```json
{
"title": "How to Set Up a Website from Scratch on Proginter",
"content": "<p>You've got a domain name and a hosting plan. Now what? A lot of people get stuck at exactly this point — not because it's hard, but because no one has walked them through the steps in order. This guide does exactly that.</p><p>By the end, you'll have a fully working website live on the internet, with DNS pointed correctly, SSL active, and everything running smoothly.</p><h2>Prerequisites</h2><p>Before you start, make sure you have the following ready:</p><ul><li>A registered domain name (from any registrar — Namecheap, GoDaddy, Google Domains, etc.)</li><li>An active Proginter hosting account</li><li>Access to your domain registrar's DNS settings</li><li>A website to upload — even a simple HTML file works for testing</li></ul><p>If you don't have a website ready yet, don't worry. We'll show you how to create a basic placeholder so you can test everything works before going live.</p><h2>Step 1: Log Into Your Proginter Panel</h2><p>Go to <strong>panel.proginter.com</strong> and sign in with your credentials. Once inside, you'll land on the main dashboard. This is your control center — from here you can manage domains, files, databases, email, and more.</p><p>If you're logging in for the first time, take a minute to explore the layout. The left sidebar shows all the main sections. You'll be using several of them today.</p><h2>Step 2: Add Your Domain to Your Hosting Account</h2><p>Your domain needs to be linked to your hosting account before anything else works.</p><ol><li>In the Proginter panel, navigate to <strong>Domains</strong> in the left sidebar.</li><li>Click <strong>Add Domain</strong>.</li><li>Type your domain name exactly as it appears (for example, <em>yourdomain.com</em>) and click <strong>Add</strong>.</li><li>Proginter will create a web root directory for your domain automatically — usually at <code>/public_html/yourdomain.com/</code>.</li></ol><p>This is where your website files will live. Think of it as the folder your site loads from when someone visits your URL.</p><h2>Step 3: Point Your DNS Records to Proginter</h2><p>Your domain registrar controls where the internet sends visitors when they type your URL. You need to tell it to send them to Proginter's servers.</p><h3>Option A: Use Proginter's Nameservers (Recommended)</h3><ol><li>In your Proginter panel, go to <strong>Domains</strong> and click on your domain. You'll see the nameserver addresses — something like <code>ns1.proginter.com</code> and <code>ns2.proginter.com</code>.</li><li>Log into your domain registrar's website.</li><li>Find the DNS or Nameserver settings for your domain.</li><li>Replace the existing nameservers with Proginter's nameservers.</li><li>Save the changes.</li></ol><p>DNS propagation takes anywhere from a few minutes to 48 hours. Most updates complete within 1–2 hours. You can check propagation status at <strong>dnschecker.org</strong> — just type your domain and see which regions have updated.</p><h3>Option B: Add Individual DNS Records</h3><p>If you prefer to keep your DNS at your registrar (for example, if you're using Cloudflare or another service), you can add individual records instead.</p><ol><li>In your Proginter panel, go to <strong>Domains</strong> and find the IP address assigned to your hosting account.</li><li>At your registrar, create an <strong>A record</strong> pointing your domain (<code>@</code> or bare domain) to that IP address.</li><li>Create another <strong>A record</strong> for <code>www</code> pointing to the same IP.</li></ol><p>This approach gives you more control, but requires a bit more DNS knowledge. If you're unsure, Option A is simpler and works just as well.</p><h2>Step 4: Upload Your Website Files</h2><p>With DNS set up, it's time to put your actual website files in place.</p><h3>Upload via the File Manager</h3><ol><li>In the Proginter panel, go to <strong>Files > File Manager</strong>.</li><li>Navigate to the web root for your domain (for example, <code>/public_html/yourdomain.com/</code>).</li><li>Click <strong>Upload</strong> and select your website files.</li><li>If you have a ZIP archive, upload it and then right-click to extract it in place.</li></ol><h3>Upload via FTP/SFTP</h3><p>If you prefer a desktop client like FileZilla, you can connect via SFTP. Go to <strong>FTP Accounts</strong> in the panel, create an account or grab your existing credentials, and connect using your domain, FTP username, password, and port 22 for SFTP.</p><h3>Creating a Test Page</h3><p>If you don't have a website ready, create a simple test file to confirm everything is working. Create a file called <code>index.html</code> with this content and upload it to your web root:</p><p><code><html><body><h1>It works!