10 Tips to Follow When Switching a Web Host

Web Hosting Tips

You are unhappy with your provider and have made up your mind to switch your web host. This is definitely not one of the easiest jobs around. Nevertheless, if you remember a few things, you can almost certainly avoid pitfalls. Here are 10 tips that should ease the transition process:

Back-up: Transfer of a hosting service will have you looking at many things simultaneously. Hence taking a back-up of your web files and pages before you get started can help you in the long run. You don’t want to be worrying about lost files and misplaced pages, when there are other important things that demand attention.

Operating System: It is very important that you check the hosting plan of both your current and new provider. Often, if not paid attention to, this can lead to a broken website. Check and compare the similarities and differences in functionality as far as operating system of the hosts is concerned.
Storage: Assess the storage of your existing website much in advance. This will allow you to choose the correct web host to make the desired switch. Your new plan should have the ability to store not just your current website storage needs, but a little bit more too. The storage plan should typically be your total storage, log files and emails included.

Bandwidth: When you buy hosting, it is inevitable that you check for the amount of bandwidth offered. It should be at least on par with your existing provider. Not knowing about your bandwidth details can see you spend extra money with a new web host.

Shopping Cart: If yours is purely a business website, your new provider must be capable of either accommodating your shopping cart from your previous host or offer a new one that suits your requirements. This feature is essential if your site requires visitors to add their purchases to a shopping cart before proceeding further.

Mail Support: Another often ignored feature is that of email accounts. You must know in advance whether your new hosting provider will offer email accounts in the same quantity as your current provider. You may also want to check for mail forwards and auto responses.

Uploading Content: Hosting a website on a new provider can make you quite hassled, if you didn’t already check for the ease at which you can upload content. The functions and features of different hosts are obviously going to be different. It is important for you to check the know-how of your new provider as far as file uploads to the server is concerned. Most hosts offer to help you transfer your files.

FrontPage support: If your existing website deploys FrontPage, it is only essential that you check whether your new provider does so too. In addition to this, make sure that you check the version of FrontPage supported by both hosts is the same as well.

Email Set-up: Before you transfer your website to a new host, you must have your current email accounts set up on the new server. This ensures that there are no hassles and confusions later.

Script support: Lastly, your new provider must lend a helping hand to all your existing scripts on your website. Hosting a website on a new provider may require you to make relevant changes to your current scripts for smooth functioning.