So you’ve built a beautiful website and want to market it to the world. To do this you need to choose a web host so you can upload your files to a server for it to be displayed on the web. This can be quite a confusing process if you have not done it before. Instead of wasting time asking for advice from other people or reading through several tutorials I’m going to outline the steps so you can do it yourself.

Requirements to host your website

Domain name
Choose a domain name that reflects your business or products if you can’t get a .com domain name of your choice try using different keywords that relate to business. The best domain name is one that’s short, easy to spell and remember.

Web hosting provider
Select a web hosting company that has been in business for a number of years. Make sure you have enough space and bandwidth to host your website files. Check the response times of technical support by calling or e-mailing them. If they don’t respond within 24 hours search for another web host.

Website files
Place all your website files in one folder on your computer so they are easy to find and can be quickly uploaded to the Web server.

FTP software
This is used to transfer files from your computer to the server on your web hosting service. If you don’t have FTP software already installed on your computer download Filezilla or SmartFTP. They’re both free and easy-to-use.

What are the Steps to Host a Website

1. Check your web hosting information

Here’s the important information your Web host should provide for you:

* Type of hosting plan you purchased
* Cpanel login info (web hosting control panel)
* Nameservers
* FTP info
* Amount of space and bandwidth
* IP address
* Mail servers

2. Change your nameservers

You need to point the nameservers of your domain name to the nameservers of your web host. If you’re using a domain name registrar such as GoDaddy, log into your account, go to the domain name manager to find the domain name you registered with them, then replace the current nameservers with the ones given by your web host.

It will take 24 to 48 hours before your domain name becomes active and enable uploading of your files to the server.

3. Upload your files to the server

* Open the FTP software (I use SmartFTP)
* Place your website address in the address box (e.g. yourdomain dot com)
* Enter the FTP username and password you received from your web host
* Activate the FTP software. This will open 2 document windows
* The first window will show the website files on your computer
* The second window will show the files on your server
* Transfer all your computer files to the server by dragging and dropping them from the first window to the second window
* Make sure you transfer all your files to the public.html folder on the server (this may vary between hosts)

4. Check the appearance of your live website

Enter your full website address in the browser to view your website. Navigate through all your web pages to check for errors. Make sure there are no broken images, broken links or other design elements missing. Sometimes files don’t get properly transferred when they are FTPed to the server.

Tip
If you’re transferring your website from one host to another make sure you back up your website files (including your database and e-mail accounts) before initiating the transfer. This will allow you to return to the original configuration should you make any errors while transferring the files.

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