How do you move your website to a new host without losing it?
Copy the site to the new host, test it there, switch only when it works, and keep the old hosting paid until the switch is checked. Three things need attention: the site's files and data, the email on your domain, and where the domain points. Email is the easiest to overlook, because it can stop when the site moves even though the site itself looks fine.
What has to move
This answer is for a site on hosting you choose. For a website builder, see the related answer on moving a Wix or Squarespace website.
- The site itself: pages, photos, files and any data behind them, such as form entries. WordPress's own guide to moving a site, which applies to WordPress sites, starts a move to a new server with a backup of the files, images and plugins and of the database.
- The email on your domain. Mailboxes can be run by the host or by a separate email service, and an owner may not know which.
- Where the domain points. The domain's settings (often called DNS) say which host serves your site and which service receives your mail. The domain itself usually can stay where it is, as the related answer on website hosting notes.
The order
This sequence is general advice, except the point that names the WordPress guide.
- Copy. Take a full copy of the files and data and keep it away from both hosts. Write down every login and where the domain is managed.
- Build on the new host. Put the copy there, with the domain still pointing at the old host. The WordPress guide says testing before the switch means temporarily changing two address settings in the site's database, a job for whoever does the move.
- Test. Check the new site on a phone, send a test message through every form and tap every phone link. The related answer on what to check before a new website goes live has a longer list.
- Switch. If the old site stores anything on its host, such as form entries, orders or bookings, copy the newest data across just before the switch. Then change where the domain points, at a quiet time of day. If the change is to the domain's name servers rather than to the site's address, every record on the domain, including the mail records, can be replaced by what the new setup holds, so copy them over first. Some visitors may see the old site for a while, so in the first days check the old site for anything that arrived late.
- Check again. Repeat the tests on the live address, then email every business address from outside and reply from each one.
- Close the old plan last, and only after checking that the domain is registered in an account in the business's name, not only through the old host.
The email trap
As general advice, the site and the email usually share a domain but not always a home. If mail runs on the old host, closing it can strand the mailboxes and the messages in them. If a separate service handles mail, its settings must be carried over exactly, or mail can stop arriving on the day of the switch while the new site looks perfect.
Before the switch, write down who runs each mailbox and what the domain's mail settings say. One tutorial inside the WordPress guide is about a different job: merging several blogs into one WordPress multisite install on cPanel hosting. It warns that replacing add-on domains with parked domains also deletes any "domain forwarders and e-mail forwarders" tied to them. That is not a host move, and forwarders are only part of a domain's mail settings, but it shows how mail settings can disappear as a side effect, so list yours first.
Why the old account stays paid
Until the new site and every mailbox are confirmed, the old host is your way back: if something fails, the domain can usually be pointed back. Cancel early and you may lose the only complete working copy. If the new site has collected inquiries meanwhile, copy them across before going back.
Wait until you have seen the rare things work too, such as a form used once a month. In the steps it gives under managing your old site for keeping it running, the guide cautions you to have a backup of the old site's WordPress database before proceeding. The related answer on the difference between a domain, hosting and a website shows how to find where yours is hosted and pointed.
Sources
Related answers
- Can you move a website built on Wix or Squarespace to another company?
- What should a small business look for in website hosting?
- What should you check before a new website goes live?
- What is the difference between a domain, hosting and a website, and how do you find out who hosts yours?
Ongoing technical support
The site goes down, email stops arriving, a domain is about to lapse, nobody knows the password. Many owners do not have a technical person. We are that person, for everything we build and the things you already have.