Your first day with Flashcloud comes down to one choice, and both answers start with something we do for you, free. Switching from another host? Our team moves your whole site with the Free Transfer. Starting from nothing? Our team builds your first site with the Free Website. Both live in the portal sidebar under Goodies, both are handled by real people, and both leave you free to finish the short account checklist below while they work.
Pick your path, then close with the two-minute lockdown at the end. Your part of the whole checklist takes under 30 minutes, and most of that is filling in one form.
Switching from another host? Request your Free Transfer first
Don't manually copy files or export databases. Submit the Free Transfer form and a migration specialist moves your files, databases, and email for you. A specialist is assigned within hours on business days, the move typically finishes in 2-5 business days, your old site stays live the whole time, and you get to preview the migrated site before any DNS changes happen. The form walkthrough is in Requesting your Free Transfer, step by step, and Free site transfer from your old host covers exactly what's included.
Two things worth knowing before you submit:
- Prepaid time at your old host isn't lost money. If you've paid ahead there, see migration credit for unused hosting time before you cancel anything.
- Email can ride along or move separately. The transfer can bundle your mail, but if you'd rather control the timing, create your mailboxes here first and sync over IMAP before cutting over MX records. That process is in Moving your email to Flashcloud from another provider.
While the transfer runs, jump ahead to the lockdown steps below. There's no reason to wait on those.
Starting fresh? Let our team build your first website, free
You don't need to arrive with a website, and you don't need to build one alone. With any active hosting plan or a domain registered with us, you qualify for a Free Website: a real human team builds it, not a templated drag-and-drop tool. You describe your business in a short 4-step wizard, the team sends you a version to review within a few days, and you give feedback until it's right, typically one or two rounds.
The wizard walkthrough is in Requesting your free website, step by step, and Get a free website built for you covers eligibility and what the team delivers. Submit it on day one: the build runs while you finish everything else here.
Rather build it yourself?
The do-it-yourself path is ready the moment your domain points at us:
- Go to Services in the portal, open your hosting service, and use the WordPress tile to run the installer. It handles the database and admin account for you, and your site gets LiteSpeed Cache and Redis object cache pre-configured out of the box, no plugin hunting required.
- Once DNS resolves to us, a free Let's Encrypt SSL certificate is issued automatically, usually within about 5 minutes. Nothing to request, nothing to renew.
Either way: create your email
If you want email at your domain, use the Email Accounts tile under your hosting service and click New mailbox. Set the address and password there; the server settings you'll need for phones and desktop mail apps (mail.yourdomain.com, IMAP 993, SMTP 465 or 587) are in Setting up your email on phones and desktop apps.
Lock down your account
Do this regardless of which path above you took. It takes two minutes and it's the kind of thing that's annoying to fix after the fact.
- Turn on two-factor authentication. In the portal, open your Account page, then Security, and switch 2FA on. This is separate from your login password and protects the account even if that password leaks.
- Find your Support PIN. It has its own section on the main Account page. Click Reveal PIN to see it, or Generate a new PIN if you'd rather issue a fresh one. You'll need this any time you contact support about something account-sensitive, like domain changes, billing changes, or a cancellation, so it's worth knowing where it lives before you need it in a hurry.
When to contact support
If your transfer request stalls, your Free Website ticket goes quiet, DNS hasn't resolved after 24-48 hours, or the WordPress installer errors out, open a ticket from Support in the portal rather than troubleshooting blind. Include your domain name, what you expected, and the exact error text if there is one. Live chat works too for quick questions. Every request goes to the same team and everything you send stays attached to your account history; see How to get help and contact support for what to include for the fastest answer.