Knowledgebase

Welcome to Host Town USA! We're happy you've chosen us for your web hosting needs. We want you to be successful with your website, and we are more than happy to help if you have any questions about creating a new site or moving an existing site to our servers.

This article is broken down into 3 main sections:

• If you don't have a website, how to get started building a new website
• If you do have a website already, how to transfer your website to Host Town USA
• Other important information you should know
• Already know what you're doing? Just need the technical details?

Building a new site?

What software should I use?

If you're building a new website, one of the first things you'll need to do is decide which software you'll use to help create the website. We've listed a few of the more popular programs below you can use (click each link for a getting started guide). If you're not sure which software to use, we've recommended a few.

These are just a few of the software applications you can easily install onto your hosting account using Softaculous in your cPanel (Control Panel). Feel free to explore and test different software to find the right one for your new website! It's simply impossible to be an expert in all of the 1000's of programs that are available, but we're good at figuring this stuff out - ask us a question if you need some help.

Learn HTML and increase your web design skills

If you're interested in learning HTML and more in depth information on web design, we have our Web Design Education Channel you can explore.

Transferring a site?

If you already have a website and want to transfer it to Host Town USA, the steps you will take depend on whether your current hosting provider uses cPanel or not.

We assist our customers with moving websites all the time, so we're comfortable with the process. We understand that some websites are simple to move but others can be more complex. If you run into any snags along the way, ask us a question!

Email

All of our hosting accounts include the ability to manage email accounts. If you consider yourself a beginner in setting up email accounts, then start with our Email Getting Started Guide. We also have an extensive library of email-related articles that can be found on the Email articles index page.

Important Info

I know what I'm doing, I just need the technical details

Now, there may be some people reading this article who already know how they want to build their site and just need some basic information to start with. To find the technical information, simply click on the Account Technical Detailsicon within your AMP as shown on the right. Technical information is displayed in a table as below.

Backups

We cannot stress enough the importance of site backups. With the cPanel Backup Wizard, it's a very easy process. A site backup will be your best friend if something is accidentally changed or deleted in your site and you need to roll back to a working version of your site.

Keep in mind too, it's not just about potential errors. If companies like You Tube, Nokia, and other large companies can be hacked; the truth is any website could potentially fall victim to an attack. Good backups are your safety net in the event your site is compromised.

Please see our article on Backing Up your Cpanel for more information on the importance of, and how easy it is to create a backup of your account.

PHP and MySQL Databases

Do you use PHP on your website? Most customers will need to update configuration settings and may need to update PHP settings after a website move. We have helpful guides on updating your local PHP settings and working with MySQL databases.

Setting up SSL

If you're transmitting any confidential information through your website, such as credit card details or social security numbers, you'll want to secure this data while it passes through the internet by using an SSL certificate. For information on SSL (shared or dedicated), please see our article on obtaining an SSL certificate.

cPanel and Account Management Panel 

You will see articles that refer to AMP and/or cPanel. To make sure you understand the difference, please see our article on CAP vs. cPanel.

DNS Records 

Some of our more advanced customers may need to update DNS records. Please see our article on making custom DNS records for more information.

Unmetered Data Transfer

For Shared Hosting customers, bandwidth is unlimited for all customers. But if you are on a VPS or dedicated server, we do not offer unmetered bandwidth. If you would like to learn more, read about unmetered VPS hosting.