Upload your website files

Everything the public can see lives in public_html. Anything above that folder is private to your account, which is a useful place for backups and files you do not want served.

Option 1: File Manager

Fine for a one-off upload. In cPanel open File Manager, go into public_html, click Upload, and select a ZIP of your site. Upload the ZIP rather than hundreds of individual files - it is dramatically faster. Then right-click it and choose Extract, and delete the ZIP afterwards.

Option 2: SFTP

Better for anything you will do more than once. Use FileZilla, WinSCP or Cyberduck with the host, username and password from your welcome email, port 22, protocol SFTP. Use SFTP rather than plain FTP - FTP sends your password unencrypted.

Two mistakes that produce a blank page

The extra folder. If your ZIP contained a folder and you extracted it as-is, your site is now at public_html/mysite/index.html and the address shows nothing. The files must sit directly in public_html. Move them up one level.

Missing hidden files. Files beginning with a dot - .htaccess, .env - are hidden by default in most FTP clients and in File Manager. A site missing its .htaccess loses its URL rewriting and every page except the home page returns a 404. Turn on "show hidden files" in your client's settings before you copy anything.

Permissions

Folders should be 755 and files 644. If you see a 403 Forbidden after uploading, this is usually why. Select everything in File Manager and use Change Permissions, applying the two values separately to files and folders.

Which file is the home page

The server looks for index.html then index.php. A home page called home.html or Index.html with a capital I will not be found - the filesystem is case-sensitive.