What to Do After Buying Hosting: A Step-by-Step Setup Guide

After buying hosting, work through six steps: confirm the service is active, connect your domain, install WordPress or upload your site, turn on SSL, test the live site and note your renewal date. Most people finish the hands-on part in under an hour; DNS changes can then take a few hours to reach everyone.

If you chose a domain during checkout, it may already be added to your hosting account. Check this in My Hostings. Your site will only load once the domain's DNS also points to your hosting server, which you'll confirm in step 2.

Setup checklist

1. Check That Your Hosting Is Active

Your hosting status lives in the My Hostings section of the Atak Domain customer panel. Once the status shows ACTIVE and a domain is attached, you can move on to the control panel (cPanel or Plesk).

1. Sign in to atakdomain.com and open My Account.
2. Click My Hostings in the left menu. The list shows each plan with its domain, Status, End Date and Remaining (days left).
3. Make sure the status reads ACTIVE, then click Manage on that row.

If you didn't pick a domain at checkout, the management screen shows: “To start using your hosting product, you must add a domain name.” Click Add Domain, type your domain without www (for example, example.com), choose a platform and click Save.

Pick the platform that matches your site's software. Not sure? Ask our support team before you save.

How to tell your hosting is ready: on the management screen you should see:

• Status: Active under Hosting General Information
• Your domain marked CONNECTED under Domain Management, along with the panel type (cPanel or Plesk)
• Server address, username, password and a Go to Control Panel button
• FTP address, FTP username and FTP password under FTP Information

Click the eye icon to reveal a password, and never share these details. Plan not in the list? Check that your order and payment have been approved. If it's still missing, open a support ticket.

For screen-by-screen walkthroughs, see How to Activate Linux cPanel Hosting and How to Activate Windows Plesk Hosting.

2. Connect Your Domain to Your Hosting

For your site to load when someone types your domain, the domain's DNS has to point to your hosting server. There are two ways to do that: switch the domain's nameservers to Atak Domain, or add an A record at your current DNS provider.

• Nameservers (NS) decide where all of your domain's DNS records are managed. Changing them moves the whole DNS zone to the new provider.
• A record points your domain straight at a server's IP address. Your nameservers stay put; only the website address changes.

Scenario A: Domain and hosting are both at Atak Domain

Atak Domain's default nameservers are tr.atakdns.com and eu.atakdns.com. You'll also see them at the top of the My Hostings page.

1. In the customer panel, open your domain's DNS settings. You can also use the DNS Management button at the top of the hosting management screen.
2. Check that the nameserver fields show tr.atakdns.com and eu.atakdns.com.
3. If they show something else, replace them with these two and save.

More detail: How to Manage Domain DNS.

Scenario B: Domain registered with another company

Sign in to the company where you registered the domain and change its nameservers to tr.atakdns.com and eu.atakdns.com. If your email runs elsewhere (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and so on), add that service's MX and TXT records in Atak Domain's DNS management screen. Prefer not to touch the nameservers? Use Scenario D.

You don't need to transfer the domain to connect it. If you'd like to keep everything in one account, see how to transfer a domain to Atak Domain.

Scenario C: Your DNS runs on Cloudflare

Leave your nameservers on Cloudflare and connect the site from the Cloudflare DNS dashboard:

1. Find your hosting server's IP address (in cPanel · in Plesk).
2. Add an A record for the root domain (@) pointing to that IP.
3. Add a CNAME record for www pointing to your domain.
4. If the proxy (orange cloud) is on, first finish the SSL setup on the hosting side (step 4). Once the server has a valid certificate, set Cloudflare's SSL/TLS mode to Full (strict). Avoid Flexible: combined with the server's HTTPS redirect, it causes a “too many redirects” error.

If the hosting panel can't issue a certificate, switch the proxy off (grey cloud), issue the certificate, then turn the proxy back on.

Scenario D: Connect with DNS records, without changing nameservers

Want email and other services to keep running at your current DNS provider? Update only the website records:

Your MX and other email records stay as they are, so email usually keeps working. The exception: if your MX record points to a hostname you're changing (for example, directly to example.com), mail will follow it to the new server. Check where your MX record points before you edit anything. Step-by-step help: Adding an A Record and Adding a CNAME Record.

