This week we are going to discuss moving your website... 

You might wonder why you would want to move your website in the first place... There are a few main reasons...

1. You may have outgrown your hosting account
2. You might have found a better web host elsewhere
3. You may want additional services
4. You decided to do a WordPress site and need optimized hosting
5. You want a domain name that is all about you

Whatever your reason for wanting to move your website or blog, there are a few variables to consider.

Is the domain name with your current provider or a different register? 

Knowing where your domain name is registered if they allow you to edit the DNS and how long the process takes on their end are important things to know. If you are moving your domain name to the new provider, you have to allow time for the domain name changes to populate. Some only take a few hours while others can take up to 7 business days. If the domain is hosted elsewhere, you will also want to know if you have to purchase a primary domain for the hosting account.

Do you have more than one website to move?

If so, are they small or large websites? One may assume that their website is small until they get inside the filing system, suddenly that relatively small site is much larger than expected. WordPress websites, for example, can often have anywhere from 3 to 12 copies of the same image just in different sizes. Plugins also have their own folders, their own files and sometimes those files can get rather large. It's better to check and make sure that you know exactly what you need before making the move.

Many of the hosting companies now offer services to move your website for you and some even have temporary domains so you can check the site out before starting the DNS changes.

Do you have a 3rd party backup of the website?

This one is a big one... Once you leave your current hosting provider, you may no longer have access to any backups on their server. It is important to have a 3rd party or location backup of your site. You may also find that with some hosting providers they have a standard cPanel and others have something completely different. Then there are managed WordPress sites and those that are not, different providers can have different names inside the WordPress Database.

Customer Service?

Not all hosting companies provide an 800 number for consumers to call for support and some charge for those calls. Knowing what type of support system you need is also important. You may find yourself facing a major problem and emailed support alone is not enough. Remember, you get what you pay for ... the same is especially true for website hosting.

As you may have noticed, Personalized Marketing Inc no longer offers website hosting. We decided it was better for you the client for us to offer a variety of hosting packages instead of just one. The companies we list on our affiliate page not only meet technical requirements but they also have excellent customer service.

 

Make A Plan! 

The best advice we can offer to you is 'Make A Plan' to move your website. Write down your requirements, check out the providers and set a date to start. Just because you plan on moving your site on say Saturday, does not mean that it will be done by Sunday morning. So know your stats, inform your visitors, and plan ahead. If the hosting company says it will take 24 - 72 hours, plan on it taking 72 - 96 hours. Give yourself the extra time, that way if it does only take 12 hours, then you have extra time to check things out. If it does take 96 hours (4 days), then you have planned for that and do not feel overwhelmed by the option.