Getting Started

Yes. A domain is an address; hosting is what the address points to. A website needs both before it can go live.

The same handful of mistakes account for most first-launch problems. Here they are, and the simple way to avoid each one.

Usually minutes for the account itself — the parts that take longer are a domain transfer or pointing an existing domain at it.

A domain has to exist inside your hosting account before DNS can point at it. Here is where that setting lives and how to use it.

Not knowing how to code is not the obstacle it used to be. Here are the real options and what each one actually trades off.

The right plan depends on what your site actually is, not which one has the biggest numbers printed on the pricing page.

A private copy of your site on a subdomain, so changes and updates can be tested somewhere that is not the live website.

Give a developer exactly what they need without handing over your own login — here is what a scoped account actually looks like.

The fastest way onto WordPress from a fresh hosting account, with no database to create by hand and no files to upload yourself.

There are two separate logins, and knowing which one you need saves a lot of confusion in your first week.

Creating blog.yourdomain.com or shop.yourdomain.com is a control panel setting, not a DNS change alone. Here is the whole process.

Two ways to check a site works before a domain change goes live, so the domain switch is the last step rather than the first.

A simple page that says something is coming, uploaded once and left alone while the real site gets built behind it.

One email holds nearly everything you need for your first weeks of hosting. Here is what each section actually means.

Creating a mailbox at your own domain takes a few minutes in the control panel. Here is the whole process, including where to read the mail.

Two ways to get your files onto your hosting account, which folder they belong in, and how to tell the upload actually worked.

Three ways to host a website, one real question underneath all of them: how much of the server do you actually need to yourself?

Everything worth checking before you point a domain at a new site and tell people about it, in the order that actually makes sense.

The total data your site sends to visitors each month. Most sites use far less of it than the number on the plan suggests.

The total storage on your hosting account, shared between your website files, database and email. Most sites need surprisingly little.

A website is files sitting on a computer that never turns off. Here is what a host actually does and why you need one.

Software that lets you add and edit pages without touching code. Here is what it actually does, and when you can skip it.

A prefix added to a domain you already own, letting you run a separate section of your site under the same name.

The numeric address DNS translates your domain into. Most websites share one with other accounts, and that is normal.