Moving hosts without the headache

Plenty of business owners stay with a hosting company they're unhappy with because moving sounds risky. What if the site goes down? What if email stops working? What if something gets lost?

Those are fair worries. The good news is that a well-planned move is invisible to your customers. It just has to happen in the right order.

Step 1: Take stock

Before touching anything, make a note of:

• Where your domain name is registered (often, but not always, the same company as your hosting)
• Where your email is hosted
• Your login details for the website, the hosting control panel and the domain registrar

Email is the one that catches people out. If your email comes from your current host, it needs its own plan.

Step 2: Copy, don't move

The new host makes a complete copy of your site on their servers while the old one keeps running. Nothing changes for visitors yet.

Step 3: Test on the new server

Every page, form and image gets checked on the new server before it goes live. This is where problems get caught, with no pressure because the live site is untouched.

Step 4: Switch the address

Once everything checks out, the domain's DNS records are updated to point at the new server. The change spreads across the internet over a few hours. During that window, some visitors see the old copy and some see the new one, which is why both need to be identical.

Step 5: Keep the old account for a week

Don't cancel the old hosting the same day. Leave it running for a week or so, in case anything was missed.

Or let us do it

When you host with us, migration is free and we do all five steps for you. You send us your website address and the logins, and we'll tell you when it's done.