Getting started with your Kualo hosting plan: a newbie's guide

So, you've just signed up for our hosting - great choice! But now you're staring at your screen thinking, "Okay… what now?"

Whether you're launching your first website, moving an existing one, or just trying to make sense of cPanel, domains, and all the bits in between - this guide is for you.

We'll walk you through everything you need to know to get your website live, secure, and running smoothly. From setting up your domain and emails to making your site lightning-fast and hacker-proof, we've got you covered.

So grab a tea (or coffee, if you're feeling rebellious), and let's get started. ☕

MyKualo and cPanel - your control panels

When getting started with your hosting plan, it's important to understand the difference between MyKualo and cPanel, as each serves a different purpose in managing your hosting account.

MyKualo: your hosting HQ

MyKualo is the place where you handle big-picture account stuff:

• View and pay your bills.
• Manage your domains and hosting accounts.
• Open support tickets when something goes weird.
• Access your hosting control panel.

It's the front desk of your hosting life - the place where you go when you need admin-y things sorted out.

You can log in at https://my.kualo.com - use the email address and password you signed up with.

cPanel: the engine room of your website

cPanel is where the actual work of running a website happens. It's where you:

• Upload files and install software (like WordPress).
• Create and manage email accounts.
• Set up passwords and security settings.
• Check website stats and resource usage.
• Manage databases (because websites love databases).

Take a look at our Getting Started with cPanel guide to get familiar and understand how to log in.

So in summary:

• MyKualo = the place where you handle your hosting account.
• cPanel = the place where you manage your website.
• You = the boss of both.

Are you making a new website or migrating an existing one?

When it comes to setting up your website, you probably fall into one of two camps:

The Fresh Start Crew - you're building something brand new. A blank canvas. No baggage. Just pure creative freedom and the thrill of choosing fonts for way too long.

The Website Movers - you already have a website somewhere else, and now you're moving it to Kualo for better hosting, more speed, less stress, or maybe because your old host ghosted you.

Let's break these down.

Starting a brand new website

You're at the beginning of your website adventure. You have three main options:

1. Use our website builder - if coding isn't your thing, our website builder, ProSite, is a super easy drag-and-drop tool that lets you build a beautiful site without touching a single line of code. Great for beginners, startups, and anyone who doesn't want to wrestle with technology. Find out more here.
2. Install WordPress, Magento, or another platform - if you want more control, you can install WordPress (for blogs and business sites), Magento (for e-commerce), or one of hundreds of other apps. With our one-click installers, you can have a working website in minutes - just like magic, but without the wand. For WordPress, use WP Toolkit; for everything else, there's Softaculous.
3. Build it from scratch - if you're coding your own site or working with a developer, you'll be uploading files, working with databases, and making all the technical decisions. More work? Yes. More flexibility? Also yes. More chances to accidentally break things? ...Possibly.

If you're starting fresh, your main job now is deciding how you want to build your site - we'll take care of the hosting part.

Not sure where to start? Take a look here for all your website building options.

Moving an existing website to Kualo

If you already have a website, you're probably here because:

• Your old host was too slow.
• Your site kept going down or had security problems.
• Their idea of "customer service" was a shrug and a support ticket that never got answered.
• You care about the planet and want to host your site ethically.
• They charged you $25 for sneezing too loudly.

Whatever the reason, you're moving in with us now. Welcome! 🎉

The good news? You don't have to move your website alone.

1. Free migration service - we can handle the move for you. Just give us access to your old hosting, and we'll pack up your website, carry it over, and set it up on our servers. No stress, no complexity. Find out the details here.
2. DIY transfer - if you prefer to move it yourself, you'll be copying over files, databases, and updating settings. If that sounds terrifying, refer back to option 1 above.
3. Rebuilding from scratch - if your old site is outdated and held together with duct tape and prayers, you might decide to start fresh instead of moving it. In that case, jump back to the "new website" section and pretend we never had this conversation.

Hooking up your domain

Your domain name is like your home address - it tells visitors (and emails!) where to go. But just like moving house, you don't want to redirect everyone before you're ready - otherwise, guests show up while you're still assembling furniture, and your emails take an unexpected vacation to the void.

So, what do you need to do? That depends on where you're starting from.

Starting fresh? Hook it up right away!

If you're starting a brand-new project and don't have an existing website or emails using your domain, you can connect your domain to Kualo immediately.

• If you registered a new domain with us, good news - it's already hooked up! 🎉 No action needed.
• If you own a domain somewhere else, just update your nameservers or DNS settings to point to our nameservers.

