How to publish a website

Publishing a website means three things are true at once: your files are on a server that is always on, your domain name points at that server, and the connection is secure. This guide walks through each, then the few steps that make sure people can actually find the result.

1. Own your domain

Register your domain with a reputable registrar, in your own name and with an email address you will still have in five years. Whoever controls the registrar account controls your website and usually your email, so do not let a designer or agency register it on your behalf in their account.

• Prefer the .com if it is available and sensible; otherwise the country or industry ending your customers expect.
• Turn on auto-renew and two-factor sign-in at the registrar. Expired domains are one of the most common reasons small-business sites vanish.
• Write down where the domain is registered. You will need it every time something changes.

2. Choose where the site lives

Hosting is the server that answers when someone visits. What kind you need depends on how the site was built:

• Site builders (Squarespace, Wix and similar) host the site for you; publishing is a button and a domain setting.
• Static sites — plain HTML, CSS and images — can be served from a CDN, which is fast, cheap and has very little to break.
• WordPress and other database-driven sites need a server that runs PHP and a database, and someone to keep both updated.

Whatever you pick, check that you can export the site and leave. Being able to move is what keeps the price honest.

3. Point the domain at the host (DNS)

DNS is the address book that turns your domain into a server address. Your host will tell you which records to add; usually it is one of these:

• A CNAME record for www pointing at a hostname the host gives you.
• An A record (or several) for the bare domain pointing at the host’s IP addresses.
• Or, with some hosts, changing the domain’s nameservers to theirs so they manage DNS for you.

Be careful not to delete your MX records while you are in there — those deliver your email, and they have nothing to do with the website. If you are unsure, take a screenshot of every existing record before changing anything. Changes usually take effect within minutes, occasionally a few hours.

Some registrars support Domain Connect, which lets a host set the right records for you after you approve it. If both sides support it, use it — it removes the typo risk entirely.

4. Make it secure (HTTPS)

Every site needs HTTPS. Without it, browsers show visitors a “Not secure” warning, and forms on the page are exposed. Almost every modern host issues a free certificate automatically once DNS points at them; check that it has, then visit both the www and bare versions of your address to confirm each loads securely and one redirects to the other.

5. Check it the way a visitor will

• Open it on your phone, on mobile data, not Wi-Fi.
• Click every link and every button. Submit the contact form and confirm the message arrives.
• Search your business name in a private window a few days later.
• Run a quick check with our free website audit for missing titles, alt text, structured data and HTTPS problems.

6. Tell search engines and assistants it exists

• Add the site to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, and submit your sitemap.
• Update your Google Business Profile and any directory listings with the new address.
• Make sure robots.txt allows the crawlers you want — including the ones AI assistants use, if you want to be recommended by them.
• If you replaced an old site, add permanent (301) redirects from every old page to its new equivalent so you keep the rankings and links you had.

7. Keep it published

A published site needs a little ongoing care: renewing the domain, keeping software updated if your host does not, backups, and changing the content when the business changes. Put the renewal date in your calendar now.

On Curb, hosting, HTTPS, backups and updates are handled for you, and connecting your own domain is a guided step in your account that warns you if a change would affect your email. Either way, the steps above are what has to happen — it is only a question of who does them.