How long does a DNS change take?

Most DNS changes show up across networks within 1–4 hours. Treat that as an estimate, not a promise: it depends on each record's TTL, your internet provider's DNS cache and the kind of change. Nameserver changes can take up to 24–48 hours. For .tr domains, DNS updates are processed at set times; see DNS update cycles for .tr domains.

How to tell the connection works: on the hosting management screen your domain shows CONNECTED under Domain Management. Confirm it publicly too: a DNS lookup should return your hosting IP for the A record, or tr.atakdns.com and eu.atakdns.com for the NS records.

3. Install WordPress or Upload Your Website

With the domain connected, choose one route: install WordPress, or upload a site you already have. Open your control panel with the Go to Control Panel button on the hosting management screen.

If you're using WordPress

• On a WordPress Hosting plan: automatic WordPress setup is part of the plan features. Open your control panel and check whether WordPress is already installed. If not, follow the cPanel steps below.
• In cPanel: open Softaculous Apps Installer, choose WordPress and click Install. Select https:// as the protocol, pick your domain and leave the directory field empty so the site installs in the root. Don't use a guessable admin username such as “admin”, and set a strong password.
• In Plesk: if your panel has WordPress Toolkit or an application installer, start the installation there. Can't see it? Our support team can help.

How to tell it worked: example.com/wp-admin opens the WordPress login screen and your details let you in. Then check under Settings › General that both the WordPress Address and Site Address start with https://.

Need more detail? See our WordPress installation guide. Moving an existing WordPress site? Use Importing a WordPress Site into Softaculous. If your current plan later feels tight for WordPress, you can compare our WordPress hosting plans.

If you already have website files

1. Upload your files with cPanel File Manager or an FTP/SFTP client. Your FTP address, username and password are under FTP Information on the hosting management screen; the FTP address is usually ftp.yourdomain.com.
2. Upload to the site's document root, the folder your domain serves. In cPanel it's usually public_html; in Plesk, httpdocs.
3. Make sure your homepage file (index.html or index.php) sits directly in that folder, not in a subfolder left over from unzipping.
4. If your site uses a database, create a new MySQL database, import your backup and update the connection details in the site's configuration file.

Related guides: Transferring a website via FTP with FileZilla · Connecting an FTP account in Plesk

4. Turn On SSL and Check HTTPS

An SSL certificate encrypts the connection between your visitors' browsers and your server, so your site opens over https://. Free certificates are issued only after the domain is confirmed to point at your server, so do this after step 2.

1. Check whether your plan includes free SSL. Plans without it can use a separate SSL certificate.
2. Issue the free Let's Encrypt certificate in cPanel or Plesk. Steps: How to Activate Let's Encrypt SSL in cPanel and Plesk.
3. Redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS: Complete HTTPS Migration Guide.
4. Look for mixed content: an HTTPS page that still loads images, scripts or styles over http://. Browsers may flag it in the address bar. In WordPress, switching the site address to https:// fixes most cases.

How to tell SSL works: both https://example.com and https://www.example.com open without warnings, and typing http:// takes you to HTTPS automatically. If the browser says the connection isn't private, the certificate may not be issued yet, may have expired, or may not cover both the www and non-www addresses.

5. Test Your Live Website

Before you call it done, open the site the way a visitor would and run through this list:

• Does the domain open both with and without www?
• Is it your site, not a default hosting page or an old version?
• Does HTTPS load without warnings?
• Does the site look right on a phone?
• If you use WordPress, does /wp-admin open?
• Can you send and receive email?
• Do your key pages, contact form and, if you have one, checkout work?

Still seeing the old site? Your browser or computer may be holding on to old DNS data. Try a different network, such as mobile data, or clear your browser and system DNS cache.

6. Check Your Hosting Renewal Date

If your hosting plan expires, your website and email can stop working. A quick check now saves you from surprises later.

