LESSON #29: Uploading a Website Using FTP

By | December 14, 2008
266 Comments

In the previous lesson, I showed you how to build a web page using HTML. But that page isn’t going to do you a whole lot of good if it’s not on the web, is it?

So let’s learn how to upload it to the web…

(Watch this video…)

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Main points:

  • Control panel “File managers” are not the best way to upload files.

  • FTP = File Transfer Protocol

  • FTP Client = a software program that uses FTP to transfer your files

    You can download a free FTP client at: http://filezilla-project.org

    (see demo on video)

    You can “drag and drop” files directly from your computer onto your website.

  • Advanced tip: You can use FTP to backup important files from your PC. Just create a “storage” folder within the root directory (above public_html) of your website.

    Action step:

    1) Upload at least one page to your site using FTP.

    Note: the file should be named index.html if you want it to appear as the home page of your website. (Or index.htm, index.php, etc)

    In the next lesson I’ll begin showing you some tools you can use to make your website look nice.

    As always, you are welcome to post your questions and comments below 🙂

    Have a great day!

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    • 266 thoughts on “LESSON #29: Uploading a Website Using FTP”

    1. Eric Post author

      It depends on the production settings when you produce the video. for one thing, I generally keep the file size small… like under 1MB per minute, which helps it play smoothly on the internet. I use SWF format, 16-bit color, jpeg compression, mp3 audio. If you are using one of the Camtasia settings with loading movie, set the preload to 1%, and the minimum preload time to 0.

      Reply ↓
    2. Eric Post author

      Using a grad thesis for content is a great idea. Might as well recycle and monetize the work you already did.

      Reply ↓
    3. Eric Post author

      you’re close. You just created an extra public_html folder inside your real public_html folder. So your site is currently at: http://infrastructurehealing.com/public_html/
      So whatever you did, you probably need to just eliminate one public_html from the address, or publish one level above wherever you previously published to.

      Reply ↓
    4. Eric Post author

      Yes you can still use this coupon code for a Reseller Account…

      HostGator
      Code: ERICSTIPS.COM

      It will take $9.94 off the price of the 1st month.

      Reply ↓
    6. Eric Post author

      It’s true, I’m not a good multi-tasker. I’ve been saying it for a long time now, so I found it interesting to hear Eben Pagan talking about it on a video recently. He said that our culture has created a misconception that multi-tasking is a good thing, and a badge to wear with honor. When in actuality, it almost always decreases efficiency and productivity by a large amount. While I have played around with most of the methods you mention above, I do not use ANY of them on a regular basis. As you mentioned, they are time consuming, and the results are not always good. There are easier ways for me to get traffic. However, I will be covering some of those web 2.0 tactics, because so many people are keenly interested in free traffic methods.

      Reply ↓
    12. Mark

      That was to simple for how many times I tried to fix it.
      All I had to do was leave my FTP Directory box empty and it worked.
      I had tried that before but I am finding when working in XSite Pro and I make changes it is important to same the changes first before I try to publish.
      Thought I would send the pre-launch date to some people I know just to get it out there and for me to practice.
      I hope to have my site officially launched in January 2009 which will support both my retail and online business
      Thanks for all your help! It would not be happening without it.

      Mark

      Reply ↓
    13. stan

      eric,
      great lessons.
      1)”easier ways for me to get traffic”
      so what are those ways, can you name them.

      2) I do not have any site before. After watching your lessons, I got 2 domains and hostgator baby account.
      In both I installed wordpress.
      so one is primary domain and second one is add-on domain.

      so under public_html I have 2 domains. I also see
      wp-admin
      wp-content
      wp-include folders.

      I guess those are for the Primary domain, am I right?

      when I click on the add-on domain: it again shows the same 3 folders as above.

      My questions:
      a)If I want to store videos that I want to play on my Primary domain website, where should I create folder or directory?

      I right clicked after selecting public_html and selected create directory. Now under public_html, I see : wp admin; wp content; wp include; add on domain and new directory.

      b)If I want to create a directory to store videos as above but for add-on domain (i.e., second site) should I right click on second domain name and create directory. Then when I double click the second site folder on upper – right quadrant in FTP, it shows three wp folders and new directory folder, total four.

      Did I do this right? If I store videos or images or audio files in that new directory after renaming it, do they work?

      Thanks. sorry about the long question.

      Reply ↓
    14. Eric Post author

      Yes I’ll be covering it… mainly paid traffic, affiliate traffic, and list building.