Already have a website or emails? Hold that thought.

If you're moving an existing website and/or emails, things get a little more delicate. You don't want to point your domain to Kualo just yet.

Think of it like switching broadband providers - you wouldn't unplug the old one before the new one is fully set up, right? Otherwise, emails vanish into the abyss, and your website disappears like a magician's assistant - because they aren't yet on your hosting service.

The smart order of operations

1. Get your website (and emails) transferred first.
   • If you've requested a migration, we handle this.
   • If you're DIY-ing it, make sure your site files, databases, and emails are moved over first.
2. If you have existing emails, decide what to do with them.
   • Migrating your emails? We can usually bring them over as part of your website transfer request.
   • Using a third-party email service like Google or Office 365? Your cPanel account needs to be set to remote email routing (so your hosting account knows your emails live elsewhere), and your MX records need to be correctly configured, so people who email you know that they should be sent to your email provider, and not your hosting account. We can handle this for you if we're transferring your site, but if you're managing it yourself, sort this out before updating your nameservers!
3. Test before flipping the switch. You want to be sure everything works before sending all your visitors (and Google) to your new hosting. Here's how:
   • Option 1: SkipDNS (easiest method) - you can use SkipDNS to preview your site before changing your domain settings.
   • Option 2: hosts file method (nerdier but reliable) - if you're comfortable tweaking your computer's settings, you can edit your hosts file to trick your computer into thinking your domain is already pointing to Kualo. This lets you test it privately.
4. When everything is confirmed working, update your domain to point to Kualo. Now, flip the switch and let the internet do its thing. DNS takes a few hours to update, sometimes up to 24 hours - so you may need to wait a little while before everything goes live.

🎉 Once that happens, your site is live. And your emails didn't get lost in the Bermuda Triangle. Win-win.

Email: the internet's original messaging app (and still kind of a big deal)

Alright, let's talk email. You've got a shiny new hosting plan, and now you need an email setup that doesn't scream "free Gmail from 2008" when you contact customers.

But before you dive in, let's clear up one common point of confusion:

Mailboxes vs forwarders: what's the difference?

When setting up email, you've got two main options:

• Mailboxes: these are full-fledged email accounts where emails live. You log in, send, receive, and store emails here. If you set up [email protected], it exists as a real inbox, just like a Gmail or Outlook account.
• Forwarders: these are not inboxes. They're an email rerouting service. When an email lands at [email protected], a forwarder can automatically pass it along to [email protected] (or multiple addresses). Here's how you can set up forwarders in cPanel.

If you need external forwarding, a better option is fetching your email using POP3 from your preferred provider - we have a tutorial for how to do this at Gmail.

Creating an email account

Want a mailbox? You can create email accounts in cPanel in a few clicks. We've got a step-by-step tutorial to walk you through it.

Need to check email? Once you've created your mailbox, you've got two main ways to access your emails:

1. Webmail - access your email from any browser (great if you're on the go). Access webmail by adding /webmail to the end of your domain name and log in with your email address and email address password. For full details, check out our getting started with webmail article.
2. Connecting your email to your devices - whether it's Outlook, Apple Mail, or the Gmail app, you can set up your email with IMAP or POP3. You can find your device connection settings in cPanel.

IMAP, POP3, and SMTP - what's the difference?

When setting up email on your devices, you'll see options for IMAP and POP3 (and sometimes SMTP). Let's break it down:

• IMAP (recommended) - this keeps your emails synced across all devices. If you check an email on your phone, it stays marked as read when you log in on your laptop. Great for people who access email from multiple devices. Use this unless you have a specific reason not to.
• POP3 - this downloads emails to one device and (usually) deletes them from the server. Good if you want to keep a local copy and free up server storage, but terrible if you check email from more than one place (since emails won't sync).
• SMTP - this is used for sending emails. Regardless of whether you use IMAP or POP3, SMTP is the protocol that actually delivers your outgoing mail to the internet.

Why do we recommend you use IMAP?

• Emails stay backed up on the server.
• Everything stays in sync across all devices.
• If your laptop catches fire, your emails won't disappear forever.

Unless you absolutely need to download emails to a single device and remove them from the server (which is rare), IMAP is the way to go.

Spam filtering and security

The internet is full of wonderful people. It's also full of spammers trying to sell you fake sunglasses. Here's how we keep your inbox clean:

• SpamExperts filtering - our hosting includes an enterprise spam-filtering system that scans incoming emails for junk before they even land in your inbox.
• Inbound and outbound email scanning - every email sent from or received by our servers gets checked for viruses, spam, phishing attempts, and other nasties.

