Choosing a replacement for a hosting that your website resides on is a major move that affects the entire website, impacting literally everything starting from overall performance and user experience and up to SERP rankings. Therefore, whether it’s for better performance, cost, or reliability, switching provider affects your company’s digital footprint, changing it for better or for worse. And as far as novice website owners are concerned, this task seems very daunting and time-consuming at the first glance.
However, with thorough planning before moving everything and with thoughtful execution of the process, everything will go smoothly and without any pain below your back. Therefore, we provided a step-by-step guide for you, so that you won’t miss anything during the preparation or the hosting-to-hosting migration of the website.
Why Switch Hosting Providers?
Switching from one provider to another is no way a whim – it’s a necessity required by the website to develop and achieve more than it can achieve now. And there is a whole variety of reasons for it:
Performance increase. Growing website needs more resources. It’s a fact. And current hosting may not provide scalability your website needs, so you change it for good.
Price. Sometimes hosting raises its subscription fees, sometimes you find all the same offer, but cheaper, and sometimes you even find a better offer for the same price.
Technical Features: Requirements such as SSL certificates, CDN support, and specific versions of PHP may make a different host more suitable.
Reliability: High uptime is critical for retaining visitors and improving SEO.
All points mentioned above are essential no matter if you’re aiming for performance, more features, or greater reliability. And below will be the guide for the moment when one of those reasons above hits the bill and you’ve made the decision to change hosting.
Step 1: Backup Your Existing Website
Before you start the website host-to-host migration proceed with anything else, it’s imperative to backup every element of your website. You can perform it either via FTP, manually creating an image, or via backup software, plugins and so on, using your in-built CMS capabilities. No matter the method, you should back up everything, including:
- All of the content – from pages themselves and up to images, videos and even texts.
- Server-side scripts and website code.
- Everything related to settings, including .htaccess files.
If the website is relying on databases, and most websites are such, remember to backup the database as well. Usually, this can be easily done using a specialized interface like phpMyAdmin.
Step 2: Choose Your New Hosting
Basically, if you want to switch to another provider and move the whole website to a better-suiting place, do your research before proceeding with migration. Study every single service that presumably satisfies the website’s current needs with room for future development. And don’t forget to consider your budget.
Check and compare everything, consider pros and cons, take all minor details into account. For a reference, you obviously must check these parameters and capabilities:
- Server resources like storage and bandwidth. Consider future development, of course.
- Technical features your website requires to work well (SSL, CDN, etc.). Check subscription plans and what they include – you never know when you might need to upgrade for additional functionality.
- Strong and responsive customer support. It’s vital in case of emergencies, especially server-related.
- A straightforward migration process for current and possible future cases. You’re never sure your website will stay there forever.
Also, if possible, check the providers you’ve chosen with the powerful monitoring toolkit. Use host checker online monitoring tools on hosttracker, for instance, to see for yourself whether the hosting offers are lying for the sake of advertising or they’re genuine.
Step 3: Preparing the New Host
After you’ve considered everything and selected the hosting you want to migrate your website to, and purchased a service plan, you need to prepare for an actual migrating procedure.
Upload Website Files
As you’ve already made a backup of your website, you should not be afraid of using it as a source. So use FTP software like FileZIlla for host-to-host website transfer. Upload all of the data from the backup, recreating the whole website structure with it in the new server environment.
Set Up the Database
If your website runs with the database, create a new one (empty, of course) on the new server, import your old database there and check all the required settings. If needed, update any database strings and set up the same configuration as it was on the former server.
Step 4: Update DNS Records
Before you try to launch the website from the new server, you need to update the DNS record of the website. Otherwise the domain name won’t be directing anything towards the website. And it will mean that the website will be useless until DNS record is updated for a new hosting.
- Locate the DNS settings in your domain registrar’s dashboard.
- Replace the existing DNS server names with the ones your new host provided.
- DNS propagation can take anywhere from a few hours to 48 hours, so plan accordingly to minimize downtime.
Step 5: Testing
After DNS propagation, it’s crucial to test all elements of your website:
- Check if all internal and external links are working.
- Ensure that all media files load correctly.
- Test all forms, checkout processes, and any other functionalities.
- Confirm that all plugins or extensions are working as expected.
Additionally, you should set up a monitoring routine to be sure that the website won’t go down without you noticing. It will be of huge help in the long-run to check host using host-tracker.com/en periodically with this platform’s scheduled and automated tests.
Step 6: Cancel Your Old Hosting Subscription
Once you’ve confirmed that your website is running flawlessly on the new host, it’s safe to cancel your previous hosting service. Before you do this, make sure you’ve moved over any remaining email accounts or sub-domains.
Step 7: Ongoing Maintenance and Monitoring
Use tools like Google Analytics and HostTracker to monitor your website’s performance. Keep an eye on metrics by using automated tools as your main monitoring routine – ping website permanently on host-tracker and check all other vital points like page loading speed, downtime and so on. And don’t forget to monitor user behavior to see how they have been affected by the hosting change.
Security Monitoring
Your new host should provide strong security measures, but you should also take additional steps to monitor for potential issues. Regularly update your website software and carry out security audits to ensure that everything is as it should be.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
Incomplete Backups
This can lead to data loss. Always double-check to ensure you’ve backed up all files and databases.
DNS Downtime
Be aware that DNS propagation can lead to downtime. Schedule the switch during low-traffic periods.
Forgetting Ancillary Services
SSL certificates, email settings, and CDNs are often overlooked. Make sure these are configured on your new host.
Failure to Cancel Old Service
This can result in unexpected costs. Remember to cancel your old hosting plan after successfully migrating.
Lack of Post-move Testing
Skipping this step may result in undiscovered issues affecting user experience.
Conclusion
Switching your hosting provider can be a challenging yet rewarding process. The keys to a smooth transition are preparation, comprehensive backups, and methodical execution. The steps outlined in this guide aim to provide you with a roadmap for effectively changing your website hosting service without incurring data loss or significant downtime. By proceeding with caution and due diligence, you can improve your website’s performance, scalability, and reliability.
