You have an existing Bluehost account with a primary domain name, but now you are wondering if you can assign additional domain names to your account.
Wonder no more!
The process for assigning additional domain names is pretty straight forwards. All you need to do is access and modify some settings in your Bluehost and Namecheap account.
Log in to your Bluehost Account and Go to the Domains Section
What you are looking for here are the DNS addresses for your Bluehost account which is located on the right-hand side under the Name Servers tab.
Log in to your Namecheap Account and Go to the Domain List section
Find the new domain name that you want to assign to your Bluehost account and click the Managed button next to it.
Update the Nameservers Section
Click the arrow next to Namecheap BasicDNS, which will open up a drop-down menu. Select Custom DNS. You will then want to copy the 2 DNS addresses from your Bluehost account over here and click the checkmark to save the settings.
Wait 15-30 for the Update to Take Place
Namecheap states that it may take up to 48 hours for the DNS updates to take effect, but it usually only takes 15-30 minutes.
Go Back to your Bluehost Account to Assign this Domain Name
You want to click the Assign a domain to your cPanel account link within the Domain section of your Bluehost account.
Type in the new domain name that you want to assign to your Bluehost account (without the WWW). You should get a message under the Step 2 section that states your ownership of the domain name has been verified. If you don’t get this message then wait another 15-30 minutes and come back to this page and reenter your domain name.
Once Bluehost has verified the ownership of the domain name in Step 2, you can proceed to Step 3. There are 3 options when assigning a new domain name to your Bluehost account.
- Add-on Domain will allow you to create a completely separate website on your Bluehost account that is accessible directly via the assigned domain name. You will need to create a new directory in Step 4 where you will install another instance of WordPress.
- Parked Domain will point the assigned domain name to the Primary directory on your Bluehost account. In my case, if I were to select this and go to visitpalawan.org in my browser, I would end up redirecting to markkim00.com.
- Unassigned Domain means the assigned domain name is attached to your Bluehost account, but not set up to point to any directory in your Bluehost account.
If you selected the Addon assignment type then you will need to create a new directory in Step 4 to store the WordPress installation and your content for this specific domain name. If you chose the Parked or Unassigned Domain assignment type then you do not need to do anything in Step 4 and can finalize this assignment by clicking Assign this Domain.
If you chose to assign a new domain name as an Addon Domain, then you must be interested in setting up another WordPress site. Check out my easy to follow guide on creating additional WordPress installations on your existing Bluehost account.