</h1></body></html></code></p><p>Once DNS has propagated, visiting your domain should show this page.</p><h2>Step 5: Install Your SSL Certificate</h2><p>An SSL certificate encrypts the connection between your visitors and your website. Without it, browsers show a scary "Not Secure" warning — and that's not a good first impression.</p><ol><li>In the Proginter panel, go to <strong>SSL</strong>.</li><li>Find your domain in the list and click <strong>Issue Certificate</strong>.</li><li>Proginter will automatically request and install a free SSL certificate for your domain.</li><li>Once it's installed (usually within a minute or two), go to <strong>SSL > Force HTTPS</strong> and enable it.</li></ol><p>Forcing HTTPS means anyone who visits <code>http://yourdomain.com</code> gets automatically redirected to <code>https://yourdomain.com</code>. This is standard practice and you should always enable it.</p><p><strong>Note:</strong> SSL issuance requires that your DNS has already propagated. If the certificate fails to issue, wait an hour and try again.</p><h2>Step 6: Verify Everything Is Working</h2><p>Run through this quick checklist before calling your site live:</p><ul><li>Visit <code>https://yourdomain.com</code> — does your site load?</li><li>Check the browser address bar — do you see a padlock icon? That means SSL is active.</li><li>Try visiting <code>http://yourdomain.com</code> — does it redirect to HTTPS automatically?</li><li>Try <code>https://www.yourdomain.com</code> — does the <code>www</code> version also work?</li></ul><p>If all four of those work, you're in great shape.</p><h2>Troubleshooting Common Issues</h2><h3>Site Not Loading After DNS Change</h3><p>DNS changes take time. If your site isn't loading yet, wait a bit longer. You can also try clearing your browser cache or testing from a different network to rule out local caching. Use <strong>dnschecker.org</strong> to confirm whether your DNS has propagated globally.</p><h3>SSL Certificate Failed to Issue</h3><p>This usually happens because DNS hasn't propagated yet when you tried to issue the certificate. Wait for full propagation and try again from the SSL section in your panel. If it still fails, reach out to Proginter support or ask <strong>Proper</strong> — the AI assistant in your panel — to diagnose the issue.</p><h3>Seeing a Default Page Instead of Your Site</h3><p>Your files might be in the wrong folder. Double-check that your <code>index.html</code> or <code>index.php</code> file is directly inside the web root for your domain, not inside a subfolder. The file manager makes it easy to confirm the exact path.</p><h3>403 Forbidden Error</h3><p>This usually means your web root folder has incorrect permissions, or there's no index file present. Make sure your main file is named <code>index.html</code> or <code>index.php</code>, and that folder permissions are set to <code>755</code>.</p><h2>What to Do Next</h2><p>Your website is live. Here's what we recommend doing immediately after:</p><ul><li><strong>Set up email hosting</strong> — add a professional email address at your domain from the Email section in the panel.</li><li><strong>Configure automated backups</strong> — Proginter runs daily backups automatically, but confirm your backup settings are active under the Backups section.</li><li><strong>Enable caching</strong> — if you're running WordPress or another CMS, enable Proginter's built-in caching to speed up your site.</li><li><strong>Install WordPress</strong> — if you haven't built your site yet, you can install WordPress in one click from the panel's WordPress Manager.</li></ul><p>Setting up a website from scratch isn't complicated when you know the order of operations: add your domain, point your DNS, upload your files, and activate SSL. Every other feature — email, databases, staging environments, performance optimization — builds on this foundation. You've got the foundation. The rest is up to you.</p>",
"excerpt": "A clear, step-by-step guide to getting your website live from scratch — covering domain setup, DNS configuration, file uploads, and SSL installation on Proginter.",
"featured_image_alt": "Person setting up a website on a laptop with a domain name and hosting dashboard visible on screen",
"meta_title": "How to Set Up a Website from Scratch on Proginter",
"meta_description": "Follow this step-by-step guide to launch your website from scratch — add your domain, configure DNS, upload files, and activate SSL on Proginter."
}
```
Untitled Post
```json { "title": "How to Set Up a Website from Scratch on Proginter", "content": "You've got a domain name and a hosting plan. Now what? A lot of people get stuck at exactly this point — not bec...