Step 1. Choosing a domain name

We are currently offering some excellent discounts on our annual hosting services which also include free domain name registration.

This is all you will need to get started with WebHosts UK.

What is a domain name? "A domain name is your address on the internet"

It allows people to find out about you, your company or organisation or your products or services.

In the same way that you have a physical address so that people know where you live or where your business premises are, your domain name identifies your address on the internet.

For example, our site here - WebHost UK - the domain name is webhosts.uk.com

What are the benefits of hosting and registering my domain name with WebHosts UK?

• WE LOOK AFTER YOUR WEBSITE. We ensure that your web hosting & email services are consistently available. We offer you a 99.9% Uptime Guarantee so that your website is always available. Why not 100%? Because from time to time the servers need upgrading to make sure all software and hardware is up to date. This is referred to as "Scheduled Downtime" & we will always attempt to make these changes outside of business hours to minimise any impact to your service.
• YOUR DOMAIN NAME IS REGISTERED IMMEDIATELY & IS YOUR PROPERTY. You are the owner of your domain name and you are in full control over it through our easy to use online control panel. If you already have a domain name you can even use this with our service. If you already have a domain name registered with another company & wish to transfer it to Pickaweb then you can do that & benefit from our excellent renewal pricing. For further details click on the button below.View our Prices!
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• GET EMAIL ACCOUNTS MATCHING YOUR DOMAIN NAME eg: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . All our web hosting plans include professional email with advanced anti virus and spam protection. All hosting services also offer a webmail facility which enables you to check your email and reply when you are on holiday or away from your pc. Setting up email accounts is easy through our Web Hosting Control Panel. You can set up your emails to be downloaded via your PC through programmes such as Outlook Express. You can even set up emails to be sent direct to your mobile phone! We have prepared some video tutorials which guide you through the process of setting up your email addresses.
• BUILD & PUBLISH A WEBSITE IN JUST MINUTES WITH OUR EASY TO USE ONLINE WEBSITE BUILDER. No need to download any software. It is all done through the web. You select the look of the website based on high quality templates. You insert your text and images and you are done! You hit the publish button and your website is live on the net. It is EASY!. If you can browse you can build! Our Website Builder tool is available FREE with all of our web hosting plans. No need for expensive web designers or incomprehensible software - now YOU are in control of YOUR website!
• INSTANTLY CREATE A BLOG. Create an online journal in just a click. Blogs are an amazing tool which allow you to create professional websites which are easy to build & maintain. They are excellent tools for web promotion & can be used either independently or as a part of your main website so that you can keep your customers up to date with the latest news, etc.. We have pre-installed the most popular Blog tool called WordPress. This is easy to activate via your Web Hosting Control Panel.
• EASY TO USE CONTROL PANEL. Our fully features Web Hosting Control Panel allows you to stay in control of your hosting service. This is the main tool that you will use to manage your account. You can perform all key activities such as setting up email addresses, uploading files, checking website statistics, redirecting other domains to your main website, creating databases, activating pre-installed scripts, etc.. To help you get the most out of the service we have prepared some video tutorials which you can view at the following link.
• ENGAGE WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS WITH OUR PREINSTALLED PROGRAMMES such as blogs, forums, photo albums, wikis.... WordPress, Joomla, and Gallery2 and many more can be installed in just a click!
• OUR FRIENDLY & EXPERIENCED STAFF ARE STANDING BY 24 HOURS A DAY, should you have any questions. You can contact our support team instantly by phone or Email.

What is a web hosting service?

"A web host is a company that has computers (referred to as servers) that are connected to the internet 24/7 /365 days per year"

A Web hosting company such as WebHosts UK specialises in providing services that allow you to have your website stored & accessible on a server which is permanently connected to the internet.

This allows your website to be visible to anyone who finds you through the internet. The Web Hosting Service consists of 2 main components: Webspace & Email.

By ordering a domain name & a web hosting service from WebHosts UK will allow people to see your website & to send and receive emails based on your domain name (eg: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

What are the benefits of hosting and registering my domain name with WebHosts UK?

