After much discussion with other bloggers and web site owners, I have decided that the time is right for this post. So many people stay in a relationship with their web hosting company, even when they are unhappy, because they are unsure of the process and afraid of long periods of down time. The truth is, when you do a hosting switch, there doesn’t need to be ANY down time of your site at all.

I have had hosting accounts at a variety of hosting companies over the years and they have all served their purpose well at the time. Now the bulk of my hosting is done at HostGator and Jumpline.com Web Hosting (they have yet to let me down in 8 years!). The following is the recipe I follow whether moving one of my accounts or a client account.

Back up all of your files from your existing Web hosting server to your hard drive.
Create a hosting account at your new hosting service.
Transfer all your web site’s files to the new server. Set up email accounts at this time, too.
You may need to go to the service you registered your Domain name with at this point and point the name servers to your new service. (Registrars are typically Network Solutions , GoDaddy and others) Some hosting services will do this part for you. Your new site should resolve in 15 minutes to 48 hours. By doing things in this order, you will not have any down time. One moment the DNS will be pointing to the old server and the next moment it will point to the new one.
Test out your site at its new home. Set up all the extra features and let it run for a few days.
Delete your files at the old hosting account and cancel your hosting with them. Be sure to go onto the remote site and delete your files off their server.
Moving your personal or business web site and/or blog is not as daunting as it sounds. Take your time and follow these guidelines and you will be feeling at home before you know it.