How To Select and Set Up Hosting

Step 1 - After registering your domain, choose a hosting provider. See this page for good reasons why you should register the domain separately.Go to Web Hosting Information page to compare key features of 13 different plans along with pros and cons of each. In my case, I will show hosting setup with Ultra Website Hosting because of its very low price and seemingly good quality. I chose the lowest cost plan, which on an annual basis, actually costs $4.95/mo. Other hosting setups (like Hostgator ) will be very similar to that shown on this page.

. hosting1

Step 2 - Select your domain option and then enter in the domain name that you registered.

hosting-2

Step 3 - Choose your package billing cycle. An annual billing cycle will give you a better price. I personally never go with a 2 or 3 year billing cycle, regardless of the host, since it limits your options.

hosting-3

Step 4 - Enter your contact information and billing information. Then check out. You should see a confirmation page. You should print this out.

Step 5 - You will get a signup email almost immediately. As soon as 45 minutes later, you will get a "Welcome Email" that has a temporary address where you can access your control panel as well as Name Server Information as shown below. Keep this email open and log into your Domain Registrar Account. In my case, I logged in at namecheap.com, selected Manage Domains, clicked on my domain name, selected Transfer DNS to Webhost (shown below), and then entered my two Name Servers. Note that in the Welcome Email, there is a tutorial for entering name servers at namecheap and most other popular domain registrars - I took a look at it and found it to be well done. Other servers will generally offer DNS (Domain Name Server) transfer tutorials in their help section or welcome email.

This Name Server Information is from my Welcome Email
hosting-4

Here is my screen after logging into NameCheap.com
hosting-5

hosting-6

Step 6 - Wait 20 minutes to 2 days for your domain name server changes to take effect. In my case, my transfer took place in only 20 minutes. Enter http://www.yourdomainname.com/cpanel in your browser window. When your domain is transfered, you should be given access to your control panel as shown below. You will need to enter the User Name and Password assigned to you in the Welcome Email.

hosting-7

Step 7 - You now can upload files to your website. Directions for this are given in the INSTRUCTIONS.pdf file included with your downloaded template files.

If you need help, drop me a line! Email me at contact@freechurchwebtemplates.com. Also, if you have any comments or feedback, drop me a line.