• WE LOOK AFTER YOUR WEBSITE. We ensure that your web hosting & email services are consistently available. We offer you a 99.9% Uptime Guarantee so that your website is always available. Why not 100%? Because from time to time the servers need upgrading to make sure all software and hardware is up to date. This is referred to as "Scheduled Downtime" & we will always attempt to make these changes outside of business hours to minimise any impact to your service.
• YOUR DOMAIN NAME IS REGISTERED IMMEDIATELY & IS YOUR PROPERTY. You are the owner of your domain name and you are in full control over it through our easy to use online control panel. If you already have a domain name you can even use this with our service. If you already have a domain name registered with another company & wish to transfer it to Pickaweb then you can do that & benefit from our excellent renewal pricing. For further details click on the button below.View our Prices!
• GET EMAIL ACCOUNTS MATCHING YOUR DOMAIN NAME eg: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . All our web hosting plans include professional email with advanced anti virus and spam protection. All hosting services also offer a webmail facility which enables you to check your email and reply when you are on holiday or away from your pc. Setting up email accounts is easy through our Web Hosting Control Panel. You can set up your emails to be downloaded via your PC through programmes such as Outlook Express. You can even set up emails to be sent direct to your mobile phone! We have prepared some video tutorials which guide you through the process of setting up your email addresses.
• BUILD & PUBLISH A WEBSITE IN JUST MINUTES WITH OUR EASY TO USE ONLINE WEBSITE BUILDER. No need to download any software. It is all done through the web. You select the look of the website based on high quality templates. You insert your text and images and you are done! You hit the publish button and your website is live on the net. It is EASY!. If you can browse you can build! Our Website Builder tool is available FREE with all of our web hosting plans. No need for expensive web designers or incomprehensible software - now YOU are in control of YOUR website!
• INSTANTLY CREATE A BLOG. Create an online journal in just a click. Blogs are an amazing tool which allow you to create professional websites which are easy to build & maintain. They are excellent tools for web promotion & can be used either independently or as a part of your main website so that you can keep your customers up to date with the latest news, etc.. We have pre-installed the most popular Blog tool called WordPress. This is easy to activate via your Web Hosting Control Panel.
• EASY TO USE CONTROL PANEL. Our fully features Web Hosting Control Panel allows you to stay in control of your hosting service. This is the main tool that you will use to manage your account. You can perform all key activities such as setting up email addresses, uploading files, checking website statistics, redirecting other domains to your main website, creating databases, activating pre-installed scripts, etc.. To help you get the most out of the service we have prepared some video tutorials which you can view at the following link.
• ENGAGE WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS WITH OUR PREINSTALLED PROGRAMMES such as blogs, forums, photo albums, wikis.... WordPress, Joomla, and Gallery2 and many more can be installed in just a click!
• OUR FRIENDLY & EXPERIENCED STAFF ARE STANDING BY 24 HOURS A DAY, should you have any questions. You can contact our support team instantly by phone or Email.

Step 3: Setting up your hosting for the first time

Linking your domain to your hosting

Now you've got both a domain and a hosting account with WebHosts UK, you finally can link them together so your hosting account is active and displayed on the internet for all to see!

• Click Web Hosting under the "Manage" section of the right-hand menu.
• Make sure your domain is selected in the left drop-down menu, and the correct hosting account on the right.
• Then just press the button to create the association!
• The screen will now change and offer you the option to log into the eXtend Control Panel (see below)

NOTE: It will take up to an hour (and 3 to 6 hours further for a new domain) for a hosting package to become fully active and visible on the internet. Though you can see it for yourself on a temporary url.

Accessing CPanel to manage your hosting

CPanel is our chosen control panel designed to give you full control over your hosting package in a simple easy-to-understand manner. From the CPanel you can fully administer your web hosting details, mail acoounts, blah blah

Accessing eXtend

• Click Web Hosting under the "Manage" section of the right-hand menu.
• Select your domain from the drop-down menu, and click Access CPanel.
• eXtend will now open in a new window or tab.

Understanding CPanel

We've aimed to make CPanel really simple for you to get to the features you need.

Down the left-hand side, you'll see a quick summary of current statistics, such as bandwidth, disk space, mailbox usage.

In the main area, are several configurable boxes containing installable scripts and configurable features, such as email, site map generation and so on. We'll cover setting up an email account here, but there are many more features you can learn about through our support database - or just exploring.

