Guides & how-tos

1. Check your inbox for the welcome email. It has your client area and control panel links.
2. Point your domain at us (see Pointing your domain to HostClub). Skip this if you registered the domain with us.
3. Install WordPress or upload your site (see the guides below).
4. Create your email accounts and set them up on your phone.
5. Open your site with https://. Your free SSL is issued automatically, usually within 15 minutes of the domain pointing at us.

Log in to the client area and choose Support → Open ticket. Pick the department, set the priority, and include your domain name, what you were doing and any error message. Screenshots help. You can also email support@hostclub.ie; it creates a ticket automatically.

At the company where your domain is registered, change the nameservers to:

• ns1.hostclub.ie
• ns2.hostclub.ie

Changes usually take effect within a few hours but can take up to 48 hours worldwide. If you'd rather keep your DNS elsewhere, point your domain's A record to the IP address in your welcome email instead.

1. Ask your current registrar for the domain's authorisation (auth) code.
2. Order a transfer in our cart and enter the code.
3. Approve the transfer from the email sent to the domain's admin contact.

Your website and email keep working during the transfer, and the domain's expiry date carries across.

• A: points a name to an IPv4 address (e.g. your website).
• CNAME: makes one name an alias of another, e.g. www → your domain.
• MX: says which server receives email for the domain.
• TXT: holds text such as SPF and DKIM records that stop your email going to spam, or verification codes for Google and Microsoft.

Edit records in the client area under Domains → Manage DNS, or in cPanel's Zone Editor.

In cPanel, open Email Accounts → Create. Choose the address and a strong password, set the mailbox size, and click Create. You can then log in to webmail at yourdomain.ie/webmail.

Add a new account in your mail app and choose IMAP, then use:

• Incoming (IMAP): mail.yourdomain.ie, port 993, SSL/TLS
• Outgoing (SMTP): mail.yourdomain.ie, port 465, SSL/TLS, authentication on
• Username: your full email address

Replace yourdomain.ie with your own domain.

Make sure your domain has SPF and DKIM records; cPanel's Email Deliverability tool checks and fixes these in one click. Adding a DMARC record (v=DMARC1; p=none; to start) helps too. Avoid sending bulk marketing from your mailbox; use a dedicated newsletter service.

In cPanel, open the WordPress Manager (or Softaculous), choose your domain, set an admin username and strong password, and click Install. It takes about a minute. On WordPress plans, WordPress is already installed for you.

1. Install and enable the LiteSpeed Cache plugin.
2. Resize and compress large images before uploading.
3. Remove plugins you don't use.
4. Switch to the latest PHP version supported by your theme in cPanel's Select PHP Version.

Still slow? Open a ticket and we'll take a look.

Your website files go in the public_html folder. Use cPanel's File Manager to upload a zip and extract it, or connect with an FTP client like FileZilla using the FTP details in your welcome email (use port 21 with explicit TLS, or SFTP on port 22 where SSH is enabled).

In cPanel, open JetBackup (Backups). Choose a date, then restore the full account, individual files, a database, or email. A full restore overwrites current files, so download a copy of anything recent first.

In cPanel, open Select PHP Version (or MultiPHP Manager), choose the domain and pick a version. We recommend the newest version your website supports, as older versions no longer get security updates.

In the client area, go to Billing → Invoices and click Pay Now. To pay renewals automatically, save a card under Billing → Payment Methods.

Open the service in the client area and choose Request Cancellation. You can cancel immediately or at the end of the billing period. Download your files and email first, as data is deleted after cancellation.