If too much spam is getting through, or legitimate emails are being marked as spam, you can tweak the filters.

Email sending limits and storage

Your hosting plan comes with limits to prevent email abuse (and to ensure servers don't become overwhelmed). The key ones:

• Emails per hour - each plan supports a certain number of emails per hour, ranging from 100 on our entry level Solo plan, to 1000 on our largest business hosting plan.
• Mailbox storage - each mailbox has a max size based on your plan, ranging from 8GB on our Solo plan to no limit at all on our largest business hosting plan.
• Attachment limits - there's a cap on email attachment sizes.
• Not for bulk mail - while our email is great for normal use, if you need to send email campaigns (newsletters, bulk marketing, etc.), we recommend using a dedicated email marketing service.

For the full low down, check out our Resource Usage Policy which contains our email sending limits broken down by plan.

Thinking of using a third-party email provider?

If you're looking at using Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or another provider, you'll need to:

• Set your cPanel account to "Remote Mail Exchanger" - otherwise, your emails might try to deliver locally instead of through Google/Microsoft/etc.
• Update DNS records - your domain's MX records (which tell the internet where your email should go) need to be pointed to your provider's mail servers. We handle this automatically if you requested it during a transfer, but if you're doing it yourself, follow their setup guides.
• Check SPF, DKIM, and DMARC - these are anti-spam authentication records that help ensure your emails get delivered properly. We automatically configure them, but if you're having trouble with email deliverability, ask us for help.

Take a look at this guide to learn about how to configure your domains for external email services.

Building your website: clicks, code, or somewhere in-between

So, you're about to build a website. Great! But how you get from "I have an idea" to "I have a website" depends on your approach.

At Kualo, you have three main ways to build a website:

1. ProSite - our drag-and-drop website builder (no coding needed).
2. WordPress - the world's most popular platform for flexible sites.
3. Softaculous - one-click installs for hundreds of web applications.

Each approach has its own strengths depending on how much control and flexibility you want.

Not sure which one to pick? Check out our full guide to website-building options to explore the best fit for you.

For developers: build your site, your way

If you're not looking for one-click solutions and prefer full control, we've got you covered.

Our hosting comes packed with powerful developer tools to help you build and deploy your projects with ease:

• SSH access - securely access your hosting environment and run commands.
• Git - clone, push, and pull straight from version control.
• WP-CLI - manage WordPress like a pro from the command line.
• Composer - manage PHP dependencies effortlessly.
• Multiple PHP versions - choose your PHP version, enable extensions, and fine-tune settings.
• phpMyAdmin - easily manage MySQL databases via a user-friendly interface.
• Node.js Selector - run Node.js applications and support multiple versions.
• Python Selector - deploy Django, Flask, or other Python-based frameworks.
• Redis and Memcached - high-speed object caching (available on Performance plans and above).
• Elasticsearch / OpenSearch - fast, scalable search indexing (available on Magento plans, and Performance Plus and higher).

No matter how you choose to build your site, Kualo gives you the tools to make it happen. 🚀

Adding additional domains to your hosting account

So, you've got another domain and want to use it? Whether it's for a whole new website, a handy subdomain, or just email and redirects, here's what you need to know.

Subdomains - a mini-site under your main domain

Need a separate section of your site? A subdomain lets you create something like blog.yourcoolwebsite.com or shop.yourcoolwebsite.com. All plans support subdomains, so go wild.

How to create a subdomain

Addon domains - a whole new website

Want to run a completely different website under the same hosting account? An addon domain lets you do exactly that. These are available on the Startup plan or higher. If you're on a lower plan, your account supports one domain only.

How to create an addon domain

Alias domains - another name for the same site

Want yourcoolwebsite.net to show the same thing as yourcoolwebsite.com? That's where an alias domain (also called a parked domain) comes in. You can also use alias domains if you need a DNS zone, to host email addresses on a different domain, or if you want to add a redirect to another domain name.

How to create an alias domain

Uploading files - where does my website actually live?

Alright, so your website isn't just some mystical entity floating in cyberspace - it's made up of real files sitting on a real server in a real folder that you need to put them in. But which folder? Let's break it down.

Primary domain? Say hello to public_html

If your hosting plan has one domain, everything lives in public_html. This is the home base of your website - the first place the internet looks when someone types in your domain.

