Frequently Asked Questions

Website Hosting Migration

Why do I need to migrate my website?

One major reason to switch hosts is when your current host doesn’t quite bring great value to you or your business relative to the amount they are charging for. In practical terms, this means the performance and reliability of their servers, their ability to provide support when things do go wrong, and any systems they put in place to prevent issues from happening in the first place.

If you are on WordPress, you might want to consider managed WordPress hosting solutions. These run software stacks specifically designed for WordPress workloads, and usually offer better performance and security for the same price.

Will there be any downtime?

There will be no downtime, but there will be a brief window when your site will be “in limbo”. The decentralized nature of the internet means that DNS changes “don’t happen instantaneously”, and users will be taken to your website on both the old and new servers depending on whether or not the change has propagated on their end or not.

This used to take a day or two in the past. Now, changes reflect in minutes to a maximum of one hour.

In any case, the best time to perform the DNS update is when your website isn’t expecting any heavy traffic (like midnight for most industries).

Will my data be secure during the migration?

Absolutely.

My goal is to perform 100% fidelity migrations for your website. This means that everything that was previously stored on your previous hosting account, I will migrate over to the new one (unless otherwise specified).

What is your website hosting migration process?

As cliché as it may sound, the number one step is planning.

One of the first things I check is whether or not a domain is using cPanel for its emails (determined by checking if the MX record for the root domain eventually leads to the same IP address as the A record). If it is, then it is more important to migrate the emails to Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 first before migrating the website.

The next step is to prepare all the access and double check if they are all I need to perform the migration smoothly.

When all access is prepared and I am able to log in to your source hosting account, I will schedule a migration date and time with you. This is to ensure that no services are interrupted during critical moments that they are needed for your business.

Once everything is good to go, I will perform multiple backups using different methods. My primary backup is generated from the source hosting account panel’s default backup tool, and auxilliary backups are manual database exports and file archives.

After I have migrated your files and database, I will then test your website on the new hosting account via a hosts file to confirm that everything is working correctly before committing to the DNS update. Many of these tests’ purpose is to ensure that the software configuration between the old and new hosts match as closely as possible to maintain the highest fidelity.

Only after testing extensively will I then make the DNS update to point your domain name over to the new hosting account.

Will my website work exactly as it did before?

Yes, except your website will now load much faster on the new host. There will be no changes whatsoever on how your website looks on both the front and back ends.

What information do I need to provide to perform the migration?

For a typical scenario, I will need the following:

• Access to your source hosting account
• Access to your destination hosting account
• Access to your domain registrar (if the DNS records are managed there)
• Access to the dashboard of your authoritative nameserver (if it is not with your domain registrar).

Points three and four may be confusing – but I will lay this out in detail once I know your domain name so you will know exactly what to look for and provide.

Which web host do you recommend?

It depends on your business needs.

If you are running WordPress, I would recommend WP Engine and SiteGround. These platforms are well optimized for WordPress, and it takes care of caching, CDN, and security for you.

If you are looking to migrate a handful of WordPress websites, then my recommendation goes to Cloudways. Cloudways gives you the best balance of flexibility/control, as well as the “managed” experience their support team and engineers are able to provide.

Will my SEO be affected by the migration?

If you are migrating to a faster web host, then yes. Improved page load speeds can improve the user experience, which in turn may help with your website’s ranking on Google.

Migrating to a new host whose server is closest to your target audience can also help with ranking, as Google favors websites that are closer in proximity and closer in relevance to its users.

Do you provide post-migration support?

Absolutely.

I will extensively test your website post-migration, and monitor your website for a seven-day period.

If anything happens beyond this seven-day period whose direct cause is a part of the migration, I will make the necessary amendments at the soonest possible time.

Email Migration

Why do I need to migrate my emails?

Depending on your current set up, you may or may not need to migrate your emails.

If your emails are already hosted on a professional email service like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, you do not need to move between hosts. Costs are comparable between both, and deliverability and reliability are unmatched compared to other solutions.

If you are on cPanel or shared hosting email, it is of utmost importance that you upgrade to a professional email service as soon as possible. Deliverability on these hosts can be poor, as your emails have a higher tendency to land on spam, which may cost you some lost business. This is because on shared hosting, your server’s IP address is “shared” among other tenants on the server (“neighbors”), who may be sending spam and bringing down the trustworthiness of the server’s IP address for you and everyone else.

One way you can tell if you are on cPanel or shared hosting email is doing a check via MXToolbox. Enter your domain name (without the “www“) – if you see “mail.yourdomainname.com” or “yourdomainname.com” as the hostname, you are on shared hosting email.

Will there be any downtime? Will I keep all my existing emails?

There will be no downtime, and no emails will be dropped.

However, you will need to check both the old email account and the new email account for a day or two while the DNS propagates throughout the internet.

Will data be secure during the migration?

Absolutely. Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 both come with official and secure migration tools which we will employ. No access will be provided to any other parties besides your email provider of choice and us.

What is your email migration process?

The first step is planning, and checking to see if I have all the access necessary to complete the migration.

Once I have tested and confirmed that all the access are ready and working, I will schedule a migration date and time with you. This is to ensure that your email services are not interrupted during critical moments that they are needed for your business.

Besides creating backups/archives and performing the migration, I will also be creating an admin account for myself so I can very quickly and easily fix any issues that may arise during and post-migration (assuming there will be any). This account will not incur cost, as there is an official mechanism within Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 to create administrator accounts whose intended purpose is to manage and set up the subscription.

What information do I need to provide to perform the migration?

For a typical scenario, I will need the following:

• Access to your source email hosting provider (usually cPanel)
• Logins to each email account you wish to migrate
• Access to your domain registrar (if the DNS records are managed there)
• Access to the dashboard of your authoritative nameserver (if it is not with your domain registrar).

Points three and four may be confusing – but I will lay this out in detail once I know your domain name so you will know exactly what to look for and provide.

Which email service provider do you recommend?

It all depends on the software you need around your business.

If you need the Microsoft Office suite of applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.), you will want Microsoft 365. Similarly, if you are more comfortable working with Google’s web-based office suite, then Google Workspace is the way to go.

If you prefer to use Microsoft Outlook as your email client, please note that this will also work perfectly with Gmail. However, I would only recommend this if you already have a license for the Outlook application – if you do not, then Microsoft 365 would be a better bet as it comes with a free license for Outlook.

In terms of deliverability and reliability, you cannot go wrong with these two solutions.

Do you provide post-migration support?

Absolutely. I will monitor the migration and perform live tests for at least one week after DNS changes have been made.

Costs

How much does your migration service cost?

Hosting migrations cost $100 for websites up to 5GB in size.

Email migrations cost $50 for one user, and $100 for up to 5 accounts.

For larger websites and email accounts with more users, please feel free to contact me for a free consultation and quote.