Capital Hosting

Hosting companies which offer a cPanel service are very popular. What cPanel does is to allow you to manage and install websites easily. You can install WordPress with one click. Plus you can upload files and documents through their file manager. cPanel also offers Awstats which tracks visitors to your site.

A good definition of cPanel is:

'a Unix based web hosting control panel that provides a graphical interface and automation tools designed to simplify the process of hosting a web site. cPanel utilizes a 3 tier structure that provides functionality for administrators, resellers, and end-user website owners to control the various aspects of website and server administration through a standard web browser.'

Free cPanel is normally offered by companies such as HostGator. While technically it isn't free it is included in your hosting package. As you can tell from the above definition having a cPanel with your hosting account can really make your life easier.

Even if you are planning on just a basic website you will need to install a website or blog on your domain name. This can be done inside your free cPanel by using Fantastico. This is a simple step by step guide to setting up a WordPress, Joomla or a Drupal site.

cPanel is easy to use and is one of the reasons why many people are looking for a web host who offers this service. With cPanel you can easily upload images and files, install shopping carts and forums as well as creating your own help desk ticket system.

Another great feature of cPanel is that you can track and monitor your visitor traffic. Knowing where you visitors are coming from is great. In addition you can find statistics on what pages they visit and which keywords are used to find your site. For a serious business owner this is vital information!

Once you start adding content to your website it is important to backup your files. This way if anything does happen to your site you can easily restore it. Backups can be done from within cPanel and you should get into the habit of performing a backup regularly.

cPanel also offers email setup and forwarding. This allows you to use different email names and have them all redirected into one inbox. Email redirecting provides you with a professional online image by using your domain name. For example you can set up "info @ yourdomainname dot com", or multiple variations of this.

If you are just starting out with hosting your own site I would highly recommend you choose a hosting company that offers free cPanel.