Moving your website to another host — without a minute of downtime

You are unhappy with your hosting, but you keep putting off the move — what if the website goes down halfway through, or you lose emails?

The fear is reasonable. But with the right order of steps, the switch is invisible to visitors.

The key is the order

The mistake everyone makes: they first point the domain to the new server, and only then move the files. That means several hours of an empty website.

It is exactly the other way round. First everything is prepared on the new server and tested, and only at the very end is the domain switched over.

Step by step

1. Make a full copy. Files and database. Don’t rely on the old host’s automatic backups — download everything to your own computer.

2. Upload it to the new server and import the database. The website is there, but the domain still points to the old one.

3. Test before switching. This is the step most often skipped. Every serious host gives you a temporary address, or you can trick your own computer through the hosts file — then only you see the new server, and everyone else still sees the old one.

Check: the home page, the store, the forms, logging in, the images. If something doesn’t work, fix it now — nobody is watching.

4. Lower the DNS TTL. A day before, set it to 300 seconds. That means the change will spread within minutes, not hours.

5. Switch the DNS records. Now. And don’t shut down the old hosting — keep it for at least another week.

Why the old one stays

A DNS change doesn’t reach everyone at the same moment. Some visitors will reach the new server within five minutes, others within two days — it depends on their internet provider.

If you shut down the old one straight away, they will see an empty page. With both running, everyone sees a website — just from different places.

Email — that is where the pain hides

This is the part that is most often underestimated.

Before switching: create the same addresses on the new server. If they don’t exist, emails arriving after the switch are lost for good.

Move the old mail. Most hosts have a tool for copying it over IMAP. Or do it locally: add both accounts to Thunderbird and drag the folders across.

After the switch, keep checking the old mailbox too for another week — a few messages will still arrive there.

After the move

• Check that the SSL certificate works on the new server
• Test the contact form — does it really send
• Look in Search Console for any new errors
• If it is WooCommerce: place a test order with a real payment

When it isn’t worth doing yourself

If the website makes money, or you have more than a few email accounts, ask the host to do the move. Most do it for free — and so do we.

Half an hour of their work versus a whole day of yours, plus the risk of lost orders.