Consider THIS When Thinking Of Transferring To a New Web Host!
For whatever reason you are thinking of transferring to a new web host, there are important points to consider before making a final decision. Your aim will be to migrate without headaches and little downtime!
Let’s first take a step back and recap:
What Is Web Hosting?
Web hosts are companies who provide the necessary skills, services and technology you need for your website to be searchable on the Internet. A web host offers a server where all your website files are stored and the URL (Universal Resource Locator) is generated. So it’s a big deal, and considering moving from one host to another, requires research, asking the right questions and careful planning!
At this time, you may also want to rethink the type of hosting on offer – shared hosting, VPS hosting (virtual private server) or dedicated hosting. Read more about different types of web hosting in our previous blog article.
Here are some important points to consider before making a final decision:
- Your website files needs to be downloaded from the current host, onto a PC, and then FTP’d (File Transfer Protocol) to the new host. If you don’t have the time or know-how to do this, is your new web host willing to help? What is the time frame? Is there a cost for this assistance?
- You may use your current domain name with any new web host, however, you need to change the DNS (Domain Name System) server settings to the IP (Internet Protocol) you want the domain name to resolve to (find your website on the new server). Make sure to discuss and cost this with the new service provider
- Does your website have databases? Discuss how these need to be managed so that none of the information is lost.
- Changing web hosts, may affect your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) in several different ways. Does your new web hosting service provider offer assistance with this? How will they go about it? What will it cost? SEO is one of the most important factors to consider as you have no doubt worked long and hard to achieve your current rankings and don’t want to start at ground zero again!
What impacts your website’s SEO?
- Server Location
- Server Quality
- Page Loading Speed
- Downgrading your hosting package/plan
- Changing your website structure, and more
Now that you understand more about what impacts a website transfer, there is no reason for it not to go smoothly, as you will undoubtedly ask the right questions, consider your options and choose a web host that fits your unique needs.
Talk to Open Host about your pending web transfer and visit us at https://www.openhost.co.za/ to learn more about how Open Host may help you with cPanel Hosting!
Need to register a domain? Click HERE to find out more!
Fun-Facts about domains!
