First, make sure that the new host has the features you need for your website. There’s nothing worse than discovering your new host doesn’t meet your needs after going through the work of purchasing hosting and moving everything over. You may want to make a checklist of your current needs and confirm that your new host offers them. Common overlooked features are database access and scripting. In the least, if you find that some functions used by your website are not available, plan how you will adjust it to the new hosts system.
Another word to the wise would be to keep your old site as a backup. Even if your website isn’t large, you may want to stay with your old host for another month, if only for peace of mind. That way, if you forget to move something or can’t remember your old setup, you’d have the original copy to refer to. You may not even need the old host once you’ve switched, but it’s much better to be prepared for the worst.
Next, update the DNS records with the “Name Server” information of the new host. The DNS records give the “address” of your website to the internet, so it’s critical that this is updated - otherwise your website will be inaccessible. Wherever your domain name is managed will need this information. Ask your new host for the name servers you’ll need to update yo
Don’t forget to give your users a few weeks advance notice of the move. It is common for the change to occur smoothly, but there is a chance that some users may not be able to reach the site for up to 48 hours after the move as the new information is propagated throughout the internet. This is especially paramount if your site has a lot of traffic or regular users.
Another critical step is moving your domain name from your old registrar to your new host. This will definitely be easier if your new host is also a registrar. More and more hosts are registrars themselves as well as offering domain name registration these days. Even so, anticipate that it will take a few days before this is accomplished. You’ll need to obtain the authorization code from your old registrar of the domain name you’d like to move before the transfer can begin. Then you’ll need to be able to access an email sent to the account you used to signup the domain name to confirm the transfer. At that point, it’s as easy as clicking a link and the transfer will occur.
One last piece of advice: If you’re planning on changing domain names at the same time, you may want to rethink that decision. Whether you have a large or small base of users, you will lose some of them if you do. Your search engine ranking may also drop, because changing your name is like starting all over with a new site. If you must, make sure to alert your users early of the address change by doing a forward or leaving a link to the new site on the old page.
Lastly, make sure you test everything once the transfer is complete. There’s a good chance something on your website isn’t going to work properly, whether it be a scripting problem or that a part of the site is hard-coded to the wrong IP. It should only take a few minutes and will be well worth your time to find any bugs before your users have access again to the site. This way, you shouldn’t lose any users due to the move.
Still overwhelmed? Don’t fear; there are people out there who can help you with anything from data imports to scripting updates. We recommend www.ezsitemove.com. Let them deal with the move and any of the resulting bugs!
Sonia Day is a writer for Best Web Hosts Online http://www.bestwebhostsonline.com - news, hosting review, and resources for webmasters.
