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Internet Marketing Coach
How to Change Hosts with No Down Time in 4 Easy Steps
November 9th, 2007 | 6 commentsFor those of us who are not very technically inclined, learning the ropes when it comes to Website management can be a very frustrating experience.
I’ve been marketing online for several years now, which for me involves managing a bunch of Websites. When the number of domains you own starts to grow to twenty, thirty or more you tend to make a point to learn how to do things as easy and painless as possible!
For many people transferring domains from one host to another means having the new Host do the transfer for you, but that can, and often does, include screw ups on their part, which more often than not results in down time for one or more of your sites.
The longer a site/page is down, the more likely it is that it will start dropping in the SERPS and that’s bad, bad news!
If you haven’t learned the following yet and you make your living online, or hope to someday, I highly recommend that you take the following advice and run with it.
Changing Hosts with Zero Downtime in 4 Easy Steps
Step 1. Download all your files so you have the most recent version. If your site is using a database use the backup function in Cpanel (if you use Cpanel hosting) or have your host do it for you (they should be able to pull that one off, it’s not that difficult.)
Step 2. Login to your new hosting account and add the site you’re transferring to that account. After you add it, it should tell you what the FTP login details are. If not, just go into the FTP function of your hosting account and it should be there. Write down the FTP UN and PW as well as the IP address that the site will be running on and the nameservers of the new host. If you don’t see the IP in your account, or if you don’t know the new nameservers for some reason just contact the new host and ask them. If they can’t answer you, find a new host!
(I once spoke with a “technical support” agent from 1&1 who didn’t know what nameservers were! which is fine, but she’s level 1 support for a domain registrar and host…WOW I’m no longer with 1&1)
If your site is using a MySQL database, use the backup option to upload it into the new account. If you don’t have that option have the new host upload it for you.
Step 3. Connect to the new FTP account with the new login details, but instead of using the domain as the host name, use the new IP. Using the domain will not work because the nameservers are still pointing to the old host. Once you’ve connected just upload all the files.
step 4. Login to the account from wherever you registered the domain. Go into the DNS settings of that domain and change the nameservers to your new nameservers that you wrote down previously. If you can’t find where to do this, just contact the registrar.
Optional Step 5 Do the happy dance because your site now has a new condo. Of course it could take up to 48 hours for the nameservers to settle, but once the nameservers are done propagating your site will be transfered with absolutely no down-time 
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9th November, 2007 at 11:48 pm
I couldn’t agree with you more about 1 and 1. I just finally got the word earlier this week that the last of my domains had been transferred away from their clutches successfully…free at last!
Fortunately, I only had 15 domains with them…so it was not as traumatic as it could have been had I transferred all my others there. Fortunately, their incompetence became apparent so early in the process that I stopped several domain transfers mid-stream.
Their domain reg service has an unbeatable price…but I couldn’t believe how inept their customer service department was. They don’t even have support email or a trouble ticket system…you just have to call “Bob” and “Jane” in India. And their product knowledge…at least in my experience…is atrocious. I’m certainly glad I never got into bed with them for hosting!
I’m certainly tired of wrestling with domain registrars. Between the megalomaniac running GoDaddy and the lame support at 1and1…I’m glad I have NameCheap to fall back on.
10th November, 2007 at 3:48 am
Hi Josh,
Great timing on this article … for me anyway. I recently decided that I want to consolidate what I’m doing on the Internet down to basically one blog. The problem is, the blog I plan to keep is on the hosting service (anhosting) that I don’t like nearly as much as the one (hostgator) which hosts the blog I plan to shut down.
So, using your tips above, I think I’m just going to transfer my blog over to hostgator and go from there.
Keep havin FuN
10th November, 2007 at 3:54 pm
I wish I could see this post before a week. I changed my hosts (hostdepartment.com to lunarpages.com) a week ago, and there was a big hick-up. Anyways thank you for posting this nice article.
-Nish
10th November, 2007 at 4:28 pm
@ Chuck, I hear ya! Their domain prices are good, but that’s it. Personally when I look at the price I don’t think of it as the price of the domain, but the price of the support. In 1&1’s case, the lower price definitely stands for a lower quality of service. I use namecheap now as well and have never had an issue. I love all the different options you have that are readily accessible as well.
@Todd, Good deal. I use HostGator as well and although many people complain about their service, I actually like it. Many of their level 1 support need to go to school, but overall I like them. Good luck with the transfer!
@ Nishanthe, I know how that is. Now you know how to do it yourself next time
10th November, 2007 at 7:10 pm
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10th November, 2007 at 10:12 pm
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