Many times a message arrives in our email inbox, usually saying something like this:

I am publishing a website for the first time. I purchased a domain and hosting from you, but now I don’t know how to publish it all?

Let’s just say from the outset that the process is not complicated, but of course we believe it causes problems for many people. That’s why we’ve decided to explain it all in detail in today’s post.

Domain and hosting details

After you have successfully ordered web hosting, you will receive an email to your email address with the subject line: ‘Pre-payment and access details‘. This email contains all the key information, so just save it, archive it, put it in the vault – whatever it is, you’ll need it!

You can access the cPanel control panel (at https://www.yourdomain.com/cpanel) with your username and password, and your login details are also valid for your basic FTP account.

If the domain is newly registered or you have transferred it to NEOSERV hosting and the domain servers are not yet refreshed, you can use “Access without domain” to temporarily access the cPanel control panel. You will also find this information written on the first page of the My NEOSERV Subscription Centre.

Details on how to log in to cPanel can be found in this article.

2. Connecting to the server (FTP)

You can use the FTP program FileZilla to connect to the server where you will upload your files (web pages). If this is your first time using an FTP program, we recommend that you check out the article entitled: Which FTP program to choose?

In this article we describe in detail how to connect to a hosting package with the FileZilla FTP client. To connect, you will need the username and password you received in the aforementioned email when you purchased your web hosting.

3. Locate the public_html folder

Since you are probably new to web hosting and this is the first time you have used it, we will concentrate on the basics in this article. The only folder we need is the public_html folder.

From here on, everything is very simple. First, delete the index.php file that is stored in the aforementioned folder. This is because the file contains content that is installed by default on the hosting package, just to make sure that your website is not completely empty at the start.

You then upload your files to this folder, i.e. public_html. Don’t forget to upload all the files you use for your website, including photos and any other files (price lists and the like).

4. open your website

If you have followed all the steps in the brief instructions, you should be able to see the changes and your website should be published. To check this, simply open the address of your website, www.yourdomain.com.

You are also welcome to visit our Help center, where you will find many more guides to help you on your online journey.