Dear Computer Lady,
I have an account with iPower and want to post two websites through it. What do I need to do?
Happy New Year! Liz
[ad#ipower1]
Dear Liz,
One of the appealing features of some web hosting companies is that you can host multiple domains with just one account. What does that mean in English? Let’s take a look at what is required to get a website of your own online and then we can better understand what is involved in getting more than one website online using just one web hosting account at IPOWER – Web Hosting
In order to get yourself a website and have it online for the world to see, you need to have a few things in place.
1: Domain Name – Approximate Cost $10/year
A domain name is the name that people type to go to your website. For example, one of the domain names that I own is www. computerlady.org I also own a silly sounding domain name, www.oatmealsoup.com . I want to create an additional web site using oatmealsoup.com to store some of my recipes online.
I purchase my domain names at www.godaddy.com. It is easy to do, they offer some of the best prices on the internet, and they have a great control panel where you can manage all your domain names.
2: Web Hosting – $5.00 to $20.00 a month
I have used several web hosting companies over the years. I currently am working with the iPowerweb hosting at: IPOWER – Web Hosting
In the past, you had to purchase a separate web hosting account for each unique website that you wanted to put online.
For example, I own two domains, www.computerlady.org and www.asktcl. com which I want to use for the same website. I don’t have to create or host the same website two different times, I just created the website using www.asktcl.com and then changed some settings at GoDaddy so that www.computerlady.org simply points to the first website. It is called a redirect. If you open your web browser and type in www.computerlady.org, you will be redirected to www.asktcl. com.
I also own another domain, www.veggielight.com. This domain does not have the same website as my computer lady site and therefore when I set it up, I had to purchase a second web hosting account. At that time, I was not using a web host that allowed multiple domains.
IPOWER – Web Hosting has a good price, is easy to use, and several of their plans include hosting more than one domain, which is extremely valuable if you plan to set up more than one website.
3: A web site – ranges from free if you know HTML to thousands of dollars
Now all you need is a well designed web site. If you know HTML, you can write your own web pages in any text editor such as notepad. If you don’t know HTML, don’t worry, there are many people who will design a web site for you, or you can get some good WYSWYG (What You See is What You Get) web design software. Basically, you design the site like you were making a greeting card, and the program writes the HTML for you. I often use a program called WebPlus.
[ad#webplus]
To continue with these directions, you should have both your domain names registered, and your web sites designed. All that leaves is the setup at your web host, which in this case is iPower, and one setting to be changed with your domain registrar when you are done.
Lets get started by logging into your web hosting account at www. ipower.com
Once you have logged in, you will be at your control panel page.
The first step is to create a new folder for your second domain. In the top section of your iPower control panel (the Web Site section) click on the icon that says, FileManager.
In the FileManager, click on the public_html folder to open it.
Now you need to create a folder to hold your second domain. In the file manager, click in the check box to select your “public_html” folder, then go down to the FileManager Tool Box and in the very last line, type a name for the new folder you want to create. Make it a short, but descriptive name, and then click the “New Folder” button.
When the file manager window reloads, check to make sure your new folder is listed under the public_html folder, then return to the Control Panel and scroll down to the “Domain” section.
In the “Domain” section, start out by clicking on the, “Add Registered Domain to Account” icon.
Read the instructions on this page carefully. The first gives you directions for a step you must make at your domain registrar, make careful note of the name servers listed there. In my case they are ns1.ipower.com and ns2.ipower.com.
After you have written down (or printed out) the name servers, fill out the form after step 2. Since my new website is www.oatmealsoup. com I will enter that in the box. Click the “Add Domain” button.
Return to your control panel once again (the button is in the upper right hand corner of the web page) and in the Domain section once again, click on “Domain Pointing Manager”. You will see that your new domain is listed, but at the moment it is using the Home Directory. You want to change to the folder that you have created.
Click the drop down list and change Home Directory to Subdirectory and then in the next box, add the name of the folder you created in the file manager. Click the “Update” button to save your changes.
You now have everything set up in your iPower account for your second domain. One more change of settings at GoDaddy (or wherever you registered your domain name) and you will be ready to upload your website.
Head on over to www.godaddy.com (if that is where you have your domain names registered) and log into your account. Click on “Domains” in the top menu, then click on “My Domains” in the submenu. When the list of your domain names appears, click on the domain that you are setting up.
A page full of details about your domain will be displayed, find the “Name Servers: section and click on the line directly under Name Servers. Type in the two name servers that you made note of when you added your domain to the account. Click on the “OK” button to save your changes.
Sometimes this change will take effect almost at once, but you should keep in mind that it can take up to 24 hours for the changes to be reflected across the entire internet.
Once those changes take effect, you will be ready to upload your website and pass out those business cards.
Elizabeth