If you get lost in CPanel and need to find a particular icon, there's a handy search option at the bottom of the right-hand menu.

Setting up your email addresses

The first step to creating your brand identity (or just personal appearance) on the internet is setting up your email addresses. All of our hosting packages come with a generous allowance of email addresses, so you can send and receive emails from This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it !

Let's get started and set up a sales address for your new business. Of course, this could also be a personal email address - or whatever you choose.

Creating a mailbox

• Login to the eXtend Control Panel using the instructions in the previous section.
• Find and click the Mail Boxes icon in the Email section of the main area.
• From here, adding a new mailbox is simple. Just enter the first part of the address under Add a new Mail Box - e.g. sales. This is the name that will come before "@[yourdomain]". In the right hand box, pick a memorable password.
• Click Create!

Accessing the mailbox

Your new mailbox will be fully active within 1 hour. You can either access it using webmail (just click "Login to WebMail" within eXtend), or configure your computer's mail client (Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail, MacMail, etc) to access it. For further help doing this, please have a search through the support database for your mail client. There are also Movie Tutorials available for many clients.

Step 4: Creating your website

Right - OK, so you've got your hosting account and domain name. But http://www.yourwebsite.com/ is showing a blank page! What's this? It is now time to get creative. There's a number of ways to get your website created and online.

WebHosts UK Website Builder

Benefits:

• Easy to design your site - no coding experience required.
• Edit your site anywhere in the world through CPanel.
• Create a professional looking site in minutes.

Disadvantages:

• You might need more flexibility than the templates available.
• If you've designed your site elsewhere, then you'll need to start again.

Click here to learn more about Website Builder.

Nvu HTML Editor

Nvu (pronounced "N-view," for a "new view") is a free, open source software program that allows you to build websites and web pages using a simple WYSIWYG editor (what-you-see-is-what-you-get). Nvu makes creating web pages as easy as using a word processor and rivals such programs as Adobe's Dreamweaver and Microsoft's Expression Web, only for free! With Nvu's built-in site manager, connecting to your website and making changes is a snap.

Building Your First Website with Nvu

Building a website with Nvu is super easy. You can have a site up and running in no time!

Use Nvu to Create your Web Pages, then you simply use the built-in FTP site manager in Nvu to connect to your site and start creating web pages. It's as easy as using a word processor. We'd recommend you check out the many tutorial videos users have created on YouTube to help you get started.

Benefits:

• Simple to use, but easy to customise your site to your requirements.
• There are versions of Nvu for Windows, Mac and Linux.
• Edit your existing site to add some polish to it!

Drawbacks:

• Separate piece of software you'll need to download
• Not online based

Publishing the site from Nvu

Once you've created your site in Nvu, you need to upload it to your hosting package. When you publish the site, use the following details:

• FTP Server: ftp.[yourdomainname]' (e.g. ftp.yourwebsite.com)
• Password: the password you originally made
• Directory: public_html/

Design your site in other software

Don't worry, if you've designed your site by scratch, with other web design software or had a web designer create the site for you, you can still host it with us - in fact we provide tools to make this so simple and easy for you.

Manual upload (FTP)

We provide an online File Manager service, accessible through CPanel. This is ideal if you've got a small site and will provide a basic interface to upload and edit files.

For larger sites, we recommend using a FTP client. This is a piece of software that lets you transfer your site from your local computer onto our servers. One such (free! Great!) piece of software is FileZilla. You can download Windows, Mac OS X and Linux versions of the software.

Once you've installed it, use the same FTP Server/Password as above. Change to the public_html directory on the server and drag the files in from your computer folders.

Other options including free software, scripts and more!

All our hosting accounts come with a variety of different templates, scripts and free software supplied as part of the account. All of these are available via the various options inside your CPanel. For each option, you'll also find on-screen instructions on how to use it.

These include:

• Joomla! CMS
• WordPress Blog
• phpBB Forum
• Drupal
• Many e-commerce features
• and many many more...

We can't cover each piece of software in detail here. Please see our support pages. We aim to make it as simple as possible for you to get started.

Once again - Thank you for choosing WebHosts UK and Welcome