Connect a Domain from Network Solutions

If you own a domain name with Network Solutions, you can use that domain with your WordPress.com site. This guide will show you how to connect a Network Solutions domain to your WordPress site on WordPress.com.

In this guide

1. Overview
2. Step 1: Add the Domain
3. Step 2: Connect Your Domain
   1. Update the Name Servers Yourself
   2. Contact Network Solutions Support
4. Step 3: Wait for the Changes to Update
5. Step 4: Set Your Primary Domain

Overview

Connecting a domain from Network Solutions is free with any paid WordPress.com plan. Connecting a Network Solutions domain to your WordPress.com site means:

• Your domain will show the site you created on WordPress.com, without the WordPress name in the address.
• You will continue to renew the domain name with your registrar (Network Solutions) unless you decide to also transfer the domain to WordPress.com.

Step 1: Add the Domain

1. Starting from your WordPress.com dashboard, navigate to Upgrades → Domains (or Hosting → Domains if using WP-Admin).
2. Click the “Add a domain” button and select “Use a domain I own” from the drop-down menu:

3. Type the domain name you own and click the “Next” button.
4. On the next screen, you will see two options: transfer or connect. Click the “Select” button next to “Connect your domain”. It may take a few moments to be redirected to the next screen.

5. Click “Start setup” on the connect screen.

Step 2: Connect Your Domain

The setup process will walk you through updating your domain’s name servers to point to WordPress.com.

Updating your name servers means your DNS records will be managed in your WordPress.com account. If you have an existing email service from your domain provider or another company, you will want to set up additional DNS records on WordPress.com to continue using that email service.

The Setup screen for Connecting the Domain.

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If you already use email with your domain from another provider, your email may stop working upon changing the name servers. To avoid this, add the necessary DNS records to the DNS in WordPress.com before changing the name servers. See this guide for step-by-step instructions.

You have two options for updating your name servers to point to your WordPress.com site: update them yourself or contact your domain registrar’s support. We’ll explain each method below.

Update the Name Servers Yourself

You can log into your Network Solutions account and replace any existing domain name server (DNS) addresses with the custom name servers for WordPress.com.

The name servers for WordPress.com are:

ns1.wordpress.com
ns2.wordpress.com
ns3.wordpress.com

Remember to remove your old name servers when adding the WordPress.com name servers. Your name servers should be set to only the three values listed above.

Use all three name server values above – one per line. Some registrars may appear to only accept two values but often reveal a third box once you have entered the first two name servers.

To update your name servers on Network Solutions, follow these steps:

1. Log into your Network Solutions account here.
2. Click on Domain Name on the left side:

3. Scroll down to the Advanced Tools section.
4. Next to Nameservers (DNS), click MANAGE:

5. Erase the current name server values and add the following WordPress.com nameservers to connect your domain to your WordPress.com site, and manage your DNS with us on WordPress.com:

ns1.wordpress.com
ns2.wordpress.com
ns3.wordpress.com

5. You can add the first two, then click the + NAMESERVER button to add the third:

5. Select the Save button. You will receive a notification that says “Nameserver update submitted.”

Contact Network Solutions Support

You can contact Network Solutions support to make the DNS changes or help you make them. Here is a sample message you can send to them:

I would like to use my Network Solutions domain with a WordPress.com site. In order to do this, I need to point my domain’s name servers to the following:

ns1.wordpress.com
ns2.wordpress.com
ns3.wordpress.com

Step 3: Wait for the Changes to Update

After changing the name servers, give it time for the change to take effect. After changing the name servers, the domain might not load right away. It is usually up and running within a few hours, but it can take up to 72 hours for the DNS to fully update across global servers and internet service providers.

To confirm the domain is connected to your site, try visiting the domain in a new tab in your browser. If it loads your WordPress.com website, then it’s working! You can also visit Upgrades → Domains (or Hosting → Domains if using WP-Admin) and look under the Status column to the right of your domain. It should say “Active“, like this:

If it still says “Verifying“, try waiting a few hours before taking the next step. Once you see the status change to Active, then your domain is connected. If the domain is still not loading the correct site, you may need to clear your browser’s cache to see the changes.

Step 4: Set Your Primary Domain

The final step is to go to Upgrades → Domains (or Hosting → Domains if using WP-Admin) in your WordPress.com account and select your newly-connected domain as the primary domain. See Set a Primary Address for more.

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Transfer Your Domain to WordPress.com

Want to manage your domain and website all in one place, instead of with two separate companies? Transfer your domain’s registration to your WordPress.com account, which you can do before or after connecting the domain. You would no longer pay any domain registration fees to your current domain provider, and would instead renew both your domain and website plan here at WordPress.com.