Welcome aboard. This checklist covers everything between logging in for the first time and seeing your site online with SSL. Most people finish in under 30 minutes.
1. Open the welcome email (2 min)
Once you have paid, a welcome email arrives with three things: the address of your DirectAdmin panel, your username and your password. Store them safely, ideally in a password manager.
2. Log in to DirectAdmin (1 min)
Visit that DirectAdmin URL in any browser to reach your hosting dashboard. If the email never seemed to arrive, check your spam folder; otherwise send us a support ticket.
3. Connect your domain (5 min)
There is nothing to do here if SiteBoma is your registrar, because DNS is set up for you. For a domain held elsewhere, go to that registrar and set the nameservers to ns1.siteboma.co.ke and ns2.siteboma.co.ke.
4. Wait while DNS spreads (15 min to 24 hours)
New DNS settings take a while to travel across the internet. A .co.ke often updates in 15 minutes, while .com, .net and .org usually take 1 to 4 hours. A few TLDs can need up to 24 hours.
5. Put your site in place (5 min)
For a new site, use "Softaculous" or "Installatron" in DirectAdmin: one click installs WordPress, Joomla or any of 400+ other apps. For an existing site, upload the files with File Manager.
6. SSL arrives on its own (2 min)
We issue a free Let's Encrypt certificate automatically as soon as your domain points to SiteBoma, typically 5 to 10 minutes later. Load https://yourdomain.com to confirm you see the padlock.
7. Make your mailboxes (5 min)
In DirectAdmin, choose "Email Accounts" and then "Create Account". Enter a username, info for example, add a password, and the mailbox is ready. Webmail lives at yourdomain.com/webmail.
All done
Your website is online. Stuck on a step? chat with us live; we are glad to guide you through any part of it.