Shared Hosting// Getting Started Guide

Getting Started Guide

Shared Hosting
Your First Website Online
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Getting Started Guide: Shared Hosting

Version 2.3 (1.6.2012)
Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.

Distribution of this work or derivative of this work is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained from the copyright holder.

Trademarks used in this book

Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
Mac and TextEdit are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
SmartFTP is a registered trademark of SmartSoft, Ltd.
Fetch is a registered trademark of Fetch Softworks.
Windows XP, Entourage, and Outlook are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other
countries.
All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners.

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Table of Contents
Introduction

SECURITY INFORMATION!

CREATING A STRONG PASSWORD!

GETTING HELP!

OTHER RESOURCES!

Setting Up Your New Hosting Account

SETTING UP YOUR HOSTING ACCOUNT!

CHECKING YOUR HOSTING ACCOUNT STATUS!

10

SETTING YOUR NAMESERVERS (DNS)!

12

GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH THE HOSTING CONTROL CENTER!

14

Creating and Uploading a Web Page

CREATING YOUR FIRST WEB PAGE!

15
15

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WHERE CAN I LEARN MORE ABOUT HTML?!

17

UPLOADING YOUR FIRST WEB PAGE!

17

OTHER FTP CLIENTS FOR YOUR WEBSITE!

20

Troubleshooting

22

WHY CANT I UPLOAD MY WEBSITE?!

22

WHY ISNT MY WEBSITE DISPLAYING CORRECTLY?!

23

Using Your Web Statistics

26

ENABLING WEB STATISTICS!

26

ACCESSING YOUR WEB STATISTICS!

27

RESETTING YOUR WEB STATISTICS!

27

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Introduction
Now that you've purchased a shared hosting account, you're probably anxious to get started and
set it up. This guide assists you in getting your website up and running quickly. Along the way,
we also pass on some general hosting information you can use to impress your friends.
Your hosting account shares server space and resources with other accounts, hence the term
shared hosting. This contrasts with dedicated hosting, which has only one user per server.
Shared hostings benefits are we maintain the server and its easy to use.

SECURITY INFORMATION
To prevent someone from manipulating or abusing your hosting account, we recommend you
create a strong password. However, if your password has been compromised, you can change it
through the Hosting Control Center.
After resetting your password, it may take up to 30 minutes to take effect.

To Change Your Hosting Account Password

1. Log in to your Account Manager.
2. Click Web Hosting.
3. Next to the account you want to use, click Launch.

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4. From the Settings section, click the Account Login icon.

5. To change your hosting account password, enter and confirm a new password, and then click
Update.

CREATING A STRONG PASSWORD

The Hosting Control Center enforces rules that ensure your password cannot be easily hacked.
To meet our security criteria, your password must:

Contain at least 8 characters.

Include lowercase letters, uppercase letters.

Include a ! (exclamation point), @ (at symbol), # (hash mark), or % (percent sign).

Begin with a letter.

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GETTING HELP
After your account is set up, you can get assistance from our Help Center.

To Access the Help Center

1. Log in to your Account Manager.
2. Click Web Hosting.
3. Next to the account you want to use, click Launch.
4. From the Help menu, select Help Center.
5. In the Get Help - Select Your Product section of the Help Center, click Hosting & Servers
and select Web Hosting.
The Hosting Control Center also provides context-sensitive help through question mark icons
that appear beside select form fields. When clicked, these icons provide additional information
and/or explanation.
You can also contact Customer Support directly for answers to your questions.

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OTHER RESOURCES
Use these resources to learn more about programming your shared hosting account:
W3Schools

http://www.w3schools.com/
A free repository of Web programming tutorials on topics from XHTML to PHP.

DevGuru

http://www.devguru.com/
DevGuru is an exhaustive Web programming reference website.

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Setting Up Your New Hosting Account

Before you can upload your website to your hosting account, you have to set it up. This involves
creating a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) user name and password, as well as getting your domains
nameservers (DNS). Your hosting accounts DNS information points your domain name to your
hosting account.

