Put your site online: hosting and connecting your domain

You’ve built your site, congrats, the most creative part is done. Now you need to get it off your computer so the planet can see it. It comes down to two things: host it somewhere, then point your domain name at that spot. I promise, it’s simpler than it looks. Let’s walk it step by step with a site exported from CJFG Studio.

1. Understand the difference between hosting and the domain

Two separate things, often mixed up. Hosting is the land where your files live, reachable 24/7. The domain name is the address that points to that land. You can have one without the other, but you need both for a client to type your address and land at your place. We’ll handle hosting first, the domain second.

2. Drop your folder with a host

When you export your site from the Studio, you get a ZIP folder with everything inside: the HTML, the CSS, your images. Services like Netlify let you drag that folder straight into a window in your browser. A few seconds later, your site is already live at a temporary address. Yes, that fast. At this step, your site truly exists on the web.

• Unzip the folder exported from the Studio.
• Create a free account with a host like Netlify.
• Drag your folder into the drop zone, and the upload is done.
• Note the temporary address given: your site is already visible there.

3. Connect your domain name

The temporary address is fine for testing, but you want yourbusiness.com. In your host, you add your domain; it then gives you a few values to copy (DNS records). You go to wherever you bought your domain, paste those values, and save. It’s the only slightly technical moment, but it’s guided copy-paste, not black magic.

4. Wait a bit and check

After connecting the domain, you sometimes need to wait a little (from a few minutes to a few hours) for the change to spread across the network. Don’t panic if it doesn’t work in the second. Once live, test your site on your phone and another device, click all your links, and make sure the little security padlock shows in the address bar.

Hosting a site today means dragging a folder and pasting a few values. The real work is having built it well beforehand.

And there you go: your site is live, at your own address, under your name. If the domain step gives you cold sweats, or you simply want someone to handle it once and for all, that’s exactly the kind of thing I sort out in twenty minutes. Write me and we’ll put it online together.