• Expiry date: the End Date and Remaining columns in My Hostings show when the plan ends and how many days are left. The hosting management screen shows the same under Service Expiry Date.
• Renewing: use the Renew button next to each plan in My Hostings. The Renewal Center in the left menu gathers all your renewals in one place.
• Renewal price: the first-term price and the renewal price can differ. Atak Domain lists the renewal price for every plan on its product pages.
• Auto-renewal: check in the Renewal Center whether auto-renewal is available for your account. If you're not sure, renew manually before the expiry date.
• Domain and hosting renew separately: your domain has its own expiry date. See How to Renew a Domain.
• Don't miss reminders: renewal notices go to your account email, so keep that address up to date.

If your site grows and needs more resources, compare current plans on the hosting prices page.

I Bought Hosting, but My Website Won't Open

When a new site won't load, the cause is usually a missing domain connection, a wrong DNS record or files in the wrong folder. Here are the most common cases and fixes.

“You need to add a domain” message

• Likely cause: No domain has been added to the hosting account yet.
• Check: My Hostings › Manage.
• Fix: Add your domain with Add Domain.

The domain doesn't open at all (DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN)

• Likely cause: Wrong nameservers or A record, or the DNS change isn't visible yet.
• Check: A DNS lookup for your domain.
• Fix: Fix the records, then allow time for the change to show.

A default or blank page appears

• Likely cause: Files are in the wrong folder, or there's no homepage file.
• Check: Contents of public_html or httpdocs.
• Fix: Move the index file into the document root.

403 Forbidden

• Likely cause: Missing homepage file or wrong file permissions.
• Check: File and folder permissions.
• Fix: Fixing the 403 Forbidden error

500 Internal Server Error

• Likely cause: An .htaccess or PHP error.
• Check: Server error logs.
• Fix: Fixing the HTTP 500 error

“Not secure” warning

• Likely cause: SSL isn't installed or doesn't cover www/non-www.
• Check: The certificate's domain list.
• Fix: Issue Let's Encrypt for both addresses.

“Too many redirects” error

• Likely cause: Cloudflare Flexible mode clashes with the server's HTTPS redirect.
• Check: Cloudflare SSL/TLS mode.
• Fix: Enable SSL on the server, then set the mode to Full (strict).

“Error establishing a database connection”

• Likely cause: Wrong database details.
• Check: The wp-config.php file.
• Fix: Correct the database name, user and password.

Email stopped arriving

• Likely cause: MX/SPF records weren't copied during a nameserver change.
• Check: An MX lookup for your domain.
• Fix: Add the email records to DNS management (our mail DNS records).

Still stuck? Open a support ticket and include your domain, the exact error message and what you've already tried. It speeds things up.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know my hosting account is active?

In the customer panel, go to My Hostings: the status column shows ACTIVE. On the management screen you'll also see Status: Active and your domain marked CONNECTED.

How long does hosting activation take?

If you picked a domain at checkout, it may already be added to your hosting. If not, you can add it right away with Add Domain under My Hostings › Manage. Your site then loads once the DNS change is visible, usually within a few hours, though TTL values and DNS caching can stretch this to 24–48 hours.

Do I have to transfer my domain to Atak Domain?

No. Your domain can stay with its current registrar. Either point its nameservers to tr.atakdns.com and eu.atakdns.com, or point its A record at your hosting IP.

Should I change nameservers or add an A record?

Change nameservers if you want to manage all DNS in one place. If your email or other services rely on your current DNS provider, or you use Cloudflare, updating only the A and CNAME records is the safer choice.

Will connecting my hosting affect my email?

If you only update the website's A and CNAME records, email usually isn't affected, unless your MX record depends on one of the records you change, so check it first. If you change nameservers, recreate your MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records in the new DNS zone or incoming mail may stop.

Do I need to install WordPress myself?

WordPress Hosting plans include automatic WordPress setup. On other Linux/cPanel plans, you can install WordPress in a few clicks with Softaculous.

Can I move my existing website to Atak Domain?

Yes. Free website migration is listed in the features of our Web Hosting and WordPress Hosting plans. Confirm what your plan covers with our support team and start the move with a support ticket.

What happens when my hosting expires?

Your website and email can stop working. Keep an eye on the remaining days in My Hostings and renew before the end date with the Renew button or the Renewal Center.

Next Step

Don't have hosting yet? You can compare our hosting plans to find one that fits your site.