SETTING UP YOUR HOSTING ACCOUNT

Your account is not automatically set up when you purchase a hosting plan. You need to log in
and complete the set-up process in the Hosting Control Center.

To Set up Your Hosting Account

1. Log in to your Account Manager.

The Account Manager is where you manage account administrative functions and
hosting-related products such as email. The Hosting Control Center is where you
configure hosting-account functionality.
2. Click Web Hosting.

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3. Next to the account you want to use, click Launch.

4. Complete the following fields, and then click Finish:
Enter Domain

Enter the domain name you want to use.

FTP user name

Use the automatically generated user name, or click Change, and

then enter the FTP user name you want to use.

Password & Confirm

Password

Enter the password you want to use to access your hosting

account with FTP and to log in to the Hosting Control Center
directly.

(Optional) SSL Credits

If you have SSL credits in the same account as the domain name
you want to use, select the SSL credit you want to use with this
hosting account.

Hosting account setup generally occurs in 30 minutes but can require up to 24 hours. Well send
you an email with your account information when it is set up and ready to use.

CHECKING YOUR HOSTING ACCOUNT STATUS

While youre waiting for your hosting account set up to finish, you can check its status. The
status for your hosting account displays on the Hosting page in the Hosting Control Center.

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To Check the Status of Your Hosting Account

1. Log in to your Account Manager.
2. Click Web Hosting.
3. Next to the account you want to check, click Options.
4. Go to the Customize tab.
The Status field displays the current status of your hosting account. In general, the following are
the different types of account status that you'll see:
Initialize Account

You still need to set up your hosting account. To set up your

hosting account, click Launch next to the account you want to
set up.

Pending DNS

Your domain names nameservers must be set correctly. For

more information, see Setting Your Name Servers below.

Pending Account Change

This account status displays whenever you have upgraded or

downgraded your hosting account.

Pending Setup

This account status displays after you have set up your

account. It may take up to 24 hours for us to configure your
hosting account before you can use it.

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Setup

Your account is set up. You may still have to wait up to 48

hours before you can upload files to your account (FTP), set up
databases, or configure your website.

Once your hosting account is set up, you can log in to the Hosting Control Center to manage
your account, set up databases, and install various website features.

SETTING YOUR NAMESERVERS (DNS)

Nameservers are the Internet's equivalent to phone books. They let you access a website by only
knowing its domain name and not its hosting accounts IP address. If the Internet didnt use the
Domain Name System (DNS), youd have to remember each websites individual IP address, like
remembering phone numbers.
When youre setting up or changing your domain names DNS settings, it can take up to 48 hours
for the Internet to recognize the change, known as propagation.
Set your nameservers with the company that you used to purchase your domain name. If you
purchased your domain through us and its in the same account as your hosting, we update your
nameservers automatically.

To Find Your Nameservers

1. Log in to your Account Manager.
2. Click Web Hosting.

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3. Next to the account you want to use, click Launch.

4. From the Settings menu, select DNS Manager.
Your domains nameservers display in the NS (Nameserver) section.
Click change zone to find other domain names nameservers.
If your domain is not registered through us, contact your registrar for information about
changing your domain names nameservers.

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GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH THE HOSTING CONTROL CENTER

The Hosting Control Center lets you manage your account settings, content, databases, Web
statistics, and more.
Below is an example of what your Hosting Control Center looks like when you first log in:

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Creating and Uploading a Web Page

The reason you purchased a shared hosting account to begin with is to see your original content
out on the Web. The easiest way to accomplish this is by creating and uploading HTML/XHTML
pages. In the sections that follow, well walk you through both processes.

CREATING YOUR FIRST WEB PAGE

To test your new hosting account, you can create a simple HTML page and upload it to your new
Web server. One way to make Web pages is using a language called HTML. Once you upload this
test file to your account and make sure that everything works, you can remove it and start
creating your own website.

