Launch your website — Site Sequel

Step 1 of 6

Before you start

About half an hour of your own work, plus a wait while your address switches over. You need the ZIP you downloaded and a way into your domain and hosting, or the person who looks after them.

Unzip the download. index.html and the rest sit at the top level, with no wrapper folder around them.
Double-click index.html and click through the site on your own computer. Forms and maps stay quiet until it is online, so judge those in step 5.

Step 2 of 6

Decide where the site will live

Your domain is the address people type. Your hosting is where the files are kept. Two separate things, even when you bought both in the same place.

Which is closest to your situation? I have hosting I can upload to A control panel, file manager, or FTP details Someone else looks after our website An agency, IT provider, or whoever built the old site Site Sequel puts it live for me Included with Business and Complete

Pick one and the next steps match your situation.

Step 3 of 6

Put the files online

Nothing changes for your visitors yet. Your current website stays online until you point your domain at the new one in step 4, so there is no rush here.

Uploading it yourself

Back up what is there now: download the folder your site is served from, or ask your host’s support to do it. Keep that copy until the new site works.
Upload everything from the unzipped folder into that same folder, usually public_html, so index.html sits at the top of it.
Open your site in a private window. The new one should already be showing.

No file manager anywhere? Then your site is on a builder such as Wix or Squarespace, which cannot hold plain files. Any web host that lets you upload files will do, or ask us for help.

Handing it over

Send the ZIP exactly as you downloaded it, with this note. It asks them to back up the old site, keep your email working, and tell you the cost first.

Hi,

Could you publish the attached website for us? It is plain HTML files with no system behind it, so it should be a straightforward upload.

Before switching our domain over, please back up the current site, send us a link to check, keep our MX and TXT DNS records exactly as they are so our email keeps working, and point old page addresses at the closest new page.

Please let us know what this will cost before you start.

Guide: https://sitesequel.com/docs

Thank you.

Letting us put it live

Business and Complete include going live on your domain and 2 years of hosting. Open your website workspace and choose Go live: type your domain, and we show you the one record to add, with steps for where your domain is managed. You can also send the steps to your web person in one click. Stuck? Email us and we’ll help.

Step 4 of 6

Point your domain at the site

Take a screenshot of your records page before you change anything. Add only what your host asks for and delete nothing else: the MX and TXT lines carry your email. If mail ever stops, that screenshot is what puts it back.

Uploaded over your old site on the same host? Your domain already points there: nothing to change, go on to step 5. Only follow the list below if the files went to a different host.

In your host’s domain settings, add exactly the records it gives you, for your domain both with and without the www.
If a host offers to change your nameservers instead, say no and ask for the records. Nameservers take your email settings with them.
If the record you need is greyed out, a site builder is holding your domain. Disconnect it there first.
Give it an hour, then look for the padlock in the address bar. Leave the old site up until your domain answers with the new one.

Your website person does this part. Ask them in writing to keep your MX and TXT records.

We send you the records to add and check the result with you, so you never guess which line is safe to touch.

Step 5 of 6

Check the live site

Use a private window, so you are not seeing a saved copy.

The address starts with https://, with no security warning
Every page in the menu opens, with its images and styling
It reads well on a phone
Phone numbers, addresses, and opening hours are right
Map, booking, and social links go where they should
A test message through the contact form arrived

Something not working?

A list of filenames instead of your homepage: index.html is one folder too deep. Move the contents of that folder up a level.
Images or pages missing that worked on your computer: Upload the whole folder again and let it replace what is there. Uploads that stop part-way leave gaps.
Your domain still shows the old site: Try a private window, then another device. If it is still there after a day, the domain is still pointing at the old host.
The connection is not secure: The certificate has not been issued yet. Wait a little, then look for enable HTTPS in your host’s domain settings.
Email stopped arriving: Put the MX records back exactly as your screenshot shows. This is the one thing worth undoing straight away.
The contact form does not deliver: The form service asks you to confirm the address on the very first message. Check the spam folder of the address it delivers to, then send once more.

Step 6 of 6

You are live

Your website is online. Three short jobs finish it off.

Take the old site down. Before cancelling an old hosting plan, check whether your email addresses live there too: if they do, keep the plan or move the email first.
Update the link on your Google Business Profile, your social accounts, and any listings.
Keep the ZIP. You can download it again from your project at any time.

Old page addresses stop working with the new site, and search engines revisit on their own schedule, so a few weeks of movement is normal. Ask us if you want the old addresses redirected.