How to Buy a Domain and Set Up Hosting

Quick clarification before we start

A domain is just the address — like yourbusiness.com. That's all it is. It doesn't come with a website, email, or anything else. You buy it once a year, usually around $10–$15.

Hosting is where your website actually lives. Your domain points people there. We're going to use Cloudflare for both — it's free to host, cheap to register a domain, and it's the same setup professionals use. Zuldeira's own site runs on it.

A lot of places try to sell you domains, hosting, email, and a website builder all bundled together. You don't need any of that. Keep them separate so you're never stuck paying a company forever just to keep your own address.

Step 1: Create your Cloudflare account

Go to https://dash.cloudflare.com/sign-up and create an account with your business email
It's going to ask how you intend to use Cloudflare — choose Professional
Then it asks what best describes your role — choose Executive/Founder
Then it asks how many people work at your company — choose whatever fits
Then it asks how you'd like to get started — choose Build and scale my apps globally
Then it asks how you'd like to start building — choose Purchase a domain name
It will send you to a page to verify your email — do that now

Tip on verification: Do it on your phone, it's easier. Go to your email, click verify, it'll send you to a page to sign in with the account you just made. Once it's logged in on your phone, go back to your computer and refresh the page.

Step 2: Search for and buy your domain

After verifying, you'll land on a domain search page — type in the name you want, like yourbusinessname.com
If it shows up as available, it will show you the price. Most .com domains are around $10–$11/year on Cloudflare — that's the cost price, no markup
Add it to cart and check out
Your domain is registered — you own it for one year

What if your name is taken? Try adding your city — like yourbusiness-miami.com. Or try a different ending like .co or .io. Stick to .com if you can though — it's what people expect to type.

Auto-renew: Make sure auto-renew is on, or set a calendar reminder for a year from now. If you forget to renew, you lose your domain and someone else can buy it.

Step 3: Set up free hosting with Cloudflare Pages

Now that your domain lives in Cloudflare, hosting is easy — everything is in one place.

In your Cloudflare dashboard, click Workers & Pages in the left sidebar
Click Create application → Pages → Connect to Git
Connect your GitHub account (you'll need to create one if you don't have it — it's free at github.com)
Select your website repository
Leave build settings blank and click Save and Deploy
Once it's deployed, go to your project → Custom Domains → Add custom domain
Type in your domain — since it's already in Cloudflare, it connects in about two clicks
Wait a few minutes and your site is live at your real domain

If it doesn't show up right away — that's normal. DNS changes take a little time to spread. Usually works within an hour, sometimes up to 24 hours. If it's been longer than that, something was entered wrong. Go back and double-check the custom domain settings.

That's it — your domain is live

You have a real address on the internet that you own. Now you need a website to put there. Check out the guide on How to Build and Deploy Your First Website for Free — it walks you through building the actual site and pushing it to Cloudflare Pages.

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Need help getting unstuck?

The Growth Hub has more detailed walkthroughs for every step here, plus guides on GitHub, Google Workspace, setting up a business email, and more. And if you ever just want someone to walk through it with you — that's what we're here for.

Join the Growth Hub — $19/month