Upload your website using cPanel.

Sign in to your hosting company’s website and open the control panel for your hosting plan.

Bookmark this page. You will come back to it for every step below.

If you bought the domain and hosting from the same company, this is usually done for you, so skip ahead. If the domain is somewhere else, point it to your hosting using the nameservers shown in your hosting panel.

1. Find your two nameservers in your hosting welcome email or the account details page of your panel (e.g. ns1.dns-parking.com and ns2.dns-parking.com on Hostinger).
2. Log in where you bought the domain, open Nameservers, choose Custom and paste both.
3. Save. It can take from a few minutes up to 24 hours to work everywhere.

Skip this for a plain HTML website. For WordPress, Laravel or PHP sites, pick the version your website was built for. When unsure, choose PHP 8.2 or newer.

1. Tick your domain, choose the PHP version from the list and click Apply / Update.

Skip this if your website is plain HTML. Otherwise, create an empty database and a user who is allowed to use it.

1. Enter a database name, e.g. mysite, and click Next / Create.
2. Enter a username and use the Password Generator for a strong password.
3. On cPanel, tick ALL PRIVILEGES and click Next Step.

Write down the full database name and username. cPanel adds your account name in front, e.g. abcd1234_mysite. You need them in step 7.

File Manager works like the folders on your computer, right inside your browser. Upload one zip file instead of hundreds of small files, it’s much faster.

1. Open the public_html folder. Delete any default files like default.php or the host’s placeholder index.html.
2. Click Upload and choose your .zip file. Wait for the green 100% bar.
3. Go back, right-click the zip and choose Extract, into /public_html.
4. If your files landed in a sub-folder, open it, Select All, Move them to /public_html, then delete the zip.

Your index.php or index.html must sit directly inside public_html, not inside another folder.

Load your .sql backup into the empty database you created in step 4.

1. Click your database name in the left sidebar.
2. Open the Import tab, click Choose File and pick your .sql file.
3. Scroll down and click Import / Go. You should see a green success message.

Your website needs the database details from step 4. In File Manager, right-click your config file and choose Edit, then update these lines and click Save Changes.

# WordPress: public_html/wp-config.phpdefine( 'DB_NAME', 'abcd1234_mysite' );define( 'DB_USER', 'abcd1234_user' );define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'YourStrongPassword' );define( 'DB_HOST', 'localhost' );

# Laravel: .env fileDB_HOST=localhostDB_DATABASE=abcd1234_mysiteDB_USERNAME=abcd1234_userDB_PASSWORD=YourStrongPassword

For WordPress moved from another domain, also change siteurl and home in the wp_options table using phpMyAdmin.

Switch on HTTPS so browsers show a padlock instead of “Not secure”.

1. Then force every visitor onto HTTPS. In File Manager, open public_html, click Settings and tick Show Hidden Files. Edit .htaccess (create it if missing) and add these lines at the very top:

# Always use https://RewriteEngine OnRewriteCond %{HTTPS} offRewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [L,R=301]

Hostinger has a one-click Force HTTPS switch on the SSL page, so you can skip the code there.

Open your domain in a private / incognito window and check that everything works the way visitors will see it.

1. Visit https://yourdomain.com and click through every page.
2. Send a test message through your contact form.
3. Check it on your phone too.
4. Seeing an old page? Clear your browser cache or wait a few minutes.

🎉 That’s it, your website is live!