      Reply ↓
    15. Eric Post author

      1) paid traffic, affiliate traffic, list building.

      2) you would create the folder within the public_html directory. It sounds like you’re on the right track. I’d say just do some tests and figure it out by trial and error; create a directory and upload something into it, and see if you can see it from the web.

      Reply ↓
    16. Cesar

      Hey Eric,

      First thanks so much for being there. I am a complete newbie and just trying to create my first website.

      Question: Do I really have to change the “public.html” to “index.html” for my home page?

      Question: Do I have to put the sales page, product info for download on the same folder as my home page or to another page?

      Question: Wht about if I wanted to add, say, an squezze page? To the same folder as my home page or to another folder?

      Thanks. These questions may sound stupid, but they out my head spinning for days now…and I’m a veteran editor in chief of international publications for 17 years! Talk about the Internet!

      Thanks for all your help. I’ll appreciate it if you or anyone else can help me.

      Best regards,
      Cesar

      Reply ↓
    17. Eric Post author

      Yes the home page needs to be named index.

      I’ll be covering how to make a download page. You can put it in the same directory (public_html) or you can make a new directory for it within public_html.

      Same for the squeeze page. It could be in the same directory or different. I’ll be covering how to make a squeeze page also.

      Reply ↓
    19. Pat

      Hi Eric!

      I recived a mail containing a video link
      the other dy … I´m not sure if the
      speaker were you or Bishop. Anyway, the video
      was made in a “MTV Cribs” kind of way … He showed the viewers around his house before getting to the subject of the movie. Could you please give me that link again?

      Appreciate it.

      /Pat

      Reply ↓
    20. Tony

      Hi Sohan I went shopping today and found / bought a just published Peachpit Press Visual Quickstart guide on Joomla CMS I mentioned earlier you can read some reviews here http://is.gd/ciQb a great guide for the beginner to semi expert best price/value as well. It complements the other book I mentioned but more a tune to the beginner and a good return reference document when you forget ‘Now how did I do that’.
      $30 US and $33 in Australia where I am.

      Tony

      Reply ↓
    22. Andy

      Hi Eric,

      I’m the owner of a printing house

      I find your Lessons useful and I’m interested to offer a free dvd with-translated into romanian.

      If you agree this idea,please contact me

      Best Regards,
      Andy

      Reply ↓
    23. Gary Partridge

      Hi Eric.

      I just sent this same info to you in your at your help desk.

      I’m one of your newer Tips and Lessons subscriber’s and just signed up at your link to get the Instant Affiliate Website.

      I had problems getting my order to take and may have been billed twice for Mike” newsletter. I actually got two sets of welcoming emails BUT NEVER GOT A RECEIPT.

      Here’s a copy of the support ticket that I sent to Mike’s help desk and a portion of the text for their receipt of same.

      Hi.

      I just joined and took advantage of the newsletter the 7 Figure report.

      I was using Firefox 3 and during the sign-up process and I got “page load” errors when I placed my order because it took to long for the page to load. I then tried filling out the sign-up template again with Credit info, etc. and this time it took.

      However, instead of getting one set of welcoming emails I got two sets and never got a receipt for what will be billed.

      Would you please make sure I won’t be billed twice.

      Thanks,

      Gary

      Reply ↓
    24. Eric Post author

      Yes you will receive my bonus.

      As for the billing, you would need to contact Mike’s support. They do have a helpdesk and phone # available.

      Reply ↓
    25. lourdes

      CONGRATULATIONS!!!
      GOd Bless You and your lovely family!

      Many thanks for sharing your knowledge and wisdom in internet marketing.

      Best Regards,
      lourdes

      Reply ↓
    26. Don

      Hi Eric,

      Thursday and Friday I spent playing catchup watching your videos and find the content and information great and useful.

      I have been ill for several years, and just plain ole didn’t feel like doing anything on the Internet or in IM. After arterial by-pass surgory in February and 8 months of recovery, I am finally motivated to get started again.

      Before my illness, I was a Master Coach, I taught computer and IM classes in VoIP chat rooms and via email. Now, I can’t remember much of what I knew.

      And with all the changes that have occurred in 2008 in the marketing world, you can call me a newbie.

      I got my first domain in 2001, but did not find a real web host until 2003, after about 6 months of researching various web hosts. I finally decided to go with Kiosk.

