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Hello and Welcome to
ActiveWebHost.com!
Your
Getting Started Guide
We
are certainly glad you've chosen to host your
website or websites with us! Your success is
our success and we want to make sure you get started
as quickly as possible.
At
first there can seem like a lot to do, but following
this getting started guide will have your website
online in no time!
This Getting Started Guide is intended to
help you get your site up and running quickly and easily. It includes an
overview of the Control Panel, information on preparing and uploading your
site, and details of how to set up your email account.
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Your
Domain |
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Let's
briefly talk about your domain as it
is important to get this taken care
of so your website is up and running
as soon as possible!
You will be
one of the three items below...
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I
have a new domain.
If you just
registered a brand new domain and
you registered this domain with us,
please give the domain 12 to 24
hours to become active. This
is a natural occurrence for all new
domains as your new domain begins to
be recognized throughout the
Internet for the first time.
You can check to see if your domain
is active simply by visiting the
domain using your browser.
If
this is you, jump down to Step 1
below. |
I
already have a domain and during
checkout, I transferred it to you.
If you
already have a domain and
transferred that domain to us,
please give the domain 12 to 24
hours to "point" to our server.
This is a natural occurrence for
existing domain transfers as the
updated domain information begins to
be recognized throughout the
Internet.
If
this is you, jump down to Step 1
below. |
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I
already have a domain and during
checkout, I did not transfer
the domain to ActiveWebHost.com.
If you have an
existing domain and did not transfer
it to us, in other words, the domain
is registered elsewhere, you will
need to manually change the name
server information. For videos
on how to do this, please
click here. In your setup
email, there is a section called
"Name Server Information." Use
this information to change your old
name servers at your domain
registrar (where your domain is
registered) to the new name servers
as indicated in the setup email.
This change will "point" your domain
to your server at ActiveWebHost.com.
After you have made this change,
please give the Internet 12 to 24
hours to see this change. This
is a natural occurrence for existing
domain transfers as the updated
domain information filters out to
the Internet.
Once this is complete, jump down to
Step 1 below. |
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Step
1 - Log In To Your Control Panel |
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Let's take the
plunge together! Your Control Panel is packed with features to
help you build, manage and promote your site.
Let's start first
with logging in... |
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CONTROL PANEL LOG IN
It's
easy to log in to your Control
Panel, simply visit:
http://www.yourdomain.com:2082
Make
sure to replace "yourdomain.com" in
the example above with your actual
domain name. In your setup
email, you will find your master
username and password to log in to
your Control Panel.
Your
control panel allows you to do many
things all with a simple
point-and-click.
Let's setup an email account to see
how easy it is to use. |
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Step
2 - Setup Email Account |
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It's
time to setup an email account.
Take a
few minutes, kick back and watch a
video on how to setup an email
account.
It's
as easy as
clicking here!
Then click the “Watch
Movie” beside “Creating a POP
email account” and you’re on
your way.
See
how easy that is!
Here are the more
traditional text instructions
to setup an email account:
Log in
to your control panel
>> click Add/Remove
Accounts >>
click Add Account >>
Then fill in the name and
password you would like for your
email account and then click
Create.
You’re done! Email account created!
Now
let's access that email account... |
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Step
3 - Access Your Email |
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You have
two choices to access your email by
using software on your computer or
by accessing it using what we call
webmail which uses your Internet
browser just like surfing a website.
Let's start with
webmail as it's convenient and you
can access your email from anywhere
you have Internet access, regardless
of what email software you have on
your computer.
Let's start first
with logging in...
WEBMAIL LOG IN
It's
easy to log in to your Webmail,
simply visit:
http://www.yourdomain.com:2095
Make
sure to replace "yourdomain.com" in
the example above with your actual
domain name. When prompted for
your username, your username will be
the full email address such as
webmaster@yourdomain.com. The
password will be the password you
used in step 2 above.
You've logged in to your email
account! How easy is that!
Once you log in, there are three
programs you can use.
Feel free to try all three.
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NeoMail |
Simple and easy to use. |
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Horde |
Most people use this as
it also includes a built
in calendar, you can
leave yourself notes,
change the program's
colors... |
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SquirrelMail |
Great for slow Internet
connections (at it uses
no graphics, no special
formatting). Also
great for older browsers
or cell phone access. |
OUTLOOK, NAVIGATOR, INCREDIMAIL,
THUNDERBIRD, ETC.
