When you feel you are ready to order, here are some tips and suggestions to help make the process easier and understandable.

Remember all packages are seamlessly upgradable/downgradable (no down time), so a good idea could be to start small and upgrade your package when needed. Once you hit the "buy now" from the website, you will be taken to a secure section of our server with all our products listed. Currency options are available throughout the whole ordering process. Once you figure out which package you wish to go with, click the "Order Now" to proceed to the next step...

All hosting requires a domain to point to it. A this step, you will be asked to choose from three options regarding a domain name:

- "I want Monarch Hosting Services to register a new domain for me." -
If you do not have a domain, then you can register one through Monarch as part of the process. Just type in the domain you are wishing to have and hit continue. If that domain is available, it will show underneath and you can select how many years you want to pay for.

- "I want to transfer my existing domain from somewhere else to Monarch Hosting Services" -
If you already have a domain that was registered from a different company, you can have Monarch transfer it to their registrar services so that all your invoicing can come from one company (Monarch) or maybe just because Monarch may be offering it at a lower price. This can also be part of the ordering process.

- " Order hosting account only, I want to keep my domain name somewhere else." -
This is if you just want to keep your domain where you registered it. Keep in mind that once you complete the order process and your hosting account is created, you will have to go into your domain registrar's configuration to point the DNS nameservers to Monarch's servers. Monarch's nameserver information will be provided to you in your welcome email once your account had been created. You will have to still write in the domain in the box to continue the next step in the ordering process.

This step lists the hosting package that you chose, and here is where you can choose if you want to pay monthly, quarterly (Butterfly package), or annually. At this time you can also choose your currency. Click "Update Cart" to continue...

*NOTE ABOUT CURRENCY*
At the top of almost every step of the ordering process, there is a pull-down menu with a choice of currencies (USD or MXN Peso). Once you complete the order in the specified currency, ALL invoices from then on will be submitted in that currency and can not be changable by you in the client area. If circumstances have it that you must have it changed, Monarch can change your invoicing currency in their systems by your submitting a request through support in the client area.

This offers additional options to your domain. Just select what you want and hit "update cart"
*This step is omitted if you had chosen "Order hosting account only, I want to keep my domain name somewhere else." in step 2.

This shows the overview of the hosting package, domain and options that you have selected. Once you look over and figure that this is what you want, then you continue to finalizing the order by clicking "Checkout", or you can "contine shopping" if you are wanting additional products (additional domain registrations, multiple hosting packages, etc). This is a final time for your currency selection as once you "Checkout" the order, that is what the currency gets locked in as.

*NOTE ABOUT PRORATA*
All hosting billing cycles start on the 1st of each month and so when you are ordering, you are only going to be charged for the remainder of the billing month cycle. As a result, the "prorata" price will show as smaller than the "Total Recurring" amount.

Once you have signed up for a hosting account, you will receive an email containing all information you need to utilize your hosting account.

• FTP account info
• Cpanel access
• Nameserver information
• Email configurations

FTP - (File Transfer Protocol) is the most typical; used to transfer files to and from the server. It can be as easy as if you are transferring a file from one folder to another on your computer. You will need an FTP program installed on your computer in order to do this - like CuteFTP or WS_FTP. There are also other development softwares that come with an integrated FTP - like Dreamweaver, Front Page, Contribute etc.

The Cpanel is the control panel to all elements of your hosting account. From here you can moniter all elements of your part on the server (your hosting account) like bandwidth usage, disk space, databases, etc. Cpanel is also where you can create/edit/delete all sorts of services like FTP accounts, email accounts, databases, filters, scripts, softwares, even file management (see File Manager).
  - File Manager -   located in the cpanel, is a browser-based File Transfer system that is a great alternative to an exteranl FTP program. No software is needed to be installed.
The Cpanel is full of extras that can make your website and hosting robust and effective like many one-click-install scripts (like blog, forum, cart, CMS - Content Management Systems.... the list goes on).

There are many great softwares (like Dreamweaver) that are fantastic in website creation/coding power. The level of skill to create through these softwares can vary from highly advanced to the amateur (utilizing the WYSIWYG tool).
  - WYSIWYG -   meaning "What-You-See-is-What-You-Get" is basically just that. There are some great softwares out there that utilize a drag-and-drop system that allows the most basic amateur/first-timer to create an effective and tailored site in just a short time. In our opinion, though we highly recommend Dreamweaver for website programming (our most preferred), their WYSIWYG element is still a little difficult to utilize without needing know at least a bit of HTML. Some fantastic commercial (purchasable) WYSIWYG softwares for the person with ZERO html/coding knowledge are Ewisoft Website Builder, EZGenerator Website Builder or Intuit Website Builder... but we great alternative. Monarch is happy to offer a FREE account on our own powerful SiteBuilder.
  - SiteBuilder -   SiteBuilder takes you through a step-by-step wizard to easily get your site compiled and then published/uploaded to your hosting account. Your ability to use SiteBuilder does not get automatically generated when your hosting account is created, but we will be more than happy to set it up for you upon request through support.
  - Templates - For those who ARE well versed with HTML and accompanying coding/design, Monarch is proud to now offer to all clients and exquisite collection of high-quality templates for free which can be accessed through the cpanel. These templates mostly contain flash, though also have a without-flash version. Many also come with the PSD files for graphic manipulation. All are free and downloadable, but to keep the server from being overloaded there is a cap of 20 downloadeds a day.

All files that pertain to your website - .html, .php, .js, .css, image files etc. etc. etc. all reside in the "PUBLIC_HTML" folder on the server. There is another folder that is essentially the same thing called the "WWW" folder, though this is basically the shortcut to the "PUBLIC_HTML" folder. Most home pages for most sites, and is good standard practice, are called "index.html". In This is one of the ONLY filename that does NOT need to be typed when one is heading to the site. Lets explain this, when you go to www.google.com, you get thier main page. Guess what? That is actually their index.html - www.google.com/index.html. So what happened? Well, the global rules of the internet is that all directories will search for a default index.html when a url is typed if a file has not been specified. When your account is created with Monarch Hosting, a default index.html file will be generated of which you will need to replace with your own.

Monarch Hosting also provides web design services (LNDesgins) that can do the project for you at a reasonable price. Simply contact the design team with your needs to receive a quote. We at Monarch Hosting are willing to work with you every step of the way, but we also wish to empower you (and save you money) with the knowledge and ease of in time having the confidence to maintain the site yourself.

- Monarch Hosting is a small company dedicated to exceptional personal service and support. You are not a number to us, nor will you ever be one...

- We provide extremely competitive rates in hosting packages that are more user-friendly than our competitors.

- Being locally owned, Monarch Hosting is dedicated to the lakeside community providing hosting grants to charities and non-profit organizations.
(a list of those who are benefiting from our grants will be produced soon...)

- Here at Monarch Hosting, we will take care of you every step of the way. No question is a bad question. Our goal is to make your website endeavor exciting, effective and most of all... exceed all your expectations.