A Guide to Changing Web Hosting Companies
Eventually the time may come when you need to change your web host. The needs of your existing host may not serve you anymore-maybe you need room to grow, and your host doesn't provide it, or you want to add a new feature that your host doesn't support. Perhaps the webhost itself has changed, raising its price too high or suffering from a large slump in service. But no matter the reason, changing a host is not terribly difficult, as long as you try to follow four key pieces of advice. Some advice is more applicable to people using their webpage for business purposes, but all should help make the transition an easy one.
Don't jump hosts too fast-especially over price. If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. A lot of web hosts advertise extremely inexpensive services, but if you read the fine print, you'll find that they are filled with hidden costs. Look closely to find out what the web hosting that you use is going to cost. Many times the advertised price is only for a very limited service, and if you want all the bells and whistles that you've gotten used to, it may cost you as much or more as with your current host. Also, consider the inconvenience of moving hosts. Your viewers may never know, but it can be a hassle. You may have some downtime as you switch. All these things should be factored into that lower price. It's not that you can't find a good deal, or that you want to stay with a web host after service has deteriorated, but it might not be worth it to you to go through the paces of a move in order to get the same service you're getting now for only a few dollars a month cheaper.
Make sure your new host is compatible with all your scripts and modules. Unless you're ready to rebuild parts or all of your webpage from the ground up, you're going to want to make sure that your new host can handle everything that your old host could. If it can't, you'll want to have your script ready to be switched out before moving so that you don't have parts of your website non-functional.
Have some overlap in your service times between hosts. You will want time to test and make sure that the new host is running all your script properly. And when you transfer, you want there to be as little downtime as possible for your viewers. Test it often, especially for the first few days, to make sure that everything is working.
Most importantly back everything up well before your move (all files and databases). Things happen. You don't want to lose your entire website.
We all hope our next web host will be our last, but the same things go wrong with web hosting as any long-term business. If you apply some forethought and consideration to any potential move, however, you should find that if you do need to change, it is as painless as possible.
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