo tend to be the cheapest
- For beginner convenience: Namecheap or Porkbun are solid choices
- If you need a wide range of TLDs (extensions): Dynadot (supports around 805 TLDs) or Namecheap (560+)
- For API usage (bulk registration, automation): Dynadot, Cloudflare, Namecheap, NameSilo, and Porkbun all offer official APIs
- Renewal price vs. first-year promo price: Don’t just look at the first-year discount — always check the renewal price. Also check transfer-out fees some registrars charge when you leave (ICANN rules prevent blocking transfers outright, but some registrars still charge fees).
- WHOIS privacy: As of 2026, it’s best to avoid registrars that charge extra for basic privacy protection — this is now considered a standard feature, not a premium add-on.
Actual Steps: Signing Up and Buying a Domain on Namecheap
This series will use Namecheap as the reference registrar going forward. For those who haven’t signed up yet, here’s the detailed sign-up-to-purchase flow.
Sign Up
- Go to namecheap.com
- Click Sign Up in the top right
- Enter the following:
- Username
- Email address
- Password
- Enter the verification code sent to your email to activate your account
Signing up with a Google account is also available.
Searching for and Buying a Domain
- After logging in, type your desired domain name into the search bar at the top (e.g., myexample.com)
- Select an available domain from the list → add it to your cart
- Proceed to Checkout
Entering Payment Information
- Connect a card or PayPal
- WhoisGuard (privacy protection) is usually included for free by default — it’s best to leave it enabled, since it keeps your personal information from being exposed in WHOIS lookups.
- Decide whether to enable Auto-renew — for AdSense or long-term use, it’s recommended to keep it on, since you’ll need to keep the domain active even after approval, and this prevents accidentally letting it expire.
After Completing the Purchase
- Check your newly purchased domain under Dashboard → Domain List.
- Click Manage to access the Nameserver settings screen. (This will be covered in detail in the next part, alongside connecting hosting.)
The Required Step — Owner Contact Email Verification
Right after purchasing a domain, ICANN rules require you to complete an email validity check.
- Click the verification link sent to your registered email to set the status to Active — the domain won’t function properly otherwise.
- Skip this step and you’ll keep seeing a yellow warning (ALERT) at the top of your dashboard.
- Failing to verify can even result in the domain being suspended, so checking your inbox right after purchase should be your top priority.
Once you’ve bought the domain and completed email verification, you finally have an internet address you can truly call your own.
Coming Up Next
The domain is ready, but visiting this address right now shows nothing — it’s still an “empty shell.” In Part 2, we’ll cover connecting this domain to an actual server (hosting) through nameserver configuration and DNS propagation.
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