Hosting At It's Finest - Click Here

Web Hosting is what you need when you want to make a website visible for everyone on the internet to see. Simply put, your website needs to be "hosted" somewhere on a server. You could setup your home computer as a server, but that wouldn't make much sense if you plan on generating a lot of traffic or "hits" for your site. This is because firstly, your computer must ALWAYS be on AND connected to the internet for your website to be accessible by others via the internet. If it's off, no one will see it.

Secondly, running your own server can be a complicated task (if you're unfamiliar with server software, etc) resulting in downtimes that may take a lot of time and energy to correct.

Thirdly, your home or business's internet connection is not likely adequate to host your own site.... especially if you want to achieve lots of traffic to your site. At best, you may have a cable modem connection, or even a T-1 connection (very rare among small businesses).

For the above reasons, the vast majority of companies and individuals with a website, out-source their Web Hosting needs to Web Hosting companies like . You get an "always-on" internet connection, a team of internet professionals to keep your website up and running, and a super-high bandwidth connection to the internet (many hundred times faster than a cable modem).

When you get a Web Hosting account from , you are given access to a portion of one of our servers. This is done by assigning you a unique username and password which you use to connect to your hosting account. Once a connection is established, you simply "upload" your website files to their server, and PRESTO... your website is instantly visible on the internet for millions of people to see!

Hosting At It's Finest - Click Here

Once you have your website built, and have a web hosting account you want to put it in, you can proceed to upload your website for everyone on the internet to see. How you go about doing this depends on what software program(s) you used to build your website. This article explains the two most popular ways to upload your website to your hosting account.

Typical Uploading Method
The typical way to upload your website (which is actually a collection of files and folders) to your hosting account is to use an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program. An FTP program simply provides you with an easy way to select files on your computer's hard drive, and copy them over to your hosting account (which is essentially another computer). An FTP program will typically have two main "windows": one that shows the files and folders located on your computer, and one that shows the files and folders in your hosting account on the server. To upload your webpages (or website's files) and other associated image files to your hosting account, you have to select the files and folders you want to upload from your computer in your computer window, and then "drag and drop" them over to the server window, essentially copying them to the server (and more specifically, to your web hosting account).

That is a very simplistic explanation of how to use an FTP program to copy files from your computer to the web hosting server. You can actually use an FTP program to copy files from ANY computer, to ANY OTHER computer, provided you have access to both machines. One of the most popular FTP programs is WS_FTP by ipswitch (www.ipswitch.com). We have put together several support tutorials on using WS_FTP.... Click here if you would like to watch our WS_FTP tutorials.

Using an FTP program is the best (and easiest) way to get files uploaded to your web hosting account, no matter what program(s) you use to create your website..... with one exception: Microsoft Frontpage.

Uploading with Microsoft FrontPage
If you use FrontPage to build your website, then you do not need an FTP program. In fact, you should not use an FTP program because FrontPage works a little differently than most other website design software. Instead, you will need the FrontPage Server Extensions installed in your hosting account (if you need these, we provide them free of charge), and you will use FrontPage's integrated "Publish" feature (click here for more information on Microsoft Frontpage) instead of an FTP program. Just because FrontPage is different, doesn't mean it's better or worse than any other publishing method.... but FrontPage is probably the most popular website design software in use today, mainly for it's ease of use, and similar look and feel to Microsoft's other highly popular software titles like Word, Excel, Access and PowerPoint.

To upload (or "publish" to use Microsoft's terminology) your FrontPage-built website to your hosting account, first make sure the FrontPage Server Extensions are installed. Then, simply click the "Publish" button, and enter http://www.yourcompany.com. You will then be prompted for your username and password (which you get from your web hosting provider.... if you order a web hosting account, we'll email your username and password to you once your account is setup). Once you enter those, your website's files and folders will all be copied (or uploaded, or published) to your hosting account, and immediately available for the world to see.

Hosting At It's Finest - Click Here