So you've got your site up and running (hooray!) and for whatever reason, want to move your website from your current hosting situation to a new one - it's not as complicated as it seems. Just follow these easy steps to ensure your move is a smooth one! (note: some webhosts will move your website for you for free or for a small fee, if the whole process muddles you it's worth asking about!)
Note: BEFORE you follow these steps find out what your current hosting company's account cancellation procedure is. Some webhosts require notice received in a specific manner and/or within a certain time during the billing cycle. Only once you are sure you are in compliance proceed. If you're not in compliance it's not a huge deal, but means you'll be paying for hosting at two places for a short period of time. Also, you should ALWAYS be listed as the owner/admin contact of your own site. If you check WhoIS and find you're not listed as such contact your registrar and hosting company to rectify this immediately.
1) Download all of your existing website files onto your computer.
(You really should have a backup copy of your website on your hard drive anyway...just in case, as things do go wrong in the world of websites and having a complete and regularly updated backup of your site can help save you lots of frustration and tears over lost data!)
To download a copy of your website you'll need what's called an FTP CLIENT. There are some good FTP clients like Cute FTP (for windows) and Fetch (for mac users) listed in the
resources ---> software section of our directory. There are also some free FTP clients listed
here.
In order to access your website via FTP you will need your control panel username and password. If you don't have this you can get the information from your current webhost. You should always maintain records of your website access information.
Don't worry about where you keep them on your computer, just create a new folder somewhere in there and store them. It's important to update this storage file from time to time, especially if you frequently update your website.
[To use an FTP program you'll need to enter some information in order to create a secure and direct connection to your website, your current hosting company can provide this to you, just tell them you need info for FTP access. You'll need: FTP instructions from your hosting service if available. You will also need their HOST NAME or HOST ADDRESS (this is either your website address or an IP number, your current host will give you this info).]
2)Once you have ALL of your website files stored on your hard drive (don't forget to grab any databases or additional programs such as blog files too!) you can now contact your new webhost to sign up for an account and get information for what is called a DNS NAMESERVER.
A DNS nameserver is the address at which your website is 'pointed' - each webhost has it's own nameserver(s). It usually looks something like this:
ABC.WEBHOST.DEF
3)Your new hosting company will have also provided you with a new CONTROL PANEL username and password
(this is the place you set up email accounts and check stats. Some control panels are better than others, we recommend cPanel, but it is not a literal requirement of a good webhost). You will also need the new webhosts host address (as in step one for the old host) Log in to your new site via FTP and UPLOAD ALL of your website files to the new location.
At this point your website is still on the old host, but your files are ready to roll on the new one when you finally make the switch permanent. It is important to follow every step thus far BEFORE contacting your current host to cancel your account because legally they must delete your website from their records when you cancel service, and once that happens your site is no longer accessible.
4) Next, log in to your registration account (this is the place you *registered* your domain name, such as
GoDaddy or
Acenet. In the 'nameservers' part of your account enter the new nameserver EXACTLY as provided to you by your new hosting company
(note that these namerservers are case relative, so any capitalization is important when typing in the new info!). Double check your entry before saving - any typos means your website will be down for that much longer because it won't be pointed at the right place.
At this stage your website will likely be offline for at least a few hours. Your site-based email may or may not function during this time so keep that in mind and let any clients know you're temporarily offline for the move.
6) It does take a while for your new website location to register across the internet worldwide, up to 3 days for some parts of the world though it's usually as quick as a matter of hours for most places. As soon as your site is visible online to you, double check all internal links, menus, admin panels, etc. and immediately fix anything that broke along the way (don't worry, it's rare to find breakage but is possible).
7) Now it is time to notify your current webhost of your account cancellation. Follow their specified account cancellation procedures. Follow up the next day to ensure the request has been received and processed to ensure you aren't going to be billed again.
Allow for some time before everyone, in any global location, can see your website - it's down but not lost, assuming you followed these steps carefully. So don't worry and be patient
8) Go into your
new admin panel and set up your email account(s) as they were before and add any new ones. Update your email client (Outlook Express, etc.) accordingly. TEST your emails immediately for send/rec'v success.
The above info applies to static websites (ie, websites that are NOT a forum, or otherwise database driven...)
How to move your website to a new webhost
Stuck in startup? Stop dreaming. Start DOING! 
Lily Chambers, The Virtual Office Goddess, LLC
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