First steps after ordering hosting: a checklist

Tick these off in order. Most take a few minutes. Links go to the detailed guides.

1. Find your welcome email

It arrives once payment is confirmed, which is immediate for card and PayFast payments. It contains your control panel login details. Keep it somewhere safe and delete it from shared inboxes.

Didn't get it? Check spam, then check the email address on your client area account.

2. Know which control panel you have

Your hosting runs on cPanel or DirectAdmin, depending on the product you bought. Guides differ between the two. See Which control panel do I have: cPanel or DirectAdmin?

3. Log in to the control panel

Use the one-click login from the service page in the client area, or the address in your welcome email. See How to log in to cPanel or DirectAdmin.

Change the control panel password to one only you know if it was set for you.

4. Secure your client area

• Turn on two-factor authentication. See How to turn on two-factor authentication for my client area.
• Check that the email address and phone number on your account are ones you actually use. Invoices, renewals and security alerts go there.

5. Point your domain to Webway

If the domain was registered with the hosting, this is done. Otherwise, change its nameservers to dns1.webway.host and dns2.webway.host at your registrar. See Point my domain to Webway (change nameservers).

DNS changes take a few hours to spread. Until they do, the free SSL certificate can't be issued and email won't route to Webway. Start the next steps in the meantime.

6. Set up email

1. Create your mailboxes in the control panel (cPanel: Email Accounts; DirectAdmin: E-mail Accounts).
2. Add them to your phone and computer. See Email server settings: IMAP, POP3 and SMTP.
3. Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC so your mail isn't marked as spam. See How to set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC for my domain.
4. Moving from another host? Move the old mail first, before you change nameservers, or you'll have mail in two places. See How to move my website and email to Webway from another host.

7. Get your website online

Choose one:

• WordPress: install it in one click with Softaculous. Moving an existing WordPress site? See How to move a WordPress site to Webway.
• Build it yourself: use SitePro. See How to build and publish a website with SitePro.
• Upload your own files: your developer's files go in public_html. See How to upload and manage files with File Manager.

Delete the placeholder index.html in public_html when you upload your own site, or visitors keep seeing the "coming soon" page.

8. Check SSL and force HTTPS

Once DNS points to Webway, a free certificate is issued automatically within a few hours. Open https://yourdomain and look for the padlock. Then force every visitor onto https. See How to force my website to use HTTPS and Why does my website say "Not secure"?

9. Set up billing so nothing lapses

• Save a card for automatic payments.
• Turn on auto-renew for your domain.

10. Know where to go when something breaks

• Server problems: status.webway.host.
• Your site: My website is down: is it the server, DNS or my site?
• Opening a ticket: What to include when you contact support.

Quick reference