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How
Do I Change Hosts?
Due to problems with your current
webhost (such as downtime, poor support or not having the features you
need) you have decided you would like to change webhosts. But how can
you do this?
Here are the six easy steps
on exactly how to do this.
- Find your new host. Ask
for recommendations for hosting companies, or find out what hosting
company is being used by sites you admire.
- Register your new hosting
account, and submit your payment. It may
take as little as a half hour, or as long as a day to set up your new
hosting space.
- Find out how you can upload
your website before the DNS values resolve. It can take DNS about 48
hours to propogate. If you don't understand what this means, you just
need to know that people won't be seeing your site on the new host for
up to 2 days after you make the final switch. (Read our article What
is DNS & How Does It Work for more information on this.)
Many hosts have ways
(such as uploading by IP, or uploading into your username web folder)
so you can have your site completely on the new host's server before
the propgations ("switch") takes place. I always make some
tiny change on the index page I upload to the ner server, so I know
whether I am viewing the old hosting company's server, or the new one.
- Change the DNS on your domain
name to point to your new hosting company. You MUST be able to login
to your domain name at your registrar (such as GoDaddy) in order to
complete this step. If you don't know the username and password for
your registrar account, you will need get it, such as by using the "Request
your password" feature.
When you login, choose the option for domain name management and select
the domain name you are switiching hosts for. Then you should see the
section for updating your DNS nameservers. It will be clearly labeled
as something such as "Change Your DNS Servers" or "Change
your Nameservers". You will need to change the DNS servers to the
ones your new hosting company provide. There will be two, named something
like ns1.example.com and ns2.example.com This is likely
in your welcome email, and you can probably find the information on
the hosting company's help section as well.
If you are unable to complete this step please read the article Are
you your domain name's administrative contact? Check! for some
possible solutions.
- Save your DNS changes and
logout of your registrar.
- Within 48 hours, you will
be seeing your site on the new server.
- About a week after you change
hosts, it is safe to cancel your old hosting account. Don't cancel it
right after you have signed up with a new host, because while most people
will see the new host within 48 hours, some stragglers may take 72+
hours.
These are the easy steps to
change your hosting company. Now, if you are ready to start promoting,
head over to our Search Engine Optimization
section, where we have over 80 articles waiting for you!
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