Upload your site: guides by host

your hosting's File Manager

the company you PAY for hosting (not WordPress) → cPanel → File Manager → public_html

1. 1. Sign in where you pay for hosting

   Sign in to your HOSTING account: the company you PAY for the website every month or year, not WordPress itself. Open cPanel (or Hosting → Manage) and click File Manager, then public_html. WordPress.com has no file manager: if your site is at WordPress.com, read the note under the steps. Not sure who you pay? Ask me who hosts me in the chat.

2. 2. Show hidden files

   Click Settings (top right of the File Manager), tick Show Hidden Files (dotfiles) and click Save. A WordPress site keeps a hidden .htaccess that sends every visitor to the old index.php; now you can see it and move it with the rest.

3. 3. Back up first

   In public_html select every file and folder (click the first, Shift+click the last). Click Compress, choose Zip Archive, name it old-site-backup.zip and confirm. Then select that zip and click Download. Keep that file: it is your whole old site, and moving it back undoes everything.

4. 4. Move the old site out of the web folder

   Go up one level to your home folder (one level above public_html), click + Folder, name it old-site. Back in public_html select every file and folder (wp-admin, wp-content, wp-includes, index.php, .htaccess, wp-config.php…), click Move, destination your home folder (one level above public_html)/old-site, confirm. That is your backup; your database is untouched, and WordPress stops being reachable from the web (safer).

5. 5. Upload the zip and extract it

   In public_html click Upload, choose yourbusiness-remo.zip (the download from your Remo account) and wait for 100%. Go back to public_html, select the zip and click Extract; keep public_html as the destination and confirm. The zip is flat: index.html, site.css, the other pages and the photo folders land directly in public_html, nothing to move up a level. Then delete the zip.

6. 6. Make sure index.html is the front page

   Look in public_html for an old index.php, index.htm, default.html or default.php. If one is still there, move it into old-site: a server shows those before index.html. public_html/index.html must sit directly in public_html, not inside a folder.

7. 7. Open your site

   Open https://yourbusiness.com in a private window and click a few menu links. If the old site still shows, press Ctrl+F5; if it still does, an old index.php or index.htm is left in public_html (previous step).

8. 8. Keep the padlock (HTTPS)

   In cPanel look for SSL/TLS Status and run AutoSSL (the name varies by host); then the Force HTTPS switch or the .htaccess rule. If the site opens as http:// without the padlock, ask me in the chat for the three-line .htaccess redirect, or turn on your host's Force HTTPS switch.

Watch out

• The zip is flat: extract it IN the web folder and index.html lands at the root. If your panel created a folder with the site inside, open it, select all, Move to the web folder.
• An old index.php, index.htm or default.html left next to index.html wins: move it into old-site.
• Show Hidden Files before moving anything: a WordPress .htaccess left behind sends visitors to the old index.php.
• old-site belongs OUTSIDE the web folder (your home folder). Inside it, an old WordPress stays public and runnable.
• Never delete the old files: Compress → Download first, then Move. Moving them back undoes everything.
• Your email does not live in these folders; nothing here touches it. Do not cancel the old hosting if your email runs there (ask me).
• The account you need is where you PAY for hosting; the WordPress login (wp-admin) has no file manager.
• Rather keep WordPress running? Tell me in the chat and we'll do it together (the new site can live next to it).
• WordPress.com (the managed service) has no cPanel or File Manager: the files need a regular web host or the hosted plan.

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