Buy your domain and create the professional email address you’ll use everywhere else.
This is where your platform gets its identity. You’ll buy the domain your app will live at, and create a professional email address on that domain.That email matters more than it looks: you’ll use it to sign up for every other service in this course, and your customers will see it. Signing up to payment and telephony providers with yourname@gmail.com looks like a hobby, while contact@yourdomain.com looks like a company.
Hostinger’s Premium plan includes your domain free for the first year and two mailboxes free for a year, which is why we use it. You’re buying hosting you won’t actually use, because your app is hosted on Vercel, but this is still the cheapest way to get a domain and professional email together.
Go to hostinger.com/pricing. Make sure the Individuals & business tab is selected rather than Agency, set the subscription dropdown on the right to 12 months plan, then click Choose plan on the Premium plan.Premium is the cheapest plan that includes both a free domain for a year and free mailboxes, which is everything we need.
Set the subscription length before choosing the plan, since the price changes with it.
2
Search for your domain
Hostinger asks which domain you want. Search for the name you’d like and pick one that’s available.Choose carefully, because this name is permanent for your business: it appears in your app’s URL, in your email address, and on your customers’ bank statements. A .com is worth the small extra cost.
3
Review your cart
Set the domain Period to 1 year, which is plenty while you get started. Your cart should confirm two things: your domain is free for one year, and your two mailboxes are free for one year.Ignore the upsells on this page, like Domain Shield and the offer to switch to a longer subscription. You don’t need them. Click Continue.
The two green lines confirm the domain and mailboxes are included at no extra cost.
4
Create your account and pay
Fill in the signup form to create your Hostinger account, then continue.
Enter your billing address on the next page and continue again.
Finally, enter your payment details and submit the payment, following any verification steps your bank asks for.
5
Skip the onboarding
After paying, Hostinger starts an onboarding flow for building a website. You don’t need it, since your app is deployed on Vercel rather than on Hostinger’s hosting. Click the X in the top right corner to leave it.
Close the onboarding with the X in the top right.
You’ll land on the Hostinger home page, which is where the rest of this chapter takes place.
Buying a domain isn’t enough to activate it. Every newly registered domain needs owner details and a verified email address before it works.
1
Open your domain
From the home page, click Domains in the sidebar. Your domain appears in the Domain portfolio with a pending status and a Set up button. Click Set up.
A newly purchased domain always starts in this pending state.
2
Enter your owner details
Fill in the remaining owner details. These are the details your domain is legally registered with, so they need to be accurate, as Hostinger warns at the top of the form: incorrect details can lead to your domain being suspended.Leave Add company details unchecked. That’s for registered businesses, and it isn’t relevant if you haven’t incorporated one yet.Click Register.
Leave the company details checkbox unchecked unless you have a registered company.
3
Continue past the reminders
You’ll see a confirmation page reminding you to verify your email address by a deadline to keep your domain active. Click Continue.
Hostinger then offers you more hosting plans. Click Skip for now at the bottom.
From the home page, click Emails in the sidebar. You’ll land on a page offering a free email plan next to paid ones. Click Start free.
2
Select your domain
Hostinger asks which domain the email should use. Open the dropdown and select your domain, which will be the only option since it’s the only one you own. Click Next.
3
Choose the free plan
You’ll see four email plans side by side. Click Get started on the leftmost Free Business Email plan at $0.00/mo, not on any of the paid ones, even though one is marked Most popular.One free mailbox is all this course needs.
The free plan is on the far left. Ignore the Most popular badge on the paid plan.
4
Start the free trial
A popup appears titled Start your 12-month free email trial. Click Start free trial.
5
Create your mailbox
Choose the part of the address that comes before the @. Use something professional like contact, hello or support, since your customers will see it. Avoid anything informal.Type only that prefix in the New email address field, as your domain is added automatically. Create a password meeting the requirements shown, then click Create mailbox.
You only type the part before the @ sign.
Save this password somewhere safe. You’ll use this mailbox to sign up for every remaining service in this course, and to receive their verification emails.
6
Open your inbox
A success message confirms the mailbox was created. Click Open inbox.
You’ll land in your new mailbox. A Select layout popup appears the first time, and you can close it with the X in its top right corner, since all of that is available later in settings.
This is the inbox you'll come back to throughout the rest of the course.
You can reach this inbox directly at mail.hostinger.com by logging in with your new email address and its password. That’s much faster than going through the Hostinger dashboard, and the rest of this course will send you there whenever you need to read a verification email.
You now own a domain and have a professional email address on it. Next you’ll deploy your forked app to the web and connect it to this domain, so your platform is live at your own address.
