First Steps: Upload Your Site and Set Up Email Print

Get Your Website Online

You've got your hosting account. Now let's get your website files on the server and set up a professional email address. This guide keeps it simple - no jargon, just the steps.

Option A: Upload via cPanel File Manager (easiest)

1. Log into cPanel
2. Scroll to the Files section and click File Manager
3. Open the public_html folder - that's your website's root directory
4. Click Upload in the top toolbar, then select your website files (or a zip file)
5. If you uploaded a zip: go back to File Manager, right-click the zip file, and choose Extract
6. Your main page should be named index.html, index.php, or similar

That's it. Visit your domain in a browser and you should see your site.

Option B: Upload via FTP (better for large sites)

You'll need an FTP client - FileZilla is free and works great.

1. Download and install FileZilla (or any FTP client)
2. In cPanel, find the FTP Accounts section
3. Create an FTP account if there isn't one, or use the main account listed there
4. In FileZilla, enter:
   • Host: your domain name or server IP
   • Username: your FTP username (usually your cPanel username)
   • Password: your FTP password
   • Port: 21
5. Click Quickconnect
6. On the right side (remote server), navigate to public_html
7. Drag your website files from the left side (your computer) to the right side (the server)

Set Up Your First Email Account

1. In cPanel, go to the Email section and click Email Accounts
2. Click Create or Add Email Account
3. Enter the username you want (e.g., hello, info, sales)
4. Choose the domain from the dropdown
5. Set a password - use the password generator if you want something strong
6. Set a mailbox quota (how much storage that email can use). 250 MB is fine for personal use
7. Click Create

Done! You now have an email like [email protected]. You can check it using Roundcube or Horde (click the Email Accounts icon in cPanel, then the Check Email button next to your account). Or set it up in Gmail, Outlook, or your phone - use the manual settings shown in cPanel under Connect Devices.