How To Migrate A Website

Why Avoid Website Downtime?

• Website downtime can result in reputational and financial loss for businesses.
• Downtime can be caused by various factors, including DNS issues, DDoS attacks, hardware failures, and poor quality of website hosting.
• A reliable web host can help minimize downtime.

Choosing a New Web Hosting Provider

Matching your needs to suitable type of hosting plan

• Consider the type of hosting plan that suits your website’s needs, such as shared hosting, private servers, or managed WordPress hosting.
• Look for a hosting provider that offers flexible plans to accommodate your website’s growth.

Security

• Security is a top priority when choosing a web hosting provider.
• Look for a hosting provider with tight security measures in place to protect your website from hackers and other threats.

Reliability and uptime

• Reliability is crucial for any website, especially for business websites.
• Look for a hosting provider that offers a high uptime guarantee, such as 99.9%.

Speed

• Website speed is important for both user experience and search engine rankings.
• Look for a web host that is at least as fast as the industry average.

Customer support

• Good customer support is essential when you need help with your website.
• Look for a web host that offers 24/7 customer support.

Price

• Price is an important consideration when choosing a web hosting provider.
• Look for a hosting provider that offers competitive pricing and transparent renewal costs.

Preparing for Migration

Back Up Your Website

The WordPress Method

• If you’re using WordPress, you can use a plug-in like All-in-One WP Migration or Duplicator to back up your site.
• These plug-ins allow you to backup your WordPress site with just a few clicks.

The cPanel Method

• If you’re using cPanel, you can use the built-in backup feature to back up your website.
• Make sure to save your backup files to a secure location.

The FTP Method

• If you’re familiar with FTP, you can use an FTP client like FileZilla to backup your site files.
• Make sure to install the FileZilla Client, not the FileZilla server.

Download Backup Files

• Download compressed backups of website files and database information.
• Use a reliable web host to minimize downtime.

Export Your Database Backups

• Back up your database using the control panel or manually using phpMyAdmin.
• Make sure to download the database files in a .zip format.

Setting Up the New Host

Sign up for a new web host and choose your hosting plan

• Choose a new web host that offers a free site migration service.
• Consider the long-term factors, such as hosting plans, resources, and customer support, when choosing a new host.

Add your domain name at your new host

• Add your domain name to your new hosting account.
• If you have multiple sites, you might need to create an Addon Domain instead.

Transferring Website Files and Database

Move the Files and Database to the New Host

Using FTP

• Move all of your site’s files to your new host using FTP.
• The easiest way to move your site’s files is via FTP, using an FTP program like FileZilla.

Using a Plugin

• If you’re using WordPress, you can use a plug-in like UpdraftPlus to transfer your site files.
• The plug-in may have a clone or migrate option that lets you restore everything from a file on your PC.

Import Your Database

• Import a copy of your old database into your new database.
• You can use cPanel’s File Manager tool or an FTP client like FileZilla to upload your database.

Modify Your Website’s Files

• If you’ve made changes such as database name, username, or password, you may need to reconfigure some settings.
• You can use a content management system (CMS) like WordPress to modify your website’s files.

Configuring DNS Settings

Update Your Website’s DNS (Domain Name System) settings

• Update your DNS settings to point to your new hosting account.
• You’ll need to update your DNS settings with your new domain registrar.

Point Your Domain Name to the New Server

• Tell the domain registrar to use new domain name servers.
• Use a reliable web host to minimize downtime.

Testing and Review

Test Your Website

• Test your website to ensure everything is working correctly after the transfer.
• Check out both the front-end and back-end of your website and identify any errors as early as possible.

Test Everything Again

• Now, you’ll need to wait for a little for the change that you made to your nameservers to take effect.
• Once the change takes effect, you should be able to access the version of your site at your new host when you go to your domain name.

Fix Broken Links

• Use a link checker tool to discover broken links on your new site.
• Fix each dead link one by one, editing their locations by hand.

Post-Migration Tasks

Update Your Email Addresses (optional)

• If you’re using email hosting from your old host to create a custom email address, you’ll also want to set up this email address at your new host before you make the switch.

Cancel Old Hosting Account

• Cancel your old hosting account once the migration is complete.

Notify Search Engines of the Site Transfer

• Let Google know about your new site using some of Google’s own tools.
• You’ll also want to have an XML sitemap for your new domain.

Alternative Migration Methods

Transfer Your Website Using a Plugin

• Use a WordPress migration plugin, such as All-In-One WP Migration or Duplicator, to simplify the transfer process.
• These plugins can help you upload databases, files, themes, and plugins to another server with just a few clicks.

Request a Migration from Your New Host’s Support Team

• Choose a new web host that offers a free migration service.
• Request a migration from your new host’s support team, and provide your site and account details.

Hands-off Automated Migration & Hosting Migration Services

• GoDaddy offers free automated migration when you migrate your website to GoDaddy’s web hosting.
• You can also use GoDaddy’s Managed Migration Services to skip the migration process completely.

Conclusion

How Long Does a Site Migration Take?

• The time it takes to migrate a site depends on various factors, including the size of the website and the complexity of the migration.
• Use a reliable web host to minimize downtime.
• Plan your migration carefully to avoid downtime.