Switching Web Hosting Providers

Switching web hosting providers has become extremely easy to do. However, there are some important things to consider to ensure no downtime for your site during the transition. Most providers will setup a temporary sub-domain for you to use to upload your site while keeping the site live at the old provider. This is good because you can upload all of your files and test everything out on the new provider's servers before making it live to the rest of the world.

You will also want to go ahead and mirror or duplicate all of your email addresses onto the new provider's servers. Changing the name servers (DNS) to your new web hosting provider should be done last after everything else has been completed. Leave your account with the old provider active for at least 72 hours after making the DNS change to make sure enough time has passed for the new location to propogate throughout the Internet's network of routers and servers.

There are now some web hosting providers that will actually provide you with step-by-step assistance with your transition. Don't worry, again, it is not complicated and you can make a seamless change from provider to provider without your site visitors ever knowing the difference.