I Accidentally Bought Domain and Hosting from Different Companies in the Philippines. Here’s What I Learned

I was so excited when I found the perfect domain name for my online tutoring business: TutoringPH.com

It was available and I immediately bought it from GoDaddy for ₱650 for the first year.

Done! I owned my domain.

Then I started researching web hosting and also found a great deal on a different company’s website, ₱150/month with all the features I needed.

Then I decided to buy the hosting too.

I had my domain and hosting. Time to build my website, right?

Wrong.

That’s where the confusion started. 

When I logged into my hosting account, there was a spot to add your domain. Just then, I entered TutoringPH.com.

That’s when I got an error message: “Domain not found.”

I tried again and got the same error.

But when, I contacted hosting support to inform them that I had bought hosting but could’t add my domain.

Their response confused me more: “You need to point your domain’s nameservers to our hosting.”

Nameservers? What were nameservers? Nobody mentioned nameservers when I bought the domain.

I googled it. The articles were full of technical terms I didn’t understand. DNS. A record. Propagation.

I felt stupid. Everyone else seemed to understand this. Why didn’t I?

What I Didn’t Know About Domains and Hosting

Here’s what nobody explained when I was buying them:

A domain and hosting are two completely different things:

Your domain is like your home address. It’s the name people type to find you for example, for my case, it is TutoringPH.com.

Your hosting on the other hand  is like the actual house. It’s where your website lives.

You can buy your address from one company and rent your house from a different company. But they need to be connected.

The problem: They don’t connect automatically.

When you buy a domain and hosting from the same company, they connect them for you. When you buy them from different companies, you have to connect them yourself.

How I Finally Connected Them

After hours of googling and two confusing conversations with support, I finally understood what to do:

Step 1: I logged into GoDaddy where I bought my domain

Step 2: I found the DNS settings for TutoringPH.com

This took forever because GoDaddy’s interface is complicated. The setting was hidden under the  Manage DNS under Additional Settings.

Step 3: I found the Nameservers section

Nameservers were currently set to GoDaddy’s default nameservers.

Step 4: I got my hosting company’s nameservers

I logged into my hosting account and found their nameservers listed in the welcome email. They looked like this: ns1.hostingcompany.com and ns2.hostingcompany.com

Step 5: I changed my domain’s nameservers

I replaced GoDaddy’s nameservers with my hosting company’s nameservers.

Step 6: I waited

This was the worst part: the connection doesn’t happen instantly. It takes 24-48 hours for the changes to reflect across the internet.

For two days, my domain didn’t work and my website showed an error. I panicked, thinking I’d broken something.

Then on day three, it suddenly worked. TutoringPH.com finally showed my website.

The Problems I Didn’t Expect

Managing two accounts is annoying.

Every year, I have to remember to renew my domain with GoDaddy and renew my hosting with another company. If I forget either one, my website goes down.

Last year, I forgot to renew my domain. TutoringPH.com stopped working for three days until I realized what happened. By that time I had already lost potential students during those three days.

Making changes is complicated.

When I wanted to add email hosting, I had to coordinate between two companies. The hosting company directed me to update your MX records with my domain provider. 

Just like that, I went back to GoDaddy to change more DNS settings I didn’t understand.

Support can’t help with both.

When something went wrong, hosting support would say that’s was a domain issue and instruct me to contact my domain provider. GoDaddy would also tell me the same thing.

Nobody wanted to help me figure out which was which.

Renewal prices are confusing.

My domain renewal jumped to ₱1,200/year after the first year. My hosting renewal also increased. I was paying both companies, tracking two renewal dates, and dealing with two sets of price increases.

What I Should Have Done

Bought both from the same company.

If I had bought my domain and hosting from the same provider:

• They would have connected automatically
• No nameserver confusion
• One account to manage
• One renewal date
• One support team that handles everything
• Usually cheaper (they often discount domains when you buy hosting)

Or transferred my domain.

After dealing with this headache, I eventually transferred my domain from GoDaddy to my hosting company.

The transfer process was free. I just paid the one-year renewal fee. Now everything was in one place.

I should have done this from the beginning.

When Buying Separately Makes Sense

I’m not saying never buy them separately. Sometimes it makes sense when:

You already own a domain.

 If you’ve had your domain for years and are just switching hosting, you don’t need to transfer it.

You’re using a specialized domain registrar.

Some registrars offer special domain extensions like .ph domains, for example that some hosting companies don’t offer.

You want to keep them separate for business reasons.

Some businesses separate domain registration from hosting for security or organizational purposes.

But for most Filipino small business owners starting out? Buy both from the same place. It’s simpler.

What This Cost Me

Time wasted: 

 At least 6 hours researching, troubleshooting, and connecting them. That’s 6 hours I could have spent actually building my website or finding students.

Three days of downtime:

When I forgot to renew my domain separately, I lost potential students during peak enrollment season.

Stress and confusion:

Constantly worrying if I’d set up the nameservers correctly. Dealing with two support teams when problems arose.

Extra costs:

GoDaddy’s renewal pricing was higher than what my hosting company charges for domains. I paid ₱1,200/year for the domain. My hosting company charges ₱800/year for the same .com domain.

The Simple Way to Do This

If I could go back and start over, here’s what I’d do:

• Choose a hosting company first. 

Pick one that includes free or cheap domain registration.

• Buy your domain and hosting together.

Most hosting companies offer domain registration. Just add it to your cart when you buy hosting.

• Everything connects automatically.

There are certainly no nameservers to change and DNS to configure. Your website just works immediately.

One account, one renewal date, one support team. Much simpler.

Truehost Philippines includes a free domain with annual hosting plans. You buy everything together, and they handle all the technical connections. You don’t have to think about nameservers or DNS.

When it’s time to renew, you renew everything in one place. When you need support, one team handles everything.

That’s how it should work.

The Bottom Line

I thought I was being smart by shopping around, finding the best domain price here and the best hosting deal there.

But I created unnecessary complexity, wasted hours, and stressed over technical details I didn’t understand. But I still paid more in the end.

If you’re starting a website, buy your domain and hosting from the same company. It’s simpler, cheaper, and saves you from the headaches I dealt with.

Learn from my mistakes. Don’t do what I did.

Starting a new website? Get your domain and hosting from one place. Free domain included, everything connected automatically, no technical confusion.