The one thing many webmasters and individuals dislike about web hosting is the process of switching web hosts, especially when it needs to be done for a couple dozen sites if not hundreds. Websites with databases are even harder to move as it requires more time and effort. Some websites make money for the owner, and even a short period of downtime could mean a loss in potential income. When moving to another web hosting company, the goal is to do so, without having any sort of downtime. Can this be done? Truthfully, yes it can, but many people still don’t know how. This article will shed some light on how to do so, the right way.

Your initial step should be to take an overview look at the hosting plan you currently have with your web hosting company. The hosting plan you intend to purchase next should be the same if not better. The reason is that, some people don’t realize what they have with their current host, and they run off to purchase another plan, which is smaller than their original plan. If you have some special features with your current host, like FrontPage, SSL, cron jobs, or unlimited databases, you should be keen on looking for something similar or better. When selecting a hosting company, you should take the time to look at every aspect of the company to make sure it is the best one for your needs. The last thing you want to happen is to go through the entire process of moving web hosts to find out that you made a mistake in your web host selection.

Once you have opened an account with your new host, begin by adding in the domains to your new hosting account. If you are using a control panel, you can easily do this by navigating to the domain icon. Once all the domains are added to the account, you should login to your old account via an FTP client or through your file manager. Download all your website files, and make sure that you are downloading them into the correct directories, just like they appear. If your website uses databases and emails, you should login to your control panel next. Using the MySQL PHPMyAdmin, you should download the database for your websites. The databases can be downloaded in various formats, but compressing them would be better if they are large files. Lastly, you need to take note of all the emails and sub-domains you had with your old host.

At this time, you should have all your website files from your old host, on your computer. Via a FTP client or file manager, you need to upload al the files onto your new hosting account. When uploading, you should make sure that you are uploading into the correct folders. If some files are uploaded in the wrong place, your website won’t be fully functional. At the time of signing up, your new host would have given you a temporary URL consisting of numbers or letters. You can use this temporary URL to make sure that all your websites are working as they used to be.

This part is very easy, depending on your domain registrar.  You need to change the name servers for your domains. Some domain registrars allow you to do this in bulk, while some don’t. A name server change will take anywhere from a few minutes to twenty-four hours to take effect. Once you have completed all the steps mentioned above and you are positive that everything is working on correctly on your new web hosting account, you can go ahead and delete your old hosting account.

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