Upload Build a Niche Store to your Hosted Account
October 10, 2007
After a day or two away, it is amazing to me how much I have fallen behind! I read through my previous post about the hosting and today will cover how to navigate your new account, change your domain name server information, as well as how to upload your BANS software to the server.
By now, you should have signed up over at HostGator and gotten an email from them tell you the information to access your hosting account on the server. It will also be very helpful if you have the BANS software since you cannot upload to the server without it!
Lets get started…
Change your Registrar Nameservers
Within the email you got from HostGator, you will have the following info:
Your Name servers:
- nsxxx.hostgator.com
- nsxxx.hostgator.com
- (xxx is a set of 3 numbers, for ex: ns645.hostgator.com)
Step 1: At this point, can go back into your registrar (GoDaddy) and login to your account with the information you used during setup. (Full Video Tutorial - but old interface) The login box in located in the mid-right side of the screen. After you have logged in, hover your mouse pointer over the “Domains” link in the green menu bar. You should see a drop-down menu and will choose “My Domain Names” from the available list. You are now inside of the GoDaddy domain management utility. If you have more than one, there will be a list of domain names that are registered under your account.
Step 2: Place a tick in the box to the left of the name you are changing and choose “Nameservers” from the top menu. In the resulting screen, make sure the tab for “Custom Nameservers” is selected and type in the two addresses listed in your hostgator welcome email. Once you have them both in place, press the orange OK button and wait for the screen to refresh.
When you go back to your main screen, it may still show the original nameservers, this will all update within the next 5 minutes. Be aware that propogation of the DNS throughout the world can take up to 48 hours. With GoDaddy, I have seen the change take from 5 minutes to 2 full days. The amount of time depends on your ISP updating their own information. You should also get an email notification from GoDaddy, letting you know your domain has been changed. At this point… you are done with GoDaddy until you renew the domain next year! Click the X and move to the next step…
By the time you get this far - you can probably type your domain into your browser and see the hostgator page stating that your account is active. There will be no content at this point, as you have not yet uploaded the Build a Niche Store software. If it does not show yet, not a big deal at all - you can still access it via the IP included in your HostGator welcome email.
Access your Server Hosting CPanel
(List of HostGator Tutorials)
In the email from Hostgator - look for the section that says: “You can access your CPanel at: http ;//74.123.154.111 /cpanel” The IP numbers will be different than those I listed. Click that link and login with the credentials supplied from HG.
Walk through this area and familiarize yourself with the ways to get around. CPanel is by far, the easiest of hosting interfaces to get around in and it should come to you with no problems. REMEMBER - There is nothing you can do that cannot be fixed! Back in the day of helping people learn how to use a PC, the number one thing I saw was the intimidation and fear that folks had. It seemed that almost everyone was afraid to break something and no longer be able to use the PC. There are three basic rules for a PC or Server or ANYTHING to do with technology:
- Don’t fear anything inside your system, it was created by someone just like you and I.
- Don’t DELETE ANYTHING unless you know WHAT you are about to delete!
- EVERYTHING that is broken can be fixed! Regardless of the extent!
Setting up CuteFTP to Transfer your Software to the Server
At this point - I am making the assumption that you have gotten the Build a Niche Store eBay Affiliate Software and have it on your local system, ready to upload! If you have not yet gotten the script, you need to head over to Adam and Kelvin and make the purchase.
Download the trial of CuteFTP Home at: http://www.cuteftp.com/downloads/ If you plan on keeping BANS for any period of time, you should purchase the software or look for an alternate like FileZilla (Free). You will be accessing your server every time you upload a new site and the software will come in handy!
To learn how to setup CuteFTP to your new hosting site, follow this link: http://www.hostgator.com/tutorials/cuteftp/cuteftp_configure.htm which is a step by step walkthrough of the settings you will need to change. In addition, the Build a Niche Store installation documentation provides clear and easy to understand directions on the same process.
One of the most common errors I have seen with setting up the ftp software (Make it myself often) is in the parent directory. ALL public website files you will upload have to be inside the “public_html” folder on your hosted account. During the settings area in cuteftp, there will be a section for parent directory, make sure you enter public_html in that box.
Uploading Build a Niche Store
When you download the software from the link Adam provided, you need to extract the zip file to your PC. After you have extraced the zip file, you will see the entire contents of the software and the directory tree that must be followed for BANS to function correctly on the server. There are 5 folders and the install manual inside the archive, you should only upload the correct Country folder you will be using, ie: US for United states based store, etc. You can actually point the source of CuteFTP into the US Folder of the full BANS 2.0 main archive, so you only upload the store files you need.
Once it is uploaded to the server, you will have a directory as follows:
Server
————-public_html (website files directory)
————— admin (BANS Admin folder, with several subfolders)
————— cont (BANS Admin folder)
————— scripts (BANS Admin folder, with several subfolders)
————— themes (BANS Admin folder, with several subfolders)
————— .htaccess (file)
————— database.sql (file)
————— index.php (file)
————— install.php (file)
————— web.config (file)
After the upload is complete, you can go back into your hosting CPanel and click on the “File Manager” link in your main screen. A new window will open and show you the contents of your account. You can see the “public_html” folder listed on the left side. By clicking on the yellow folder to the left of it, it will show you the contents of the folder, which are your BANS files! (Click image to see structure)
Note: I have blurred 2 of the files in the image directory to the right, they are nothing special, I just dont want anyone installing the GrillAuctions BANS store until I get to that point!
Once you have all your files uploaded, you are ready to install your new store and begin customization of your Niche Store! Since I am not going to go that far today, I have renamed my install.php and index.php originals to a different name. Otherwise, any of you crafty readers could just go in and install this store!
If you want to follow the instructions included with BANS, you can do so and install your new store at this time. If you prefer to wait until I get to that point tomorrow, it would be just as easy! If you plan on leaving the store in this state for any period of time, I recommend changing the original file names to something different for the same reason as above.
Later today - I will be writing about the affiliate programs you should enroll with in order to support your Build a Niche Store efforts and also have additional sources of revenue for your new site!
Until then… please dont hesitate to comment and tell everyone about the Win a Niche Store contest!
Mark
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