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Beginner’s Guide to Migrating Your Website to a New Hosting Provider

When you sign a web host web hosting provider for your new website, you assume to have made it final for a long time. Having made the decision keeping in mind the cost, services, and benefits that the business website entails, you believe that it will be a good decision.

However, it doesn’t always fan out in this manner. More often than not, you are bound to face some unforeseen scenarios where you think that things aren’t going well between you two.

That is when you decide, maybe it is time to shift to a new web hosting provider. You can check other website hosts or check or those that can be made by WordPress.

How to Migrate to a New Hosting Provider?

Switching from one hosting provider to another is not an easy process. It can be a very tiring and time-consuming process. There are some great experienced firms, and even almost every Web Design Agency who knows their job can help you in getting a good hosting provider.

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Ideally, you should look for a local web hosting service provider or at least those that operate in the same time zone as yours. For instance, find the best web hosts for Singapore if you are based in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, or anywhere else in the GMT +8 time zone. This is important because you won’t have to wait longer for support.

There are some steps that one should follow in order to ensure that the process goes smoothly.

Let’s see how.

1- Have a Plan

The first step that one should start off with is contacting the new hosting provider. An important thing to notice here is that the business should not cut off from the services of the existing hosting provider.

This can cause a huge lag in the business operations if the business is restricted from using the old hosting provider’s services. So, do not start any migration process before signing up for a better provider.

2- Know the Technical Aspect

Now comes the tricky bit. Currently, you would be having two different hosting providers, the old one and the new one. You would now be required to shift from your old hosting provider to the new one. Make sure you maintain the same files and folder structure in order to make the process go smoothly.

3- Have a Backup

Another important thing here is to backup all the relevant files from the previous hosting provider’s database. There are several different software and functions available that assist in handling this. Make sure you transfer all the important emails too in order to assure that there are no problems in the future. 

4- The DNS/CNAME Propagation

Once you have transferred all the files to your new hosting provider, you will now have all your information with both the hosting providers. Now is the time to change the domain name’s DNS. It is suggested to contact the new hosting providers to get all the relevant information in this regard before taking a step on your own.

5- The Waiting Period

After changing the domain name, you would now have to wait at least 2 days before the new hosting provider starts working. This is when your new hosting provider is ensuring that your DNS is linking all around the world.

After this long waiting for almost 48 hours, you are good to go. You can check if your new hosting provider is operating accordingly. In case they are, you can straight away cancel your contract with the old hosting provider.

An important thing to consider here is if you have got your domain registration done with the old hosting provider, then do not cancel the domain registration.

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