To get your FREE Hosting Account, follow this link and follow it through to the payment screen, pay the £0.00 and access your account. If you weren't already a member, then you will have to perform the activation steps as well, the site will guide you through these.
Note: You will need a domain name or an idea of a domain name before you begin. If you already own a domain that you want to use then it is best to transfer the whole domain in to your new member's account, however you can leave it elsewhere if you want. The second-best option then would be to transfer the name servers to the CritchCorp Name servers, ns3.hostsonline.uk and ns4.hostsonline.uk. The third option is to point the WWW record to the server2.hostsonline.uk IP address.
You can of course purchase a domain name on the journey through getting the account, this will be a paid item but will work seamlessly with your FREE account.
If you don't want a domain of your own, then you can use a FREE subDomain on one of the CritchCorp domains setup for this. eMail or submit a ticket with your proposed subDomain (the first part only, usually your name). You will get a reply with a link to use it.
Be sure to read the terms and conditions first.
Once signed up, you are ready to get going with your website. Firstly, though, you should decide on what email address to use on your site. This will be what people can email you on and will show when you email them.
Support@, admin@, hello@ are some of the normal ones used. You can use your own; configure the email account from the left-hand side menu,
- "Email Accounts"
- and under that "Email Accounts"
- then on the right-hand side, click the Add a New Mailbox button
- Add the name you have decided on
- Select a secure password
- Click the Add button
You should also check that your SSL is installed, it should install automatically, but sometimes if the DNS propagation has not completed, it can not do the SSL certificate.
If you have just updated the Name Server Records or the A records, then you may need to wait up to 48 hours before you do anything. Get in contact with support if you have and are not sure how long you will need to wait, or you are not sure what needs to be done.
Once they have propagated, then you can enable the SSL cert, remember to include any other DNS records that you want to include in the certificate b ticking the box next to them.
Login in to the Manage button and then under Domains on the left-hand side, check
You are now ready to use the Site Creator and get creating your site.
Read Part 2 for how to use the Creator.