There are times when you want to move your website to a new hosting provider. On the surface, you would think it’s pretty simple. However, there are a few things you need to make sure you do, in a particular order, to ensure the process is as painless as possible.
Here are the 5 steps required to migrate your website.
- Purchase new web host – Do NOT cancel your current host just yet
- Backup current site and import to new host – We use Backup Buddy for our WordPress installs and it makes the export/import of the site seamless.
- Redirect your DNS – Login to your domain name control panel, and there you will redirect the DNS to the new server.
- Wait for the DNS to propagate – This is where most people get frustrated, since it can take 48 hours for the transfer to complete
- Cancel your previous host – Once you verify the DNS propagation is complete, you can then go in and cancel the initial web host account
Sidenote: if your email is linked to your domain, you will need to make sure to update your MX record so that your email service is not affected.
We hope that next time you need to migrate your website, you will find it less intimidating than you first thought it would be.
