This page will guide you through the process of purchasing and setting up your hosting account. For the purpose of this tutorial, we are assuming that you have also purchased a domain name from SunPoweredProductions.com. If you purchased a domain name from another company, go ahead and purchase a hosting account, but please see the special instructions at the end of this page before completing the "Setting Up Your Hosting Account" section.

Purchasing Your Hosting Account

Step 1
Log into your Account using your Account Number and Password, if you are not already logged in.	Click for Larger Images
Step 2
Select "Hosting Plans" from the "Web Hosting" drop down menu.
Step 3
Choose "Linux", "Economy Plan" and click "Add". (note: if you intend to host multiple websites, the Deluxe hosting allows for unlimited domains and 25 databases. (Contact Us for more information.)
Step 4
You will then be asked to select several features, none of which are necessary for setting up a Joomla website. Unless you know there is something here you want, we recommend skipping to the bottom and selecting "No Thanks".
Step 5
Review your shopping cart, select your payment method and if you agree to the Universal Terms of Service agreement, click “Checkout Now”.
Step 6
Fill in your payment information and click “Checkout Now”.
Step 7
Enter in the Security access code and click “Verify Code”
Step 8
You may want to print or save the receipt for your records. The line mentioning "Redeem Your Advertising Credits Now" can be ignored at this time, though we do recommend you take advantage of our free pay per click advertising credits at a later date. It would make sense to set your website up before you begin advertising...

Setting Up Your Hosting Account

Now that you've purchased your hosting plan, you will need to set it up.

Step 1
Click on “Hosting” in the left column menu under the heading “My Products”
Step 2
In the Hosting Account area, to the right of "New Account", select “Setup Account”.
Step 3
If you agree to the license agreement on the next page, select the checkbox and click "Next"
Step 4
Enter an all lowercase username and a password that includes lowercase, uppercase and numbers. Take note of this information for your records. It is not critical for the process of setting up and customizing Joomla, but may become useful if you or a developer ever want to use FTP (file transfer protocol) to access your websites files.
Step 5
Choose "Select from existing" and then select your domain name. (if your domain name is registered with another company, read the instructions at the end of this page, then type in your domain name.) Choose "Next" to continue.
Step 6
Unless you have a specific reason for doing otherwise, choose PHP 5.x. We recommend selecting "Enabled" for Google Webmaster tools. You can always use your own Google Webmaster tools later, but there is no down side to having an account set up for you. Contact us for more information on Google Webmaster tools and other Google related services. Select "Next" to continue.
Step 7
Check your settings, then press “Finish”
Congratulations, you have just set up your new hosting account. It will usually take about an hour and a half for the set up to complete, sometimes longer. Grab a coffee or run some errands. If it takes more than 4 hours, you may want to contact Support (480-624-2500) and ask them if your domain name is set up correctly. You can test your hosting account by visiting your domain name in your web browser. If you see a "This Web site is coming soon" page, you've done it.

Congratulations! You have set up your Hosting Account. You are now ready for Chapter 4 - Setting Up Email.

Domain Name with Another Company

When you get to step 5 in "Setting Up Your Hosting Account", pay careful attention to the options presented when you manually enter your domain name. The recommended option is to set up the hosting now and set the nameservers later. This is probably the best option regardless of whether you have already changed the nameservers or not. If you are unsure about what to do, contact the support for the company you registered your domain name with or contact our support (480-624-2500).