How to Host a PHP Website (Step by Step)

Nowadays, people are using PHP websites for their business purposes. However, many people do not know how to host a PHP website on a server  Or which server is best for PHP website hosting.

In this blog, I will share the step-by-step process on how to host a PHP Website on the server?

Why do people choose PHP websites for hosting?

When you are developing a professional website, you should keep in mind the speed, format, and security. Fortunately, you can easily enable these metrics in PHP. Most people use the PHP website for development because PHP provides a secure, user-friendly, complete source code and effortless database connections system. 

Besides that, PHP is supported by virtually all web hosts. 

What are the things to keep in mind before choosing PHP web hosting?

PHP scripts can only be illustrated on a server with PHP installed, so if you want to enjoy PHP hosting benefits, you need to choose a web host that supports it. Choosing PHP web hosting is not easy because there are many PHP web hosting providers in recent times. 

Most web hosts offer the same features, but it's good to know what's different about the best from the rest.

In this section, we will provide some effective aspects of PHP web hosting that you need to check before choosing the best web hosting for your website. These are given below:

• Before buying PHP web hosting, you should first check if it supports PHP or MySQL.
• You need to know how much storage is available for your website files.
• How much bandwidth is available for your website
• You must ensure how many domains and subdomains you can register.
• You need to check if there are any automatic backup or restore options.
• What kind of IT support are they providing?
• Will the hosting provider meet the requirements for hosting your site.
• Before choosing any hosting service, you must ensure that your hosting provider has sufficient memory space and a processor for your PHP application.
• You need to check if it has dynamic administration tools or not. 
• Need to check the hosting provider refund policy. Sometimes, some hosting providers do not provide constant support. So, in that case, you need to choose a system that has a refund policy in case of any major problem.

Step by step process to host a PHP website

The first thing in hosting a PHP site is registering a domain name and adopting a web hosting plan of your choice.

Upload your PHP file to the hosting site. You can upload your site in a variety of ways. However, don't forget that the PHP file responsible for your homepage must have the name "index.php" and be located in the "public_html" directory, not in its subdirectories.

Most of the web hosting has an FTP. FTP means file transfer protocol. To upload your PHP files to the server, you can also use an FTP client like Filezilla. 

You can also upload your files using SSH. SSH means Secure Socket Shell. However, you must first verify that your web hosting has this service. With SSH, you can compress a zipped file directly to your own server. You don’t need to do it manually. 

Another widespread way you can upload your files to your server.  That is through your web hosting control panel. Some hosting providers use cPanel or DirectAdmin or some other control panels. In this blog, you will get the proper direction for hosting a PHP website to Cpanel.

Check Out: 15 Best Business Management Software 

Step 1: Sign up on your control panel with the login information

Step 2:  Go to your Cpanel file manager option.

Step 3: From the file manager option go to public.html> Click public.html> here you will find an option named upload> Click the upload option.

Step 4: After clicking on the upload option you will get a select file section where you can upload your own PHP file. You must know the file size before uploading.

• That’s how you can upload your PHP file to the server. 

Step 5: Now you need to extract the Zip PHP file

You can also edit your PHP file from index.php. You need to go index.php> click on the right button> there you will find out the edit option.

After editing, you need to click on save changes. Then your editing will be saved on the system.

Step6: If your website uses a database, you need to import it along with your website files:

• Create a new MySQL database and user.

• Access your newly created database with PHPMYadmin.

• Use the Import section to upload backup files to your database.

• Update MySQL database connection details (hostname, database name, username, password) in its configuration files.

• That’s how you can update database information. 

Final step: Once the website files are uploaded and the database is created, it’s the final time to check!! 

When your domain name points to your web host, enter the domain name in your browser and see if it points you to your website. If you follow all the instructions correctly, your website will be displayed like this:

That’s how you can host a PHP website on your server. 

You can use a host with Cpanel Host Manager to make your website easier and faster. All major hosting companies have this option. It's really easy to manage and upload.

Initially, there may be a 404 error or something like a website showing blank pages. In that case, you need to add a .htaccess file to your server's file folder. Then your problems will be fixed.

However, if you face a problem, you can ask your hosting provider for help. 

I recommend you to choose from this software list for any web application or website which has a hassle-free installation solution, even less than 5 min needs to install without having coding knowledge.

Check Out: Best Web Hosting for PHP Website
Closing Part

The demand for PHP website is increasing day by day. However, after purchasing a PHP script, many people do not understand how to host it or connect it to the server. Hopefully, this blog will help people who want to host a PHP website to their prospective server. They don’t need any coding knowledge or hire anyone to do this job. They can easily do this by following the step-by-step solution we have provided.

Must Read: 7 Reasons Why Should Never Use Nulled Scripts & Nulled Themes