If you once Googled can you hosting multiple websites in one single account but felt overwhelmed by the content you saw, you are not alone.
Let’s be honest. Most people find the information on the subject complex. It’s filled with head-spinning mumbo-jumbo and elaborate steps. Surely, only a coding whizz can understand what’s being said, let alone pull it off.
But hosting many websites on one server isn’t as tough as it sounds. It’s doable even for regular folks like you and me.
In this simple tutorial, you will learn how to host many sites in one single hosting account.
Two major benefits of hosting many websites on one server
Hosting multiple websites on one server has two major benefits:
1. You control all your websites from one place
Owning many sites is great and all – until you must log in and out of them countless times when doing your WordPress admin duties. Yes, some tools keep all your passwords and login details to make the process smoother, but it’s still an inconvenience and a huge time suck.
But with a unified setup, you log in once and manage all your web properties from a single dashboard.
2. You save money on hosting costs
Hosting costs sound modest, but over time they are significant. Let’s say you own ten websites at $6 each per month. That’s $60 per month for all of them. In five years, your hosting bill will hit $3,600.
By hosting all your domains on one server, you save a significant amount of money.
So, how to host many sites in one single hosting account?
1. Buy domain names and shared ASP.NET hosting account
Not all shared ASP.NET hosting plans allow you to host and manage many websites on one server. If you are on a hosting plan that doesn’t have multiple site capability, upgrade to one that does.
And here’s a quick shortlist along with how much you can expect to spend on a plan like that:
- ASPHostPortal (US Provider) from $3.81 / month
- HostForLIFE.eu (for European region) from €3.49 / month
- WindowsASPNETHosting.in (for Asia region) from INR194.99 / month
Above hosting providers that I recommend if you’re looking for ASP.NET hosting plan. With above hosting providers, you can host unlimited websites with one single account.
Practically, there is a limit to the amount of data and files your bandwidth resources can allow. So the more resources you consume, the more likely some of your sites might struggle to perform at their peak as they fight for the available resources.
That said, hosting multiple sites on one server is a superb idea if you do it right.
2. Buy domain names
To add domains to a server, you need to first have them at your disposal. Therefore, another foundational step is to purchase all the domain names you want to add to the server.
My favourites are
- Namecheap
- ASPHostPortal
- Godaddy
With your shared hosting plan and owned domain names on hand, you are ready for the next step.
3. Add your domain on Plesk Panel
The second step is to log in to your hosting service’s Plesk panel
Go to the Domains section and click on the Addon Domains icon:
Depending on your hosting service provider, you might have to wait for a few moments while the new domain gets added. It can take a minute or two for the domain to populate. Therefore, don’t panic if you don’t see the success message immediately.
4. Update your name servers
Next, update the nameservers.
Updating the nameservers tells your domain registrar to which server they should point the domain. Here’s how to do it on ASPHostPortal.
The important thing is that you must update the nameservers for every domain that you want to set up with your new host. For example, if you have domains registered with different registrars then you’ll have to go through the nameserver settings with each of them and point them to your new server – the one where you want to host all those domains.
Here’s an example of how to get through the process if you’ve registered your domain at ASPHostPortal.
Please just login to your Domain and SSL portal -> find your domain -> and you can find Name Servers section as below:
Once you click Name Servers, you can update your name servers like below:
5. Upload your files to hosting server
Once you have registered your domain name and update your name server, you can upload your files to server. There are many ways to upload your ASP.NET files to the server, you can use FTP tools, File Manager, or WebDeploy.
If you want to use File Manager, you can click File Manager button on your Plesk control panel:
If you want to use WebDeploy, you can also click WebDeploy publishing button on your Plesk control panel. For complete tutorial, you may refer to our previous tutorial about publishing your ASP.NET files using WebDeploy.
It is easy, right?
That, my friend, is a wrap on how to host unlimted ASP.NET websites on one single hosting account.
Not as tough as it seems at first, right? It’s pretty straightforward to be honest, as long as you know exactly what to do and when to do it.
If you have any questions, please just comment below. Thank you. Happy coding!
