Did My Web Host Hijack My New Account?

When you get a new Web hosting account, there are a lot of things that can be confusing. I mean you are about to embark on a journey of server issues and configurations you have never seen before. It is intimidating. I got an e-mail the other day asking about one of the most intimidating issues a new Web hosting account owner might face.

Hello. I am having a problem! My new Web site I just ordered is not working. When I go to the domain name it takes me to a Web page that looks like it is owned by my Web host. Did they hijack my domain? What should I do to get rid of it?

If you have a brand spanking new hosting account, this is usually a pretty easy thing to fix.

Now you might not be in the worst possible situation. There is not pit of hot lava. There are no poisonous snakes falling on your head. Now where most might think this would be a big problem because it looks like your Web site is pointing at your Web host and not your own hosting index - there may be a simple solution.

Go into your “public_html” folder, the place where all your online documents are stored, and look for an index.html or index.htm. Chances are if you find one there, you can delete it. This is a file that your Web host puts in there by default when your hosting account was created. To make sure you are not deleting an important page, you could view the source code first before deleting it as well.

Now if you go back to your domain in question, you should see a default folder view of what is inside your “public_html” folder and you are ready to create that one of a kind Web site.

[tags]hosting, web hosts, new, question, domain, fixes, tips[/tags]