How to start a website on your hosting plan

Congratulations! You’ve just bought a hosting package from A2 Hosting. The hosting package will allow you to create a website to fulfill the needs of your small business, set up a small shop to sell your wares, or possibly write a blog about your travels around the world. There are endless possibilities for what you can accomplish with your site.

The roadmap below will guide you through setting your site up for success.

What Are You Trying to Accomplish?

What is the story you’re trying to tell your website visitors? Before creating your site, it is important that you have a goal in mind for your prospective readers. Ask yourself the questions below with regards to your site:

• What is the purpose of your site?
• Who will be visiting this site?
• How do you plan on accomplishing your end goal?
• Will you be selling anything on the site?
• Will this site be fulfilling a personal or business need?

What Type of Site Are You Constructing?

Would you start painting a picture without buying the paint beforehand? Before setting up your website, it is important to have a roadmap of what you want your site to accomplish. A2 Hosting offers integrated solutions for a myriad of your site needs. Below are the most common types of sites that A2 Hosting clients have created:

Blog
Do you need a space to reflect or maybe space for your friends to check out your recipes? Blogs are one of the most common types of websites. A2 Hosting offers a large assortment of platforms with which to write your blog.

eCommerce
Are you trying to find a more efficient way to move some inventory? Or maybe you’re just trying to set up a shop for the first time. There is a large variety of eCommerce software that can be built in directly to your site.

Business
You could create a site for your business to act as an online presence. Did you know that you could host meetings and create projects with our available groupware solutions? That your billing and invoicing can be handled by our billing options? Or maybe you need to host some job postings for your company? Whatever your business needs, A2 Hosting has an answer.

Community
You might want to host an exclusive space for your World of Warcraft guild members to discuss tonight’s raid, or you just want to a place to share new patterns for your knitting circle. A2 Hosting’s forum hosting software has quite a few solutions for whatever your group desires.

Miscellaneous
Maybe you want to start an innovative new online dating service, host a space for your class to work on their assignments, or your podcast needs a new site. No matter the need, A2 Hosting has a solution for you.

Site Building References

Knowledge Base
The knowledge base will become your default resource as you build your site out. Everything from setting up your email accounts to registering a domain is covered. This quick guide will go over how to properly utilize this unique system.

Basic Terms
The world of site-building can be daunting for beginners. Thankfully, there is a glossary of commonly used web hosting terms. This article covers all of the basic terms you will encounter while building out your site.

A2 Hosting Policies
It is important to familiarize yourself with A2’s hosting policies to ensure that your site is compliant and conforming to best practices.

Where Do I Access My Hosting Plan?

Your hosting plan(s) can be found in the customer portal. This portal is conveniently located at the top right of A2 Hosting’s homepage, and is highlighted in orange as “login.”  Logging in and viewing your account is the first step to creating a site.

How Do I Register A Domain?

Having an effective domain name is crucial to the success of the site. A2 Hosting has you covered with a host of articles on everything from choosing the right domain, protecting your domain’s registration, and what happens when your domain expires.

Where Is The Site Built?

The easiest way to configure your site is through the control panel. Our hosting plans offer a wide variety of control panels to use on your site. The most common control panels you’ll encounter on sites are cPanel and Plesk. A2 Hosting’s managed hosting plans all come with either Plesk (if you have a Managed WordPress plan) or cPanel (included with most Linux server plans.)

• cPanel
  cPanel is the most common website control panel and can be found on all of A2 Hosting’s Linux-managed sites. For help getting started and covering the basics, check out this helpful guide.

• Plesk
  Plesk comes installed on all of A2 Hosting’s Managed WordPress plans. For help getting started and covering the basics, check out this helpful guide.

Do You Need Something Not Covered By cPanel or Plesk?

There some unique functions that cannot be accessed via cPanel or Plesk. This guide offers solutions to access your account in any number of ways.

Does Your Site Already Exist?

If your site has previously been hosted by another hosting company, then a migration is necessary for the site to be hosted by A2 Hosting. This is a common process and is covered in our migrating data knowledge base articles.

How Is Email Configured?

Email service is one of the greatest perks of web hosting. You can send emails to your customers, set up your own intuitive personal system, and advertise your site using your site’s email hosting services. A2 Hosting offers many comprehensive guides on how to set up your site’s email services.

Publishing Your Site

After everything has been configured on your site from the domain name to the content itself, it is time to publish the site. There is a myriad of ways to publish the site depending on the software used to create the site. The knowledge base offers curated walkthroughs of several different publishing options.

Need Some Support?

A2 Hosting’s customer support representatives can answer any and all questions, and help you get your site up and running. Reach out to customer support by filling out a support ticket.

You Can Accomplish Anything With Your New Site!

A2 Hosting offers an answer to every question you have regarding your site. The only thing limiting your site is your imagination. Happy creating!