      In april 2007 an associate recommended IXWebhosting to me and I decided to try it out. I started with a free domain registration and put up a website (I had 500 gb webspace and 2500 gb bandwidth, for less than $60 p/y. In March 2008 the company moved the datacenter from KY to OH in just 36 hours, with no downtime. Since the move the service and features greatly improved. In October I got an automatic upgrade to Unlimited Webspace and bandwith and more). So I decided to close my account with Kiosk (Kiosk has been moving the data center from CAN to TX for months with a lot of downtime and numerous problems) and I moved all my domains to IXWebHosting. I do miss the cPanel and WHM, but the new features and improvement at IX are nearly equal to what I had. It actually has 24/7 Support (phone, chat, help desk, email, emergency pager).

      I now have 14 domains, 4 need to have the web sites rebuilt or updated and 10 that have nothing on them, just waiting for content.

      I learned HTML the hard way, and have built almost all of my web pages using HTML, Java Script, CSS, etc. I never liked the Site Builders or WYSIWYG editors, because I just could get the satisfaction I wanted in the appearance and features of a page.

      Last week I spent several days studying the w3schools tutorials for a refresher on my forgotten skills and knowledge.

      Now that is a little bit about me and where I have been.

      Now my comment and question.

      I have watched a lot of how-to-do videos from all kinds of gurus (so to speak) during the past few weeks, that tell us to put an auto responder form on our web pages or squeeze pages, but there is no explaination or instruction as to what to put in followup email messages.

      Will you cover this topic in your lessons?

      Now, I am ready to get started again.

      I am looking forward to the next lesson.

      Reply ↓
    27. LANCE

      hello eric,
      could u suggest your pick for a web hosting site? i want to be at a place u think is best.i have seen many dif sites.i am a newbie to the max and just want to get it right the forst time. thanks for teaching me your knowledge. i cant wait for lesson 12. aloha, lance

      Reply ↓
    28. Laura Farris

      Eric, I am in the process of setting up my first website. I am trying to download some pluggins it wordpress. I have downloaded them in ftp and they are showing that they are there but when I go to dashboard they are not there. I went to cpanel in file manager to see if they were there and they are. What am I doing wrong?

      Reply ↓
    30. Charles Peavy

      Eric, just viewed Lesson #29 and thanks to your TIPS I’m well on way to my first website. However, the index.html icon doesn’t open in Internet Explorer. The source code is there behind the page, but the page is blank. Really weird, because my little webpage displays perfectly in Netscape and Firefox. Can anyone explain this?… really confusing to me. Charles Peavy at Baycat3@cox.net

      Reply ↓
    31. Charles Peavy

      Can’t remember which ‘guru’ said it, but according to him, multi-tasking lowers your IQ! Don’t know about you, but I can’t afford to shave any points off mine. I’ve learned I must concentrate on one task at a time…step-by-step. So I’ve picked my teacher (Eric) and am following each of his super TIPS.

      Reply ↓
    32. george

      Hi Eric,
      I did enjoy the video on website creation using web authoring software. Infact, i finished designing and uploaded my first ever website-thanks a great deal for that.
      My question is can i import template into Kompozer software to use for my site? I f yes please explain how to do that to my new site. Again how to upload video to my site too.Please help by explaining that to me.

      thanks…….

      Reply ↓
    33. george

      Sorry one more question will the template make the width of the site reduce. I mean the page so, it can look more professional?

      Reply ↓
    36. Eric Post author

      you can open any HTML page with Kompozer…

      I’ll be covering video in a future lesson.

      Reply ↓
    37. Eric Post author

      You can make the page any width, using a percentage of the browser window, or by using a fixed width. I generally like to use a fixed width because then I have more control over what the page looks like for the visitor.

      Reply ↓
    38. Charles Peavy

      Well, that didn’t workout did it? I sent the html hoping you could paste it into your browser, but it tranlated into a very bad page. It’s just a practice page, but its very neat, even has a red Headline. I’m sending it again ommiting the html tag:

      eliminate dashes to see in browser

      How To Create a Webpage From Scratch

      How To Create a Webpage From Scratch
      Validate your page by going to http://W3schools.org
      Check page in various browsers with http://browsershots.org
      Also check out Notepad++

      LAUNCH DATE JANUARY 2009 1 PM EST

      Reply ↓
    39. Jeanette Still

      Eric, I think where I got stuck on Lesson #28 is keeping me from being able to do Lesson 29. (I submitted 3 questions yesterday.) I was not able to get an HTML Index so when it got to the step of switching to the Index page I was stuck. Yesterday when I went to view my HTML Document it still had all the code on it. I was not able to switch the document to HTML code because when I go to Tools it does not have Folder Options so I didn’t know how to make the change. Please help!!!

