Ordering web hosting in your Hostworld account

Order hosting from the client area at portal.hostworld.uk: pick the package, set the billing term, add the domain, accept the terms and pay the invoice. The cPanel login details arrive in the welcome email once the account is provisioned, and the same login is available from the service's details page in the client area.

Before you start

• Know which domain the hosting is for, and whether you already own it.
• If that domain currently runs a live site or live email somewhere else, do not change its nameservers yet. Order first, build the site on the Hostworld account, repoint last.
• Have the card or payment details ready. Nothing is provisioned until the invoice is paid.

Step 1: Choose the package and set the billing term

Pick the hosting package you want and open its configure screen before adding it to the cart. Two things matter here.

• Billing cycle. The cart shows the shortest billing cycle configured for the product by default. If you want annual, change it on this screen. This is the single most common reason people end up with a monthly invoice they did not expect.
• Extras. Options that change the price of the hosting itself are billed as part of the package. Addons are billed as separate items. An addon bought during the original order takes the parent product's billing cycle where one exists, which keeps the renewal dates together. An addon bought later from Services can end up on a different cycle and a different next due date.

Step 2: Add the domain

The order form will offer some combination of three outcomes. Pick whichever applies:

• Register a new domain with us. The registration is submitted after the invoice is paid, not when the order is placed.
• Transfer a domain to us. This moves the registration itself. It is a slower process with its own registrar lock and auth code. Do not choose it if you only want the domain pointed at your hosting.
• Use a domain you already own. This is the one you want if the domain stays at your current registrar. Once your site is in place on the cPanel account, set the nameservers at that registrar to ns1.serverworld.uk, ns2.serverworld.uk, ns3.serverworld.uk and ns4.serverworld.uk.

Domains are never prorated, so a domain bought alongside hosting renews on its own anniversary rather than the hosting date.

Step 3: Check out and pay

At the review and checkout stage you may see suggested extras. They are suggestions, not requirements, and they only show once per cart session.

Tick the Terms of Service checkbox. If you do not, the order is not created at all and the page appears to do nothing when you submit it.

After you submit, you will either land on an order completed page or be redirected straight to the invoice with a payment button. Both are normal. You are also given a ten digit order number. That is the reference to quote if you need to raise a ticket about the order, and it is not the same as the internal order ID.

Step 4: Open the welcome email and log in to cPanel

Once the order is paid and provisioned, a welcome email is sent for that package. It contains the hosting account details: the cPanel username, the cPanel password and the domain the account was set up against. That password is the hosting account password and it is a different credential from your portal.hostworld.uk login.

Change the cPanel password once you are in, and do not forward the welcome email on to anyone.

You can also reach cPanel from the client area. Log in at portal.hostworld.uk, go to Services, then My Services, then click through to the hosting service. The cPanel login button sits on that service's details page.

If it does not work

• The order says Pending. Pending is the normal status for a new order and does not by itself mean the account has not been built. Check Services for the hosting account. First orders from new customers are also the most likely to need a manual check before activation.
• No invoice email arrived. Look under Billing, then Invoices at portal.hostworld.uk. The invoice is generated whether or not the notification email is sent.
• Checkout rejects the domain. A domain already pending, active or suspended in our system is blocked from being ordered again. Do not keep retrying, as that can compound it. Open a support ticket with the domain and your order number.
• The cPanel login button does not work. Use the direct cPanel URL and username from the welcome email instead. If neither gets you in, open a support ticket.

What next

If you are still deciding between packages, or you want the reasoning behind disk, traffic and billing term choices, read our guide to choosing a hosting package. For everything else that happens after the account exists, including moving an existing site across, start with our web hosting guides.