Publishing Your Website in cPanel (Uploading Your First Site)

If you built your website on your own computer or with a website builder, you need to upload its files to your Exact Hosting account to make it live. This article shows you how to publish your site using cPanel's File Manager or an FTP program.

How publishing works

Your website's files have to live in a specific folder on your server so visitors can see them. That folder is your web root — usually public_html for your main domain. When you place your site's files there, your site loads at your domain.

You have two common ways to upload:

• File Manager — a built-in tool in cPanel; best for a few files or quick edits.
• FTP — a separate program on your computer; best for uploading an entire site at once.

Note: If you want to install software like WordPress rather than upload your own files, use the one-click installer instead — see Installing Applications with Softaculous.

Before you begin

• Your website files, ready on your computer. Your homepage file should be named index.html or index.php so it loads automatically.
• cPanel access (for File Manager) or FTP credentials (for an FTP program).
• Your domain pointed to Exact Hosting. See Pointing Your Domain to Your Exact Hosting Account.

Step 1: Find your web root

Your main domain's files belong in public_html.

• For an addon domain or subdomain, files go in that domain's own document root (set when you created it). See Managing Addon Domains and Creating Subdomains.

Step 2: Upload with File Manager

1. Sign in to cPanel and open File Manager.
2. Navigate into public_html (or your domain's document root).
3. Select Upload.
4. Choose your website files. If your site is in a .zip file, upload the zip, then select it and choose Extract.

Tip: Uploading a single .zip and extracting it on the server is much faster than uploading hundreds of files one by one.

Step 3: Upload with FTP (alternative)

For larger sites, an FTP program is more reliable.

1. Find your FTP details — see the FTP article. [SME CONFIRM: FTP article exists / FTP hostname format for customers.]
2. In your FTP program, connect using your hostname, username, and password.
3. Open the public_html folder on the server.
4. Drag your website files into it.

Step 4: Confirm your site is live

1. Visit your domain in a browser.
2. Confirm your homepage loads.

If you see a directory listing or a default placeholder instead of your site, check that your homepage file is named index.html or index.php and is directly inside public_html (not in a subfolder).

Warning: Do not delete the default files cPanel may place in public_html unless you are replacing them. Removing system files can affect how your site behaves.

Next steps

• Secure your site. Confirm SSL is active — see Your Free SSL Certificate (AutoSSL).
• Set up email at your domain — see the Email Support articles.
• Troubleshoot a blank or error page. See Troubleshooting '500 Internal Server Error'.

Questions? Contact Exact Hosting Support.