FAQ

To upload your website’s files, you need an FTP client to connect your computer to your hosting account.

Some popular FTP clients are:

• FileZilla
• Fetch (Mac)
• gFTP (Linux)

You may also be able to upload your site through the software used to create it, such as Adobe Dreamweaver® or Microsoft Expressions Web®.

Or you could use the FTP client in our Hosting Control Center. For more information, see Using the Hosting Control Center Web-Based FTP Client.

Use the following FTP settings to connect to your hosting account:

Host Name

This is your primary hosted domain name, or your hosting account IP address.

FTP User Name

Your hosting account user name. Where’s my user name?

FTP Password

Your hosting account password. I forgot my password.

Website URL

Your site’s URL (e.g.http://www.coolexample.com).

FTP Site URL

Your FTP server’s URL (e.g.ftp://www.coolexample.com).

Start Directory

Our hosting services do not require a “Home” or “Start” directory, so leave the field blank. If the client requires a value, enter a single forward slash followed by your hosting account user name (i.e., /<user name>).

Before You Begin Transfer Authorization

A domain name transfer moves your domain name registration from one registrar to another. These instructions are to transfer your domain name from your current registrar to us.

Before authorizing your domain name transfer, be sure that:

• The domain name is unlocked at your current registrar.
• You have an authorization code from your current registrar, if required. Some domain name extensions, primarily country-code top-level domain names, ccTLDs, do not require an authorization code.
• The administrative contact for the domain name has a valid, published email address in the Whois database.
• You have purchased a domain name transfer from us.
• You have the transfer authorization email we sent to the domain name’s administrative contact right after the transfer purchase.

Once you’ve gathered and verified the above information, you’re ready to begin authorization of the transfer.

NOTE: For most domain name extensions, the move between registrars takes from 5 to 7 days once the transfer is authorized. The process and time required for the transfer can vary for certain extensions, primarily ccTLDs. For more information on exceptions to the transfer process for a specific domain name extension, see help content for that extension.

You can forward or mask a domain name to redirect it to another website. You can use either a 301 or 302 redirect.

When you redirect your domain name using a 301 redirect, it sends visitors to the specified site with a “301 Moved Permanently” HTTP response. The HTTP 301 response code tells user-agents (including search engines) the location has permanently moved.

NOTE: If you use a 301 redirect, you can remove the redirect or change it at any time.

A 302 redirect sends visitors to the specified site indicating a “302 Found” HTTP response. The HTTP 302 response code tells user-agents (including search engines) that the location has temporarily moved.

A 301 redirect can provide a long-term solution by pointing your domain names to business or affiliate sites. A 302 redirect points your domain name to a temporary page while you build your permanent website. The specific redirects help the search engines distinguish how long your website can be viewed at the current location.

Further Resources

Using 301 Page Redirects
Redirect Your Site using the Site Redirects Manager
Forwarding or Masking Your Domain Name 

The Domain Name System (DNS) provides visitors access to websites using domain names rather than IP addresses.

How does DNS work?

DNS translates human-speak (domain names) into computer-speak (IP addresses). Domain names are text-based names used to identify a website or Internet location. IP addresses are strings of numbers used by every computer connected to the Internet to identify a website’s location and communicate with other computers and Web servers.

DNS translates the text-based website or location identifier a visitor enters to the number-based IP address of the associated website or Internet location. For example, coolexample.com is a domain name. 208.109.80.196 is an IP address associated with cooldomain.com. DNS translates the domain name coolexample.com to the IP address 208.109.80.196.

Using DNS, we can enter easily-remembered text-based domain names and reach machine-readable Internet addresses.

How does DNS know which IP address to use?

Each domain name stores its DNS information in a zone file. Large collections of zone files for different domain names are stored on nameservers. Domain names point to nameservers to locate their zone files — to do this, a domain name must point to the nameserver holding its specific zone file.

How do I know which nameserver to use?

When you register a domain name with us, we automatically park the domain name and set its nameserver to our parking servers. If you activate the domain name or make changes to your website’s hosting, your hosting company provides the nameserver names or IP addresses where your domain name’s zone file is located. Use this information to update your domain name settings at your registrar. Once you’ve updated your nameservers or IP address, allow 24 to 48 hours for the new information to propagate through the Internet, and then visitors can reach your website using your domain name.



