How to Upload Your Website: A Guide to Using cPanel’s File Manager and FTP
Building a website is only the first step in establishing an online presence. Once the website is ready, you’ll need to upload it to a web server to make it accessible to the public.
This blog post will walk you through two popular methods of uploading your website: using cPanel’s File Manager and FTP (File Transfer Protocol).
Prerequisites
Before we dive into the uploading process, make sure you have the following:
- A web hosting account with cPanel access.
- Your website files organized in a folder (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, etc.).
- An FTP client like FileZilla, if you choose to use FTP for the upload.
Uploading Your Website Using cPanel’s File Manager
cPanel is a popular web hosting control panel that provides a graphical interface for managing your website and hosting settings.
Note: You can only upload files using the cPanel File Manager. To upload folders you’ll need to use an FTP client.
Here’s how you can upload your website files using cPanel’s File Manager:
Step 1: Log in to cPanel
Log in to your cPanel account through your client area or directly by adding /cpanel to your domain. For example: https://www.example.com/cpanel.
These login details are provided in your welcome email.
Step 2: Open File Manager
Once logged in, find the “Files” section and click on “File Manager.”
Step 3: Navigate to the Public Folder
In File Manager, navigate to the public_html folder. This is the folder where your website files should reside.
Step 4: Upload Files
Click the “Upload” button in the top menu bar.
Drag and drop your website files or click “Select File” to locate them manually.
Wait for the upload to complete.
Step 5: Verify Upload
After the upload is complete, refresh the public_html folder and ensure that all your files have been uploaded correctly.
Uploading Your Website Using FTP
FTP is another reliable method to transfer files and folders from your local machine to your web server. For this guide, we’ll use FileZilla as our FTP client.
Step 1: Install and Open FileZilla
If you haven’t installed FileZilla, you can download the client from the official website and install it.
Step 2: Connect to Your Web Server
Open FileZilla and go to “File” → “Site Manager.”
Click “New Site” and enter the FTP details for your web server (Host, Port, Protocol, and Logon Details). Then click “Connect.”
These details are usually provided by your hosting provider.
Step 3: Locate Your Local Website Files
On the left panel of FileZilla, navigate to the folder where your website files are stored.
Step 4: Locate the Remote Directory
On the right panel, navigate to the public_html directory.
Step 5: Transfer Files
- Select all the website files and folders on the left panel.
- Right-click and choose “Upload.”
- Wait for the files to be uploaded to the remote server.
Step 6: Verify Upload
Check the public_html folder on the right panel to ensure that all your files are uploaded successfully.
You can also check the “Failed transfers” and “Successful transfers” tabs at the bottom.
Conclusion
Uploading your website can be done in various ways, but using cPanel’s File Manager and FTP are among the most straightforward methods.
Both techniques have their merits. cPanel is more user-friendly and requires no additional software, whereas FTP provides more control and is better suited for bulk uploads.
Choose the one that best fits your needs and get your website live today!