If your domain is yourcoolwebsite.com, then:

• Files in public_html → show up at yourcoolwebsite.com
• public_html/images/cat.jpg → can be viewed at yourcoolwebsite.com/images/cat.jpg

Simple, right? But wait, what if you have a plan that can support more than one website?

Addon domains and subdomains - their own little homes

If you're on a plan that supports addon domains (extra websites) or subdomains, these don't live inside public_html. Instead, they get their own folders, sitting alongside public_html.

For example:

• Addon domain anothercoolwebsite.com → files live in /anothercoolwebsite.com/
• Subdomain blog.yourcoolwebsite.com → files live in /blog.yourcoolwebsite.com/

You can define the folder when you create the domain, so you can name it whatever works best for you. This means that every site you add has its own separate space - so your websites aren't tripping over each other.

How to upload files like a pro

Now that you know where to put your files, let's talk about how to get them there.

1. File Manager (cPanel) - the easiest way. Just log into cPanel, open File Manager, and upload files like you're dragging them into a folder on your computer.
2. FTP/SFTP (File Transfer Protocol) - the better way for big projects. Use a program like FileZilla or Cyberduck to transfer files directly from your computer to the server.
3. SSH (for advanced users) - if you're into command-line wizardry, you can use SSH to upload and manage files lightning-fast.

The magic of index.html and index.php

Every website needs a starting point - the first file a browser looks for when someone visits your domain. That's index.html or index.php.

• index.html - if your site is static (just basic HTML and CSS).
• index.php - if your site is dynamic (like WordPress, Magento, or anything PHP-based).

If neither exists? Visitors will likely see an error page instead of your beautiful website.

.htaccess - the tiny file that packs a punch

Sitting quietly in your website's root folder is .htaccess, a tiny but mighty configuration file that tells your server what to do. It can:

• Redirect URLs (e.g. oldpage.html → newpage.html)
• Force HTTPS (because security is cool)
• Create custom error pages
• Enable SEO-friendly URLs in WordPress

Most apps like WordPress and Magento set up .htaccess for you, but if you ever need to tweak things manually, handle with care - one wrong change can break your whole site. (Make backups. Always make backups.)

Debugging 101 - finding answers if things go wrong

Websites don't just break for no reason - there's always an explanation. And most of the time, the answer is hiding in the logs.

error_log - your website's diary

If you're running a PHP-based website (which most of our customers are), your site quietly keeps track of errors in a file called error_log. When something isn't working, this is your best first stop.

Where to find it?

• Inside the folder of the page that's having issues (e.g. /public_html/error_log)
• Sometimes in /logs or the root directory
• Some apps (like Magento, WordPress, and Laravel) have their own logs in different locations

For WordPress specific debugging, take a look at Diagnosing Critical Errors in WordPress: A Survival Guide.

Common issues and where to look

• Blank page? - there's probably a PHP error - check the error_log.
• Website stuck in a redirect loop? - a misconfigured .htaccess file could be the culprit.
• Forms not sending? - it may be an email misconfiguration (check PHP mail settings).
• Something else acting weird? - if you need more details, you can enable display_errors in PHP settings to see issues in real-time (just remember to turn it off afterwards for security!).

Where popular apps log errors:

• WordPress: /wp-content/debug.log (enable in wp-config.php with WP_DEBUG)
• Magento: /var/log/system.log and /var/log/exception.log
• Laravel: /storage/logs/laravel.log

If you ever get stuck, reach out - we're here to help you get things back on track.

Why speed matters and how to make your website stupidly fast

Let's talk about speed. Specifically, why slow websites are the enemy of everything good in the world.

• Slow websites frustrate visitors - people don't wait. If your site takes more than a couple of seconds to load, they'll bounce faster than a toddler on a sugar high.
• Slow websites don't rank well - Google straight-up penalises slow websites. If your site is sluggish, expect it to sink in search rankings like a stone in a pond.
• Slow websites don't convert - if you're running an online store, every second of delay means fewer sales. Amazon found that just a 100ms slowdown cost them 1% in revenue.
• Slow websites don't scale - if your site is already struggling with a few visitors, imagine what happens when you get thousands. Spoiler: it won't be pretty.

Kualo's servers: engineered for speed

At Kualo, we hate slow websites. That's why we run on:

• All-NVMe storage - your data moves at warp speed.
• Blazing-fast CPUs - modern, high end processors with speeds of up to 5.7GHz.
• LiteSpeed Enterprise - a high-performance web server that makes websites fly.
• Redis and Memcached - on our Performance plans, which help dynamic websites (like ecommerce stores) fetch data much faster.

