How To Move From One Web Host Provider To Another

If you are an established web site owner there may come a time when you want to change your host provider. Your reasons may vary. You may have found that there is too much down time with your current provider. In other words your web site is not being available 24/7 because of technical issues with the web host. Then there may not be enough technical support being provided to you. Or you may have even discovered another web host that is more economical. It doesn’t’ matter what the reason is, you have the right to change if you desire to do so.

Changing an established site to another host provider is not all that easy of a task. Its not that it is extremely technical but it is time consuming. Often less than professional host providers take advantage of this. Knowing that people don’t want the extra work of moving. So they can continue to run their less than optimum service. When you do decide to move, there will be some down time that you must be prepared to live with . You are going to need some guidance with your move. Often the new host providers will assist in any way they can.

Step One: Firstly, you need to download all current files used in your web site including graphics, html files etc that may be used in your site. Also make sure when you are transferring your files you may want to keep the directory structure exactly as it is on your web server. Ideally, it is better to plan the transfer process at least one month before you terminate your old web hosting plan, this will give you sufficient time to perform a smooth transfer. If you try to transfer in less than one month time frame, may probably put your website in risk of inaccessible.

Step Two: Domain Name Change Remember when you choose your new web host to ensure they have everything your site needs to operate at its optimum level. It would be wise for you to handle your own name transfer. Reason being, you need to get your files transferred before the domain name. The new hosting accounts are usually set up within a 24 hour period so you need to make sure your files are transferred then do your domain name switch.

Step Three: Backups are Critical . Backup absolutely everything you have on your website. In fact make two copies. Then you have one to work with during your transition, and the original is left in tact. This way if anything goes wrong with the working copy, you can get rid of it, recopy the original and start over again. In addition try to create your new directory as closely structured to the old one as possible. This makes the download go much smoother.

Step Four: Before you make changes to your domain name, make sure you load up all the files to your new host using temporary login information. Most hosts do provide temporary login information prior to your domain name resolving to the new account. Even though they won’t really work yet, you can still go ahead and set up all the email accounts that are used on your domain. Do not forget to create a “catchall” address just in case you miss out someone – at least their email will not bounce back.

Step Five: It doesn’t matter what registrar you used to register your domain, you can initiate the name change. Technically speaking the only thing that changes in your record is the name server information. Updating the technical contact info on your domain name record to your new host is also a good idea, although that is not mandatory.

Step Six: It is very important that you watch to ensure that you get email confirmations about the change of your domain location. It usually takes about 24-48 hours before any change is noticed by you or your visitors. This is called the propagation period. You do not want to be sitting waiting for this and there had been a problem that is why the confirmation emails are so very important. So once you have completed all these steps successfully then it is safe to cancel your previous web host provider.

Learn more about Green Hosting. Stop by John Vopel’s site where you can find out all about Web Hosting and what it can do for you.