If you
have software on your PC you wish to
use to access your email, first
check out
Email Software Videos.
Then
check out
this page with screen shots of the
information you need to setup your
software. It uses
Microsoft Outlook in the pictures,
but the information will apply to
any email program.
See how
easy it is!
Let's setup an email account to see
how easy it is to use. |
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Step
4 - Marketing |
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You want
to know how people are finding your
website don't you?
Your
Control Panel can tell you things
about your visitors like...
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Websites that are linking to
you,
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If
they are coming from a link in
their email,
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If
they are coming from a link
saved favorites in the browser,
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What
keywords and keyphrases they are
using to find your website,
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The
busiest days and times of your
website,
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etc.
From a marketing perspective, that’s
very useful information and it’s all
automatic
and it's
just a click away!
Let's start first
with logging in...
Log
in to your Control Panel >>
Click
"Web/FTP
Stats >>
Click Awstats
In addition to
Awstats, there are many other
choices
available, some of it useful for
marketing and some of it useful if
you are a techie. Feel free to
look through the other programs as
there is a lot of information
available to you!
See how
easy it is!
Let's begin creating our website for
the world. |
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Step
5 - Web Design |
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You will
need to create a website or you
already have a website ready to go.
Select your choice...
I
don't yet have a website.
You
have many choices available to
you. You can build it
yourself or have someone else do
it for you.
I
want to build it myself.
You can use SiteBuilder or
software on your computer
like Dreamweaver or
FrontPage. If you are
new to web design, we
recommend SiteBuilder for
it's ease of use, plus it's
included with your account
for free! Even
professional use it to
quickly get an intelligent,
robust website up in just
minutes.
I want to use SiteBuilder.
Checkout these helpful
SiteBuilder Videos.
Learn
more about SiteBuilder.
If you're ready to use
SiteBuilder...
Log in to your Control
Panel >> Click "SiteBuilder
Admin" >> the Site
identity is the same as
your Control Panel login
and the password is also
the same as your Control
Panel.
NOTE: SiteBuilder
username/password access
for you is not turned on
by default. In order to
do so, please
submit a support ticket
to use this software
beyond the trial. You
can always try it out
with the trial/demo link
above,
but trial websites using
this software expire
after seven days. If
you do create a website
using the trial, please
be sure to include your
"site alias" in the
support ticket as we can
take your trial
SiteBuilder design and
convert it over to a
permanent design you can
use for your website.
I want to use my own
software like Dreamweaver or
FrontPage, etc.
It's time to get
started,
click here for links to
popular web development
software.
I
want someone else to create my
website for me.
Let us
build it for you! If
you don't have the time to
set up your website, we can
do it for you. From simple
to difficult, we can help
you get on the Internet
today.
Sometimes you just need a
change or two or a graphic
modified, we are more than
glad to help you so let us
know how we can help!
Check out the details and
let us build it for you
today!
I
already have a website.
If
you already have a website, you
can upload it to your hosted
account by
FTP or your
web development software.
You can also use your Control
Panel, but the fastest method is
to use FTP or your web
development software.
We need to make sure our site is
capable of staying online and not
knocked offline because of billing
problems... |
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Step
6 - Billing |
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Update
your billing information, upgrade
your hosting account, add-on
additional features, print invoices,
etc.
It's
important to keep your information
updated with any changes to your
billing information.
You can
do this and more by visiting the
billing software link along with
your billing username and billing
password in your setup email.
Checkout
the
billing software videos to make
sure you are getting the most from
your hosted account! |
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Where
Do I Go From Here? |
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There is so much
more! Learn about it all using
the following points to jump to...
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For
a super fast way to learn more
about your hosting features and
benefits,
Watch a Video!
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Our
Support
Desk has links to the
manual, videos, software, must
read articles, and much more!
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Let us know
how we can help you. Fill
out a
support ticket for further
assistance.
It cannot be done yesterday, or
tomorrow. Now is what you
have. Now is all there is
to work with. Yet it is
more than enough. Do it
now and it can be done. |
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