Lindy dB.
3min Read

How to Upload Your Website: A Guide to Using cPanel’s File Manager and FTP

How to upload your website in cPanel & via FTP

Building a website is only the first step in establishing an online presence. Once the website is ready, you’ll need to upload it to a web server to make it accessible to the public. Don’t forget to read our guide: How to host a website.

This blog post will walk you through two popular methods of uploading your website: using cPanel’s File Manager and FTP (File Transfer Protocol).


Prerequisites

Before we dive into the uploading process, make sure you have the following:

  1. A web hosting account with cPanel access.
  2. Your website files organized in a folder (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, etc.).
  3. An FTP client like FileZilla, if you choose to use FTP for the upload.

Uploading Your Website Using cPanel’s File Manager

cPanel is a popular web hosting control panel that provides a graphical interface for managing your website and hosting settings.

Note: You can only upload files using the cPanel File Manager. To upload folders you’ll need to use an FTP client.

Here’s how you can upload your website files using cPanel’s File Manager:

Step 1: Log in to cPanel

Log in to your cPanel account through your client area or directly by adding /cpanel to your domain. For example: https://www.example.com/cpanel.

These login details are provided in your welcome email.

Step 2: Open File Manager

Once logged in, find the “Files” section and click on “File Manager.”

cPanel file manager location

Step 3: Navigate to the Public Folder

In File Manager, navigate to the public_html folder. This is the folder where your website files should reside.

public html location in cPanel

Step 4: Upload Files

Click the “Upload” button in the top menu bar.

upload button location in file manager

Drag and drop your website files or click “Select File” to locate them manually.

file upload interface

Wait for the upload to complete.

file upload completed

Step 5: Verify Upload

After the upload is complete, refresh the public_html folder and ensure that all your files have been uploaded correctly.

new file location

Uploading Your Website Using FTP

FTP is another reliable method to transfer files and folders from your local machine to your web server. For this guide, we’ll use FileZilla as our FTP client.

Step 1: Install and Open FileZilla

If you haven’t installed FileZilla, you can download the client from the official website and install it.

Step 2: Connect to Your Web Server

Open FileZilla and go to “File” → “Site Manager.”

site manager in filezilla

Click “New Site” and enter the FTP details for your web server (Host, Port, Protocol, and Logon Details). Then click “Connect.”

new site creation

These details are usually provided by your hosting provider.

Step 3: Locate Your Local Website Files

On the left panel of FileZilla, navigate to the folder where your website files are stored.

left hand pane in filezilla

Step 4: Locate the Remote Directory

On the right panel, navigate to the public_html directory.

right hand pane in filezilla

Step 5: Transfer Files

  1. Select all the website files and folders on the left panel.
  2. Right-click and choose “Upload.”
  3. Wait for the files to be uploaded to the remote server.
upload file location

Step 6: Verify Upload

Check the public_html folder on the right panel to ensure that all your files are uploaded successfully.

You can also check the “Failed transfers” and “Successful transfers” tabs at the bottom.

confirmation of file uploads

Conclusion

Uploading your website can be done in various ways, but using cPanel’s File Manager and FTP are among the most straightforward methods.

Both techniques have their merits. cPanel is more user-friendly and requires no additional software, whereas FTP provides more control and is better suited for bulk uploads.

Choose the one that best fits your needs and get your website live today!


The Author

Lindy dB.

Lindy brings over 7 years of experience in SEO, web development, UI/UX design, and marketing to the table, with a special focus on the hosting industry. When not geeking out over the latest digital trends, you can find Lindy buried in a good book or exploring worlds in video games.

More posts from Lindy