Session 5: Claiming Your Spot — Registering a Free or Paid Custom Domain

Welcome to Session 5! In our previous session, you safely backed up your website code to the GitHub cloud. Now, we are going to get your website its own permanent, human-readable address on the internet.

Over the next 45 to 60 minutes, you will learn how the internet routing system works and register your very own custom domain name—either completely free or for a few dollars.

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Prerequisites

• A laptop connected to the internet.
• Your browser open.
• A personal email address that you can access to read registration verification emails.

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Core Concepts: What is a Domain Name?

• What is an IP Address? Computers talk to each other using numbers. Every computer on the internet has a unique numerical address, like 104.21.32.181. Think of this as a telephone number.
• What is a Domain Name? Humans are bad at remembering long strings of numbers. A domain name (like induslevel.com or google.com) is a friendly label mapped to that number. Think of it as saving a contact name in your phone's address book. Instead of dialing the number, you just click the person's name!
• What is a Registrar? A company authorized to reserve and register domain names on the global internet registry.

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Step-by-Step Guide: Selecting Your Registration Path

Depending on whether you want a 100% free domain (which requires a short waiting period for manual approval) or an instant, professional paid domain, choose one of the three paths below:

• Path A: Registering a 100% free domain from NIC.eu.org (Highly recommended for students; running since 1996).
• Path B: Registering a free domain from digitalplat.org.
• Path C: Buying a standard paid domain (like .com or .xyz) directly from Cloudflare for a few dollars.

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Path A: The 100% Free Route via NIC.eu.org (Recommended for Students)

EU.org is a public service registry that has been giving away free custom subdomains (like yourname.eu.org) with full, professional DNS control for over 30 years.

1. Open your web browser and go to: https://nic.eu.org/
2. Click on the link that says "Register" to create a user account.
3. Fill in the registration form:
   • Contact name: Your full name.
   • E-mail: Your active email address.
   • Password: Create a password and write it down.
   • Fill in your postal address and telephone number (standard registry fields).
4. Click "Submit".
5. Activate Your Account: Check your email inbox for a mail from EU.org registry. Open it and click the long activation link. Your user handle (looking like WA123-FREE) will be displayed. Keep this user handle!
6. Go back to https://nic.eu.org/ and log in using your user handle and password.
7. Click "New Domain".
8. Complete the Domain Request Form:
   • Complete domain name: Type your desired address, ending in .eu.org (for example: waqar-rides.eu.org).
   • Administrative/Technical contacts: Check the box that says "use local contact details" to automatically fill in your info.
   • Name servers: Click the radio button that says "IP addresses not needed" (we will use temporary nameservers here, and update them in Session 6. For now, type these two default server records exactly in the fields):
     • Name 1: ns1.digitalocean.com
     • Name 2: ns2.digitalocean.com
9. Click the "Submit" button.
10. Your request is now placed in the queue! EU.org manually validates requests, which typically takes anywhere from 12 hours to 2 days. Once approved, you will receive a congratulatory email!

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Path B: Alternative Free Route via DigitalPlat.org

If EU.org is under maintenance, another great alternative free registry with instant registration is DigitalPlat.

1. Go to: https://digitalplat.org/
2. Type your desired subdomain name into their search bar and select a free extension (like yourname.dplat.club or yourname.dplat.host).
3. Click "Search" to verify that nobody else has taken it.
4. Click "Register" and fill in your email address and password.
5. Submit the form. These domains are usually registered instantly!

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Path C: The Instant, Professional Route via Cloudflare Registrar (Paid)

If you want a professional domain name like yourname.com or yourname.xyz instantly, buying it from Cloudflare is the best and cheapest method in the world. Cloudflare is an "at-cost" registrar, meaning they charge you the raw wholesale registry price (about $5–$10 per year) without adding any middleman fees.

1. Navigate to: https://dash.cloudflare.com/sign-up
2. Enter your email and create a secure password, then click "Sign Up".
3. Once in your main dashboard, look at the left sidebar panel and click "Domain Registration" → "Register Domains".
4. Type your desired name (e.g., waqarrides.com or haziqdev.xyz) in the search bar and press Enter.
5. Review the price listings:
   • Some extensions like .xyz, .club, or .space cost only $1 to $4 per year!
   • .com domains cost around $9 per year.
6. Click "Purchase" next to your preferred available domain.
7. Select "1 Year" as the registration duration.
8. Fill in your contact details (Required by international internet law) and enter your payment details (credit/debit card).
9. Click "Complete Purchase".
   • Instant Activation: Your domain is now fully registered to you, and is instantly ready to use!

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Verification: Did it work?

To verify your registration progress:

• If you chose Path A/B (Free): You have submitted the registration form and have your registrar user handle written down in your notes.
• If you chose Path C (Paid): You can see your new custom domain listed cleanly under the "Websites" tab on your Cloudflare Dashboard!

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What's Next?

Outstanding! You have claimed your very own permanent digital coordinates on the global web directory.

Now, we need to set up the connection bridge between your domain name and your web files. In Session 6, we will learn how to set up Cloudflare's free proxy and DNS system—the digital post office that directs people to your website securely!