Getting Started with Your Exact Hosting Plan

Welcome to Exact Hosting. This article walks you through the first things to do after you sign up — finding your account tools, getting into cPanel, connecting your domain, and putting your site online — so you have a clear path from a new plan to a live website.

What you get with your hosting plan

Every Exact Hosting plan includes a control panel called cPanel, where you manage your website files, email accounts, domains, databases, and security. Your plan also includes a free SSL certificate for each site you host, and access to a one-click application installer for popular software like WordPress.

Your hosting plan and your domain name are two separate things. Your plan is the space and tools that run your website; your domain name (for example, yourbusiness.com) is the address people type to reach it. To get a working website, you connect the two — covered in the steps below.

For account, billing, and renewal tasks, see Managing Your Exact Hosting Client Area [LINK NEEDED] [LINK NEEDED] and Managing Hosting Plans and Domain Name Renewals [LINK NEEDED] [LINK NEEDED].

Before you begin

• Your Exact Hosting welcome email. It contains your account details and sign-in information. Keep it handy.
• Your domain name. This can be a domain you registered with Exact Hosting or one you registered elsewhere and want to point here.
• Your Client Area sign-in. You use this to manage billing, plans, and access to cPanel.

Step 1: Sign in to your Client Area

The Client Area is your account hub for billing, plan management, and getting into cPanel.

1. Go to the Exact Hosting Client Area and sign in with the credentials from your welcome email.
2. Review your active hosting plan and confirm your contact details are correct.

For a full tour, see Managing Your Exact Hosting Client Area [LINK NEEDED] [LINK NEEDED].

Step 2: Open cPanel

cPanel is where you do the hands-on work of running your site.

1. From the Client Area, locate your hosting plan.
2. Select the option to open or log in to cPanel.

Once inside, you will see grouped sections such as Files, Databases, Domains, Email, and Security. You will use these throughout the rest of your setup.

Step 3: Connect your domain

For your site to load at your domain name, the domain has to point to your Exact Hosting account.

• If you registered your domain with Exact Hosting, it is typically connected to your hosting automatically.
• If your domain is registered elsewhere, you need to update its nameservers or DNS records to point here.

Full instructions are in Pointing Your Domain to Your Exact Hosting Account.

Note: After you point a domain, changes can take time to take effect across the internet (this is called DNS propagation). It usually completes within a few hours.

Step 4: Add your website

You have a few ways to get a site online, depending on what you want to build.

• Install an application like WordPress, Joomla, or an online store using the one-click installer. See Installing Applications with Softaculous.
• Upload your own site files using File Manager or FTP if you built your site elsewhere.
• Move an existing website from another host. See Migrating an Existing Website to Exact Hosting.

Step 5: Turn on your free SSL

An SSL certificate secures your site with https:// and the padlock icon in the browser. Every Exact Hosting site is eligible for a free certificate, which is usually issued automatically once your domain points to your account.

To confirm your certificate is active, see Your Free SSL Certificate (AutoSSL).

Next steps

• Set up email for your domain. Create professional addresses like you@yourbusiness.com. See the Email Support articles.
• Host more than one site. Your plan can hold additional websites — see Managing Addon Domains.
• Learn cPanel basics. Get comfortable with File Manager, FTP, and the other tools you will use most often.

Questions? Contact Exact Hosting Support.