To Create a Test HTML Web Page

1. Open a plain text editor. If you use Microsoft Windows, open Notepad (Start > All Programs
> Accessories > Notepad). If you use an Apple computer, open TextEdit.

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2. Type the following lines of code (HTML) into your plain text editor:

<html>
<head>
<title>My New Website</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>This is My New Website</h1>
<p>Hey! Welcome to my website. I wrote this
code all by myself. Stay tuned.</p>
</body>
</html>
3. Save your file as index.html (all lowercase). Some editors try to save your file as index.txt
but you should be able to override this by typing the file name when you save your HTML
page. If not, you can manually rename your file after you save it.

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WHERE CAN I LEARN MORE ABOUT HTML?

HTML (or XHTML) is the coding language used to create Web pages. Using HTML, you surround a
block of text with codes that indicate how it should appear or what purpose it serves in a
document.
Here are a few places on the Web where you can learn more about HTML:

W3 School's XHTML Tutorial

Webmonkey's HTML Basics

There are also a number of commercial tools available that help you create a website even if you
don't know HTML. These are called WYSIWYG (pronounced whi-zee-wig) or What-You-See-IsWhat-You-Get editors. Macromedia Dreamweaver and Microsoft FrontPage are two examples
of WYSIWYG editors.

UPLOADING YOUR FIRST WEB PAGE

To upload files to your website, you need an FTP client. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol.
Using FTP, you can move files from your computer to your hosting account.
There are many free FTP clients available on the Internet you can use to transfer your files. If you
only need to upload a few simple files, you can also use the Web-based FTP client available in the
Hosting Control Center.

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To Upload Your Web Page Using Your Hosting Control Center

1. Log in to your Account Manager.
2. Click Web Hosting.
3. Next to the account you want to use, click Launch.
4. Under the Content section of the Hosting Control Center, click the FTP Client icon.
5. If a security certificate window displays, click Yes or Trust to accept the certificate and open
the FTP program. In general, this is what the FTP program looks like when you open it for the
first time:
6. In the Local System section, go to the
location on your computer where you saved
your index.html file and select your file.
7. Click the >> arrows to upload the
index.html file to your hosting account.
After you upload your file, open a new Web
Browser window and type the URL to your file
in the address bar. Your URL should look like
this:
http://www.coolexample.com/ (coolexample.com is your domain name).

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You should now see a simple Web page, like this:

If not, you may still need to wait for your hosting account to complete the setup process.
If you continue to have problems uploading your file, or you cannot see your index.html page,
contact customer support.

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OTHER FTP CLIENTS FOR YOUR WEBSITE

While the FTP client that comes with your Hosting Manager is convenient, it is not designed for
transferring large amounts of data. If you need to upload a large number of files, you should use
a traditional FTP client.
These are some popular and inexpensive (some of them are free) FTP clients that you can
download and use:

FileZilla

Smart FTP (Windows)

Fetch (Mac)

gFTP (Linux)

FTP Client Settings

After downloading and installing one of these clients, you can use it to connect to your hosting
account. Below are some basic settings you need to know, regardless of the FTP client you use:
FTP User Name

This is the user name for your hosting account.

FTP Password

This your password for your hosting account.

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Website URL

http://www.coolexample.com (Where coolexample.com is your

domain name.)

FTP Site URL

ftp://www.coolexample.com (Where coolexample.com is your

domain name.)

Start Directory

Some FTP clients will ask for a Home or Start directory. Our
hosting service does not require this. Simply leave the box blank or
enter a single forward slash (i.e., /).

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Troubleshooting
Sometimes you do all the preparations to get your website up and running, and something just
doesnt work. We have identified some of the most common pitfalls, or problems, that you may
experience. This section presents important information and recommendations for fixing these
problems.

WHY CANT I UPLOAD MY WEBSITE?

If you are having trouble uploading your site content, there are a couple of things you can check
to make sure your files end up in the right place.

Use the correct password to upload files

Use your hosting account password to upload files. Change your password through the Hosting
Control Center.