Zone files organize the zone records for domain names and subdomains in a DNS server. Every domain name and subdomain has a zone file, and each zone file contains zone records. These files, editable in any plain text editor, hold the DNS information linking domain names and subdomains to IP addresses. Zone files usually contain several different zone records.

NOTE: Although domain names might have subdomains, the zone files for subdomains are not considered sub-zone. All zone files are separate entities and do not have a hierarchal structure.

The most common records contained in a zone file are start of authority (SOA), nameserver, mail exchanger, host, and CNAME. These are described below.

• Start of Authority (SOA) — Required for every zone file, the SOA record contains caching information, the zone administrator’s email address, and the master name server for the zone. The SOA also contains a number incremented with each update. As this number updates, it triggers the DNS to reload the zone data.
• Name Server (NS) — The NS record contains the name server information for the zone.
• Mail Exchanger (MX) — The MX record provides the mail server information for that zone to deliver email to the correct location.
• Host (A) — Uses the A record to map an IP address to a host name. This is the most common type of record on the Internet.
• Canonical Name (CNAME) — A CNAME is an alias for a host. Using CNAMEs, you can have more than one DNS name for a host. CNAME records point back to the A record. When you change the IP address in your A record, all CNAME records for that domain name automatically follow the new IP address.
• Text (TXT) — This is an informational record. Use it for additional information about a host or for technical information to servers.
• Service Records (SRV) — SRV records are resource records used to identify computers hosting specific services.
• AAAA — AAAA records store a 128-bit Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) address that does not fit the standard A record format. For example, 2007:0db6:85a3:0000:0000:6a2e:0371:7234 is a valid 128-bit/IPv6 address.



If you made a recent purchase that qualifies you to receive a credit in Google® AdWords, it will display in your Account Manager. The promotional credit must be applied to a NEW AdWords account within 15 days of creating the account and is valid only for NEW Google AdWords customers with assisted signup accounts (“Jumpstart Accounts”) or self-managed signup.

NOTE: Promotional Google AdWords credits are limited to one per customer and will be available in your account within 48 hours of your qualifying product purchase.

To Use Your Promotional Google AdWords Credit

1. Log in to your Account Manager.
2. In the My Account section, under Web Site Tools, click Advertising Credits: MySpace ®, Google ®, Facebook ® .
3. On the Advertising Credits page, click the Activate Credit link for the advertising credit you want to use.
4. Click the Sign Up Now link.
5. Follow the sign up process to redeem your Google credit.

Note: Advertisers, meaning you, will be charged for advertising that exceeds the promotional credit. You will need to suspend your ads if you do not want to receive additional charges beyond the free credit amount.



If you purchased a qualifying product, you may have Facebook® Ad credits in your account. Facebook Ad® places your advertisements on the pages of the Facebook social network.

To Redeem Your Facebook Credit

1. Log into the Account Manager.
2. In the My Account section, under Website tools, click Advertising Credits: MySpace®, Google®, and Facebook®.
3. If you have purchased an eligible product, you should see Activate Credit in the Credit Status column for Facebook.
4. Click Activate Credit.
5. Once your credit is activated, a Sign Up Now button will appear in it’s place, along with the activation details of your credit.
6. Copy down your coupon code – you’ll need it later to redeem your free credit with Facebook.
7. Click the Sign Up Now link.
8. After creating your ad, click Review Ad at the bottom of the page.
9. At the Review Ad page, ensure that your campaign, targeting, and budget are correct, then click Place Order.
10. Select credit card or PayPal as the funding source for your account.
    • If you selected credit card:
    1. Select I have a coupon to redeem.
    2. Copy the coupon code you received and paste it in the coupon code field.
    3. Click Place Order.
    • If you selected PayPal:
    1. Add your PayPal account, then go to your Funding Sources tab.
    2. Click Add a funding source at the top right of the page.
    3. From the Add a Funding Source screen, select Facebook Ad Coupon, and then paste the coupon code you received into the coupon code field.
    4. Click Submit.

For more information on Facebook Ads see What are Facebook Ads?, or see Are there Restrictions on Promotional Facebook Ads Credits?.