Things to Keep in Mind When Changing Web Hosts by Bob Willis

So it is time for you to change your web host and you are not well equipped with the dos and don'ts about changing your web hosting http://www.hostingcoupons.org/ provider. Changing your web host http://www.hostingcoupons.org/best-web-hosts/ becomes imperative if your current web hosting provider is not offering quality services, you need added bandwidth and storage or if your website is hosted on a free web hosting account. Keeping in mind the future growth prospects of your website and feature requirements, the user should look for hosts that offer flexible and all-inclusive hosting packages. A thorough planning goes into the process of changing your hosting provider:

First step is to find a reliable and quality hosting provider who offers better quality services and hosting features as compared to your previous host.

Once you have zeroed down on a hosting provider, it is time to transfer your site to the new hosting server. The importance of backing up your website from the previous host cannot be stressed enough and is highly recommended. Also, take into account the layout and structuring of your website. If you feel that your website needs a neat structuring, then consider redesigning your website before you switch to another web host. This could either entail a new page design or perhaps redesigning of your content storage and database.

Remember to have a redirect page/feature on your old site for at least 48 hours after you have changed your hosting provider. This means that you should allow yourself at 48 hours before your website gets listed on most of the domain servers. This would ensure complete visibility and accessibility of your website even after a new IP has been generated but not yet propagated through the Internet.

Next thing to be taken into account is find out whether the new host is running on Windows or Unix platform and ascertain in advance its compatibility issues with your website.

The most important aspect is the storage offered by the new host. Make sure that the storage space is enough and offers ample room for your website's growth. Also take the bandwidth into account and ensure it is enough to maintain the accessibility of your website.

The features and services offered by the new host should at least equate to if not surpass your previous web hosting provider. These could include features like auto responders, quality customer support, mail forwarding and others. Also, if your website was created using Microsoft Frontpage, then the user is required to ensure in advance that the new hosting provider supports Frontpage extensions.