Do you want to create a new blog with Ghost? If yes, you have made a great choice. Ghost is a modern CMS that has simplicity in mind. Its distraction-free content editor is what makes Ghost a great blogging tool. If you plan to use Ghost to create a professional blog, the very first thing you need to do after setting up your blog is to set up the custom domain. This post will show you how to set up a custom domain in Ghost (Ghost.org more precisely).
Ghost.org is the official website of Ghost. You can visit this website to find any information about Ghost. From the development stage, source code, to the team behind Ghost. Ghost.org also offers a managed hosting service to run a Ghost blog. However, when you create a new blog on Ghost.org, your blog will be registered under the ghost.io domain (e.g., yourblog.ghost.io) which is not good for a professional purpose.
Setting Up a Custom Domain in Ghost.org
Before getting started, make sure you already have a domain name you want to use for your blog as Ghost.org doesn’t offer a domain name registration service. You can register a domain name on sites like Bluehost, Namecheap, or GoDaddy.
Once you have a domain, login to the Ghost dashboard with your account (yourblog.ghost.io/ghost). Once logged in, click Ghost(Pro) on the left panel.
On the next step, go to the Domain tab and click the Setup button.
Enter your domain name on the Domain field.
You will be presented with two DNS records to add your domain.
Login to the website where you bought the domain from. Select a domain you want to use and click the Manage Domain menu (or a similar menu). This menu could also be represented by a gear icon.
Click DNS Management (or a similar menu).
Click the Add New Record button to add a new DNS record.
Enter the data provided by Ghost for the first record (CNAME) and click the Add Record button once done adding the data.
Add the second record (the A record). You can do so by clicking the Add New Record button.
If you find an error message on the activation process, you can leave the Domain field empty (notice the screenshot above).
Once done adding the DNS records, you can switch back to the Ghost dashboard and click the Activate button to activate your domain.
Wait a moment for the activation process. You will see a Continue button if everything goes well.
The Bottom Line
Domain name is the main identity element of a website. If you want to create a blog (or website in general) for a professional purpose, using a top-level domain (.com, .net, .org, etc.) is mandatory. There is no room for debate about it. Ghost.org allows you to set up a custom domain, but you need to register your domain name on another service as it doesn’t offer domain registration service.
Ghost.org itself offers four plans which you can choose according to your needs. If you want to install a custom theme, you need to subscribe to the Creator plan ($25 per month) or the higher plans as the lowest plan (the Starter plan) doesn’t offer a feature to install custom Ghost themes (Ghost themes developed by third-party developers).