New to Web Hosting

Getting Started

There are two pieces necessary in order to have your website visible on the internet. First you need to register your Domain Name, eg. yourcompany.com. Next you need to set up a Web Hosting account for your new Domain Name.

Setting Up Your Domain Name

The Domain Name is the name that users will type in to access your website, for example www.easycgi.com or www.google.com. Any given domain name can only be used by one person, and therefore needs to be purchased by that person. Most Domain Registrations cost $10 per year, and can be ordered when you sign up for your Web Hosting account. Since the domain name is the first thing that your website visitors will notice, you will want to try and pick a name that is both easy to remember and that fits the purpose of your website. You can see the different types of domain names that EasyCGI can register for you at the following link: http://www.easycgi.com/services/domain+registration.html

It is also possible to have multiple domain names that point to the same website. This is especially useful if you are planning on registering more than one domain name. For example, you may want to register yourcompanyname.com, yourcompanyname.net, yourcompanyname.us, and yourcompanyname.biz and have all of them point to the same website. You can also use different combinations of words and spelling in your domain names. For example, you may want to register yourcompanyname.com and your-company-name.com.

Setting Up Your Web Space

Once you have your domain name, it is time to select a Web Hosting plan. In order for your website files to display on the internet, they must be hosted on a web server. A Web Server is a specially built computer that is designed to handle internet traffic. Web Servers generally have several large hard drives, large amounts of memory, powerful CPUs, and a fast internet connection. Web Servers also make use of special software that allows your website files to display on the internet. For example, our Shared Hosting Servers can use either Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition with IIS6 or Windows 2008 with IIS7. You can see more information about the specific setup of our Shared Hosting Servers at the following link: http://www.easycgi.com/services/extreme+features.html

With our Shared Hosting Plans you do not have to worry about the server hardware or software. We manage all of that for you to make sure that your website remains online. In fact, we have a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Our technicians work 24/7/356 to monitor our servers and make sure that everything is running properly. This allows you to focus on the design and development of your website, and not the settings or management of the server.

We have several hosting plans that will allow you to host your website files on our Web Servers. You can find details of these plans at the following address: http://www.easycgi.com/services/web+hosting+overview.html

All of our Hosting Plans have a 30 day money back guarantee. This will allow you to test out our services for a full 30 days and determine if it is right for you. If you are not satisfied, you can cancel your account and receive a full refund for the hosting services. You can find more information about our Money Back Guarantee at the following address: http://www.easycgi.com/services/30+day+money+back+guarantee.html

Upgrading and Downgrading between plans is simple and easy as well. As your site grows larger you can easily upgrade your plan to accommodate more file, email, and website traffic. There are no cancellation fees or contracts on your plan, so you can change your hosting package at any time.

All of our hosting plans include our Hosting Control Panel management tool. The Hosting Control Panel allows you to manage every aspect of your account. From the Hosting Control Panel you can create email addresses, setup databases, upload files, change file and folder permissions, and even set application folders. You can find more information about our Hosting Control Panel – including an online demo – at the following link: http://www.easycgi.com/services/hosting+control+panel.html

Begin Building Your Website

Once your Hosting Package is setup, you can begin to build your website. If you are familiar with tools like Adobe Dreamweaver or Microsoft Expression Web, you can use these to build your site and copy your site files. All of our accounts include unlimited FTP accounts, which will allow you to transfer your files from your local computer to our web servers. If you are not familiar with these programs, you may want to use one of the tools available in your Hosting Control Panel to create your website.

The easiest way to build your website is to use the Site Builder tool which is included with all of our Hosting Plans. The Site Builder tool allows you to choose from a series of templates, layouts, and color schemes. You can then upload your own images to use on your website, and can enter in text by simply typing in the pages. You can access the Site Builder tool in your Hosting Control Panel by clicking on Web Site/Domain Management -> yourdomain -> Site Builder. The features of Site Builder are listed at the following link: http://www.easycgi.com/services/site+builder.html

If you are looking to build a more complicated website you may want to try one of the programs in our Script Installation Tool. These programs, such as OSCommerce and DotNetNuke, will allow you to build a dynamic website with features like shopping carts, forums, blogs and photo galleries without any programming knowledge. The programs install right from your Hosting Control Panel by clicking on Web Site/Domain Management -> yourdomain -> Script Installation. Details of some of these programs can be found at the following links:

• http://www.easycgi.com/services/communityserver.html
• http://www.easycgi.com/services/dotnetnuke.html
• http://www.easycgi.com/services/phpbb.html
• http://www.easycgi.com/services/oscommerce.html

We Are Here For You

Don’t worry if this seems overwhelming to you. All of our Hosting Plans include free 24/7/365 technical support. Our friendly and knowledgeable representatives will be happy to help you at any time through email, phone, or our Support Ticket system. We also maintain a number of useful articles in our online Knowledge Base. These articles can help answer some of the most common questions customers have. Our Customer Forum is a great place for our customers to interact with each other and share their experiences with their EasyCGI accounts. All of these are available from our support page at the following link: http://www.easycgi.com/support/overview.html

We have a same-day setup policy, which means that once your sign up for an account you can begin building your website almost right away. And don’t forget, if you have any questions at any time, you can always reach us by phone, email, or the Support Ticket system in our Hosting Control Panel and we will be happy to answer any and all of your questions.

Signing up for any of our Hosting Plans is a snap! Just click on the "Get Started" button.