How to Host Other People's Websites

When a webmaster starts her first website, she needs to purchase her domain name, which is the name of her new website; however, the need to purchase a hosting plan is more important. Without hosting, the webmaster has nowhere to host (store) the websites she creates. If a new webmaster is short on funds, they can piggyback with or share an unlimited website hosting plan with a friend or relative. Unlimited website hosting doesn't cost much more than hosting a single site, and if you have friends or relatives who want to host their websites with your hosting plan, you can do that. The process is very simple.

Instructions

1. Register for an unlimited hosting plan. Unlimited hosting plans will allow you to host many websites for one low price. This will allow you to piggyback host your friends' websites.

   For the purpose of this article (and because of its sheer ease of use), Host Gator will be used as an example (see Resources).

2. 

   Log into the "cPanel" (control panel) for his hosting plan. The cPanel can be reached by going to the URL provided upon registration. It will be included in an email titled "Information about your hosting plan."

3. 

   Scroll down the cPanel homepage, a little past the halfway point. Under the "Domains" section, there's an icon that has the letters "www" with the addition symbol ("+") beneath the letters. Underneath, it says, "Addon Domains." Click this icon.

4. Enter the information of your friend's website, which you want to host on your hosting plan. Simply type in the name of your site under the "New Domain Name" field. Proper format is http://yoursite.com (substituting the name of your real site for the words "yoursite.com").

5. Press the "Tab" key on your keyboard to move to the next field, Subdomain Name. This field will be automatically filled in for you.

6. Press the "Tab" key on your keyboard to move to the Document Root field. This field will be automatically filled in for you.

7. Press the "Tab" key on your keyboard to move to the next field. Choose a password for your new website. This will be how you access your site's files via FTP. Choose a strong, hard-to-crack password that includes letters, numbers and symbols.

8. Click the "Add Domain!" button and you're finished. You are now hosting your friend's website.

Resources

• Host Gator's site