      Reply ↓
    41. Gail

      your tips are a blessing. Wish I had found it sooner. The html lesson went real fast for me. Wish the video was longer. Because of a brain problem I have to take notes but I could see how it can become automatic. The Ftp is also confusing to me so I will have to study it. I can see where you want us to learn some html and you really can do it yourself. I never knew it could be so easy. The only part I had heard of was H1 header tag for keyword. I think the html could be broken into 2 lessons. but that is just me. You need to get this system out there so people know they can do it without being ripped off. There is a great demand for this. If you can keep it free that would be great but maybe charge a very small fee like $20 and that would all add up. The official gurus who are getting less ands less repect would have to s— in their pants never understanding true generousity on your part

      Reply ↓
    42. Stephen

      Hi eric, let me tell you I’m learning so much with your videos i want to thank you in create it them.
      I have a question for you, I’m a little be stock in lesson #28, like you sed to create a notepad, i can’t get it to work as a html page, it’s stays as a notepad and when I tried to set it up in the FTP server, it doesn’t recognize as a web page.
      it shows only as a notepad, i can’t get anything as a web page.

      Any help?

      Sorry about my English

      Reply ↓
    43. Eric Post author

      It is most likely because it is still a txt (text) file, and not an html file. In order to change it to an html file, you need to change the file extension from txt to html. In order to do that, you must have file extensions visible in Windows.

      For Windows XP go to:

      Tools >> Folder Options >> Click the “View” tab >> Make sure there is NO checkmark by “Hide extensions for known file types”

      For Windows Vista:

      1. Open Folder Options by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Folder Options.

      2. Click the View tab, and then, under Advanced settings clear the Hide extensions for known file types check box, and then click OK.

      Reply ↓
    44. Jeanette Still

      Eric, I completed Lesson #28. Whew!!! Now I’m stuck on Lesson #29. In Filezilla it does not like my Hostgator password. It likes my user name ok but will not accept the password. What should I do? Jeanette

      Reply ↓
    45. Eric Post author

      First, make sure you’ve got the correct info in the “Host:” field in filezilla. It should be your domain by itself.

      As for the password… will it not accept it at all? Or does it try to connect but then fail?

      If it doesn’t accept it at all, then it seems like you are typing something incorrectly, or using invalid characters.

      But if it tries connecting and then fails, then it seems like it’s just the wrong password. It’s the same password that you use to login to your cpanel. Are you able to log into your cpanel…

      Reply ↓
    46. Hmong

      hello, Eric

      Thanks for your lesson. Please do not delete any of your movies. I watch them over and over again every time I got stuck with something. And thank very much.

      I got one question for you, if you could help me out.
      Every time I use FTP to upload my file (index)to 000webhost.com, it always show the word index.html but the my page when I type in my domain.

      Reply ↓
    48. bushwick jennifer

      thanks for the storage tip. I always learn something new. Once you have been a student of Eric’s Tips, you don’t feel so handicapped when it comes to using the Internet/or working in the WebSite world. Eric you must know how I feel, thanks you soooo much, I feel like a women whose going in the right direction. Before you, I didn’t know who to ask! I can wash the mud off my feet.

      Reply ↓
    49. Coty Alexander

      I have struggled for a while I have learned a lot on my own but Erics tips have really helped. I have been able to get some web sites up but haven’t made a dime, on anything. I started writing articles, I have now been given the expert author status on ezine articles. So I checked tonight on google as I was reading getting listed on google and
      what I found was that I had the number one spot for ezine profit tactics on google. This for me is very exciting, I know without a doubt now that I really can make this work, we all want to make money that’s why we are here. But I really think this is a break through for me. Thankx Eric, and every one this is how I look at it “Do or not Do, there is no try!” thankx Coty http://www.ezineprofittactics. My article is titled “Making your ezine work for you” on ezine articles.

      Reply ↓
    50. Coty Alexander

      Hi Eric,
      I do have a question for you. Why? and how do I fix the problem of when I go into my html editor, and load a template to build a website, upload to my hosting account using filzilla and I use fire fox as my browser, do I have spacing and font differences in internet explorer when I check it. I ran the brower of safari and also had no problems. I am using NUV as my html editor.
      thankx coty

      Reply ↓

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