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Five Easy Steps to Moving a Website

2005-10-01by Daniel J Briere

How to Move Your Website and Ensure Maximum Uptime During the Move

There comes a time in some webmasters' lives when it is more advantageous to move to a new website host instead of staying with their current provider. While a website move may make good business sense, it does take a little bit of coordination to ensure mximum availability during the move. This article outlines the steps to take for the least disruption when moving your website to a new host.

Step One - Setup Your New Hosting Account

The first step is to setup your new hosting account. You want to make sure this is up and running Ok before you even begin to think about moving your site. Make sure there are no billing issues and that you're absolutely sure this is the right host for you, then proceed to Step Two.

Step Two - Backup Your Current Website

FTP to your current hosting account (or login to its File Manager) and save every single file to your computer's hard drive. You'll also want to export any SQL databases you may have. In addition, make a note of the email addresses that are part of your account, and any other setting that you will have to use with your new hosting account. If you are using your current host's webmail program to check your email, it is recommended that you download all of your mail to a PC-based client such as Outlook, as it is very unlikely that you can move these stored messages to your new hosting account's webmail program.

Step Three - Add Your Domain Name to Your New Hosting Account & Upload Your Website Files

Next, you'll want to add your domain name to your new hosting provider's 'Domain Manager' (or similarly named applet for placing your domain name). Then, upload your website's files to that domain's directory, and import your databases. Then, before going any further, test everything to make sure it works Ok, and that you've set everything up right. It is imperative that you do this! Now is also a good time to add your email accounts in the 'Email Manager' (or similar) applet. Once you're absolutely, positively sure that everything here is working properly, proceed to the next step.

Step Four - Change Your Domain Name's DNS Settings at Your Old Hosting Provider or Domain Name Registrar

In this step, you'll want to change the DNS settings of your domain name to point to your site at your new hosting provider. You can obtain the proper DNS settings from your new host, and your old host or your domain registrar should be able to help you enter these if you're having trouble. DNS chagnes take up to forty-eight hours to propogate, so wait at least that long before moving on to Step Five, your final task.

Step Five - Cancel Your Old Hosting Account

So that you don't get double-billed, it's important to cancel your old website hosting account as soon as you're sure that everything is working properly at your new host. To do so, just contact your old host's billing or support department, and then you'll be all set!

Conclusion

Switching to a new website host is not hard. The hard part is making sure that your website stays up and running during the switchover. Following the steps above will ensure that your website will not experience any downtime as you switch hosting providers!

Switching to a new website host is not hard. The hard part is making sure that your website stays up and running during the switchover. Following the steps above will ensure that your website will not experience any downtime as you switch hosting providers!
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Author

Daniel J Briere

GlobalWebBrands Daniel J. Briere is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of GlobalWebBrands (http://www.globalwebbrands.com), a value-based website hosting and website services provider for small and midsize businesses. View Daniel J Briere`s profile for more
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