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When it comes to moving you Web site to a different Web hosting company there are six essential steps that should be followed to ensure an easy transformation:
Backup: Before you begin the process of moving all of your Web files you need to be sure that they are backed up. Backup all of your Web files to your hard drive or to your offsite file backup system like Carbonite. Just to be safe, you could do both. The reason for the backup is obvious, if anything goes wrong in the transition, you will have what you need to fix the problem.
Choose a new hosting company: Once your files are backed up, find a new Web hosting company to do business with. Be sure that you are getting all of the service and support that you will need and that you will have plenty of space for your Web site. You also need to be sure that the Web hosting company works with the specific Web site software that you use.
Transfer you files: Now that you have a new Web hosting company it is time to transfer your files there. If you run into trouble here, most hosting services will have a tech support team that can assist you in the transfer.
Point the name servers: You may need to point the name servers to your domain name with the new hosting service you chose. Most will do it for you, but some will not. If this is not done properly you risk a big down time with your Web site so be sure you get this step completed.
Test your site: Once the transfer is complete you can load up all the little extras on your site and test, test, test. Keep testing your site for the next few days and be sure that all the links are working and all the pages are loading properly.
Cancel your old account: Once you feel good about the switch you can then cancel your old Web hosting account and delete all the files at that hosting service. Be sure to go onto their remote site and delete your files off of their server or talk to their tech support to make sure it gets done.
Changing Web hosting services doesn't have to be a nightmare and again, if you run into any problems along the way, be sure that you utilize tech support at your new hosting service. They are there to help you because they want your business, so take advantage of that and enjoy your new Web hosting service.
Jason Kay recommends reading reviews of cheap hosting sites to find an affordable, reliable Web hosting service that meets your needs.
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