To Change Your Hosting Account Password

1. Log in to your Account Manager.
2. Click Web Hosting.
3. Next to the account you want to use, click Launch.

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4. Under the Settings section of the Hosting Control Center, click the Account Login icon.
5. To change your hosting account password, type a new password in the fields and click
Update.

Verify the directory to which youre uploading

You must upload files to the appropriate directory in order for your website content to show up.
Depending on your FTP client, you may be asked for a "home" or "start" directory. Our hosting
service doesnt require this, so leave that field blank. If your client requires a value, enter a single
forward slash (i.e., /).

WHY ISNT MY WEBSITE DISPLAYING CORRECTLY?

Even though you set up your hosting and uploaded your files, its possible your Website still
wont display. There is no need to fret. The following issues can be potential show-stoppers, so
check each item to verify your settings are correct.

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Verify your home page file name

When someone types your domain name into a Web browser, the default home page should
display. This page must have a name that is supported by our hosting servers. Use one of the
following names:
default.html

default.htm

default.asp

index.php

home.htm

welcome.html

index.htm

index.html

index.jsp

index.shtml

home.html

welcome.htm

We recommend using index.html as your home page. Only Windows-based hosting

accounts support index.aspx. Windows-based hosting accounts running IIS 6 do not
support index.php.
Solve image problems
Typically, there are two reasons why images do not display properly. Either your image was not
uploaded to your Web server or the path to the image is incorrect. Check these two things to
make sure the image is uploaded correctly:

Double-check that the path to your image and the name of the image are the same, including
the use of uppercase and lowercase letters. If these names are not identical, the server cannot
find your image.

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When the server cannot find an image, a red X displays. Right-click on the red X and select
properties to see the link to the image.

Correct broken site links

If you create your website pages on your local computer, the code needs to adjust for the change
that occurs when you upload site content. Web page URLs, image paths, and database names can
all be environment-sensitive.
We recommend using relative URLs when linking to Web pages. Relative URLs identify a Web page
in relation to, or in the context of, the current page. Because they do not reference the domain
name, relative URLs do not require modifications when changing environments.

Ensure your DNS is pointed correctly

If you registered your domain through us, your DNS records were automatically updated when
you set up your hosting account. If you registered your domain name somewhere else, doublecheck that the nameservers are correct.

Refresh your Web browser

Browsers can cache Web pages. To clear the cache and refresh your page, press CTRL + F5 on
your keyboard.

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Using Your Web Statistics

The only thing more exciting than launching a website is seeing that people actually visit it.
Knowing your audience can help you better tailor your site to their behavior. It just so happens
that all shared hosting accounts come with built-in Web statistics.

ENABLING WEB STATISTICS

Your Web statistics are disabled by default, so you need to enable them to start collecting
information about the visitors to your website. Enable your Web statistics using the Hosting
Control Center.

To Start Collecting Statistics for Your Website

1. Log in to your Account Manager.
2. Click Web Hosting.
3. Next to the account you want to use, click Launch.
4. Under the Statistics section of the Hosting Control Center, click the Configure Web
Statistics icon.
5. Select Enable Web Statistics.

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6. The enabling process will begin automatically. It may take up to 30 minutes to take effect in
your account.
After enabling Web Statistics for your site, it might take 24 hours before it begins collecting data.

ACCESSING YOUR WEB STATISTICS

Access your Web statistics by going to:
http://www.coolexample.com/stats (where coolexample.com is your domain name).

RESETTING YOUR WEB STATISTICS

It is possible that after youve collected a lot of data about the visitors to your site, you want to
start over again at zero. Perhaps youve recently changed the business focus on your site, or
youve just finished a redesign. You can reset your Web statistics any time using the Hosting
Control Center.

To Reset Your Web Statistics

1. Log in to your Account Manager.
2. Click Web Hosting.
3. Next to the account you want to use, click Launch.

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4. From the Web Statistics section, click Configure Web Statistics.

5. Select Reset.
6. Click Continue and then click Submit.

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