The result? You're already hosting on one of the fastest environments possible. But if you want to go even further, we have extra tricks up our sleeve.

LiteSpeed Cache - your speed supercharger

LiteSpeed Cache is a high-performance, server-side page cache that makes your website fly by serving up preloaded pages instantly, instead of making your site rebuild them from scratch every time someone visits. That means your site runs way more efficiently, handling more visitors with fewer resources - which keeps things fast and smooth without needing to jump to a higher plan.

But caching is just the start. Depending on the app, LiteSpeed Cache can also do some serious behind-the-scenes magic to make things even faster:

• Optimising how pages load - making sure your site loads as efficiently as possible.
• Tweaking and compressing assets - some apps get automatic image compression, database cleanup, and other optimisations.
• Reducing unnecessary bloat - because nobody likes waiting for a website to load.

For WordPress, Magento, Joomla, PrestaShop, OpenCart and a handful of other platforms, LiteSpeed has official plugins that handle all of this beautifully. But even if you're using a different platform, the core server-side caching can still work its magic - you just might need to do a little extra development work to handle cache purges properly.

Resource usage - what if my site needs more power?

Even with Kualo's rocket-fuelled hosting, some sites eventually outgrow their plan's resource allocation, which could lead to performance bottlenecks. That's a good thing - it means you're getting traffic! But before you hit the turbo button, it's important to first make sure your site isn't wasting fuel.

Step 1: work smarter, not harder

Your hosting plan comes with an allocation of CPU, RAM, disk I/O and other resources - the energy your site uses to run. If you're running low, it might not be because of too many visitors - it could be inefficiency.

• Caching = free speed boost - if your site isn't using LiteSpeed Cache, it's working way too hard. Caching serves prebuilt pages instead of generating them from scratch every time; it's essential as your site grows in traffic.
• Bloat = resource hog - too many plugins, bad code - your site could be slowing itself down. Fix that first.
• Something broken? - some plugins/scripts go rogue, hammering the database with unnecessary requests. If usage is spiking for no reason, check for a bad actor.

Step 2: more power! 🚀

If your site is genuinely outgrowing your plan, you've got two options:

1. Free Resource Boost - need a temporary power-up? Get extra resources for up to 72 hours per month, free. Perfect for launches, flash sales, unexpected viral moments, or to give you some headroom to diagnose problems.
2. Upgrade for more speed - if you're constantly reaching your plan's resource limits, moving up a plan gives you more CPU, more RAM, and faster performance - so your site can keep growing smoothly.

Security and backups - we've got your back, but so should you

The internet is wild, but don't stress - we've built a fortress around your hosting. Firewalls, malware scanning, automatic patching, free SSL - it's all there, keeping the bad guys out.

But security isn't just our job. Weak passwords? Outdated software? That's like leaving your front door open with a neon "Rob Me" sign. We give you the tools - automatic updates, vulnerability alerts, WordPress scanning - but you have to use them.

And because accidents (or hackers) happen, we back up your data daily - some plans even get extra-frequent database backups. Need a restore? You can do it yourself or we'll help out.

Want the full how-to-stay-safe-and-avoid-getting-hacked breakdown? Check out our How We Protect Your Website (And What You Can Do to Help) guide! 🔐

Welcome to Kualo - your website's new best friend

Getting started with a new hosting provider can feel like stepping into a whole new world. There are domain names, control panels, email setups, caching, error logs - lots of moving parts. But here's the thing: you're not alone in this.

At Kualo, we don't just rent you server space and leave you to figure it all out. We're here to help you succeed - to make sure your website is fast, secure, and thriving, so you can focus on what matters most: growing your business, sharing your ideas, or launching the next big thing.

24/7 support that actually helps - some hosting companies love to say, "That's outside our scope." We prefer to say, "Let's see what we can do." While we can't take over as your developer, we go further than most hosts to help unpick problems, troubleshoot issues, and point you in the right direction - because a working website is a happy website.

Fast, secure, reliable - so you can grow - we've built a hosting environment that gives you every possible advantage:

• Speed? Check. NVMe storage, LiteSpeed, and all the optimisations you need.
• Security? Locked down. Firewalls, malware scanning, backups - covered.
• Scalability? Absolutely. Whether you're just starting out or ready to upgrade, we've got you.

So, take a deep breath. You're in good hands. And whenever you need help, you know where to find us.

Welcome to Kualo. Let's build something amazing. 🚀