Moving a WordPress Website to a New Host: How to Prevent Trouble
Moving a WordPress website to a new host might seem like a simple procedure. However, even a small mistake can turn into hours of downtime. That’s completely unacceptable for any company as downtime loses small businesses over $1 million a year. The bigger your business is, the greater are the losses, with big corporations working up over $60 million in yearly losses from downtime alone. That kind of problem can ruin your business, so it’s essential to know that possible issues during the move to a new server might be and how to deal with them.
4 Tips for Moving a WordPress Website to a New Server with No Downtime
1. Know your Codex
The WordPress Codex is there to provide you with the most comprehensive information on running a WP website. That’s why it’s essential to study the Moving WordPress section of it before you take any steps in this direction.
Study the instructions carefully and take notes so you have them within reach when you actually get to moving. Never limit your research to a few how-to guides you can find online. The majority of those aren’t detailed and some even miss important steps. However, you should look into those articles as well, because they might offer some clever tricks.
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2. Get help from the hosting service
Leading hosting providers usually offer to move your website as part of the service package. However, the reliability of these services varies greatly. That’s why you should research the hosting company thoroughly and study some trustworthy reviews. Make sure that the provider is professional and will be able to prevent your losses.
However, you will need to double-check the website after the transfer is complete. When moving a WordPress website to a new host, some files and plugins might be lost or become incompatible. You will need to find out if your exact website configuration will be able to work on the new server beforehand.
3. Back up your data. Twice!
Regardless of who is doing the moving of your WordPress website, you have to back up your entire website just in case. It will be best to have at least two copies so you can be doubly sure in the safety of the information.
This backup will also help you assess the website after it’s been moved and ensure that every important bit is exactly where it should be. When backing up the data, do the following:
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- Export all content using the WordPress dashboard.
- Do a FTP backup.
- Back up the /wp-contents/ folder separately.
You can use it later for troubleshooting any issues with plugins. - Export databases in several formats, just in case.
Upload the second copy of all data to your cloud storage.
4. Be wary of migration tools
Hosting companies usually offer help from their techs in moving the website in the more expensive service packages. They also have free or cheap moving tools, which might be either efficient or a complete nightmare.
There is no way to know the difference except studying reviews from other people who used the tool. You should also study the tool itself in great detail so you know exactly what to do if you decide to use it.
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