How To Change Website Hosting

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: While you are waiting for your new web hosting account to be ready, you need to take a backup all your web files on the old web hosting provider. Make sure you take a backup of anything and everything you can. Try and save at least 2 copies one for you to work with, and the other as an archive. It is advisable not to underestimate how easy it is to make a copy of these files because it is possible you may just simply mess it up. You may already have all the files of your website on your local computer; however, it is always advisable to backup all your files from the old web server. You can also create a directory structure that is similar to the old one on your web server and download the files into the respective directory.

Step Four: The Upload: Your new hosting company most likely gave you a temporary location where you can up load and work on your website. This is really good because you can get all the prepatory work done, although you won’t be able to publish as yet. This must all be done before you change your domain name. While you are doing this open up a “catchall” email. This way you don’t lose your email contacts.

Step Five: Name Change: You really aren’t changing the name of your website; you are only updating the information connected with it. You are changing the company who held its registration which is your old hosting server. It will be replaced with this new one that you have chosen.

Step Six: Depending on your domain registrar, you need to get one or more emails confirming the domain name change. Once the change has been initiated it usually takes around 24 to 48 hours for you and your users to see the change. This period is generally called propagation. All the DNS servers around the globe take the same amount of time to “catch up” and take note of your domains new location. Once the propagation course is completed you are free to safely cancel service with your previous host.

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