Hi everyone 🙂
For context, I have spent a good bit of time using WordPress and HostGator for the small business I've worked for over the years, but the biggest hurdle for me is the more technical stuff. I've started a site from scratch before but I didn't remember the correct order of operations.
I am working on a new site that I am really excited about. I purchased my domain through Cloudflare, then went with Hostgator for hosting. I was setting up WordPress and changed the domain field in settings from the temporary URL to my domain. BIG MISTAKE. I immediately could no longer access WordPress backend, I guess because I had not yet changed the name servers to connect web hosting and domain registrar. The next step I took was to try and connect them by using A record. This does not seem to have worked.
My understanding is that once my web hosting and domain registrar are connected, I will then be able to access my site again (is this correct?). HostGator support was not very helpful as usual, and recommended contacting Cloudflare. I did not know when choosing Cloudflare that I would have to pay either $250 for a month or $2400 for a year just to be able to edit CNAME and speak with customer support. 🙁 It's not that I mind paying for things, this just feels like a ripoff. So now I am stuck in a situation where I don't know what to do to access my site, and my service providers are of absolutely no help, unless I'm willing to shell out $250 to speak to customer support.
What would you do here? My best idea is to delete my domain's registration with Cloudlfare (which goes into effect immediately), then repurchase the domain with HostGator. From there I feel like I could more easily connect web hosting and domain registration since they would be within the same platform?
Absolutely any suggestions are welcome. Thank you in advance.
To regain access:
Option 1) Open up your hosting panel, look for PHPMyAdmin, find your _options table, look at rows 1 & 2, update that domain to what it previously was
2) insert these 2 lines into the top of your wp-config.php & update with your domain name
define( ‘WP_HOME’, ‘https://example.com’ );
define( ‘WP_SITEURL’, ‘https://example.com’ );
Reference: [https://developer.wordpress.org/advanced-administration/upgrade/migrating/](https://developer.wordpress.org/advanced-administration/upgrade/migrating/)
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Re: CloudFlare
CloudFlare has a free plan you can use. You have 100% access to update the DNS, for free. BUT, free plan doesn’t come with support.
Go elsewhere for hosting if you can as well. May seem ok now, but that’s not where you want to be long term.
You can transfer your domain to another Hosting company.
Yes, it is a pain with Cloudflare that you cannot change your Cname records, but what I do, is I point my A Records. Because I was at first so in love with Cloudflare until the shit hit the fan and none off my sites work anymore because of a million different optimizations.