Hosting migration and new domain

[eddio]

Good day all!

At the moment I have a website at host X with *.com domain name, but I am willing to refresh the design on a new host Y with same domain name but *.co.uk
The only thing I would like to take with me to the new host would be the content, like blogs and media. The plan is, I would get everything ready on the Y host with *.co.uk domain and once everything is ready, then I would update the ns names for the *.com domain so it redirects to the new *.co.uk, hope this makes sense?
Could you give me any advice on what to look out for and perhaps if I have missed any other important steps?
Thanks
Ed

 

[WESH.UK]

Hi Ed

Is there a specific reason for wanting to change the domain name?

How long have you had the .com live for?

We would advise against changing the domain name if possible unless it was causing problems or had been blacklisted.

You can take your entire website and domain name to a new host no problem and just rebuild your site in the background then switch it over when ready to go live.

 

[eddio]

Hey WESH.UK
Its not that Im changing the name, I just want both *.com and *.co.uk the domain name stays the same and both will direct to one website

 

[WESH.UK]

I know, but there can be serious search ranking implications of launching on the new domain then just redirecting the old domain.

The current domain name will have built up a certain amount of domain authority, backlinks and more.

You would want to relaunch on the existing domain name and just secure the .co.uk to protect your brand, otherwise in the eyes of search engines, its a new website, because the domain name has changed.

 

[eddio]

Right. That makes a lot of sense. And that would have been one of my next questions. So, whats the best practice to migrate a site to a new host?

 

[WESH.UK]

Right. That makes a lot of sense. And that would have been one of my next questions. So, whats the best practice to migrate a site to a new host?

Depends on your existing hosting, but quite often, when people migrate to us for example, we can do a complete server to server migration, everything moves all in 1 go, the customer doesnt have to do anything and the DNS propagation only takes 60 seconds, not 24+ hours that many will tell you.

If your existing hosting is on a convoluted setup, then a manual transfer of files and databases would be needed, but again, your new host should be able to do it for you. We've done this for plenty, to avoid any headaches, then we setup an onboarding screensharing session to show people around rather than just send them an email and leaving them to it.

Your new host should be able to migrate everything "as-is", for you.

What hosting platform are you currently on? Is it a cPanel server by any chance?

 

[KM-Tiger]

Hey WESH.UK
Its not that Im changing the name, I just want both *.com and *.co.uk the domain name stays the same and both will direct to one website

You are changing the name.

name.co.uk and name.com are different names as far as the internet is concerned.

Also be aware that you cannot do an HTTP redirect, eg name.co.uk -> name.com in DNS. You would need a virtual server on the new host to perform that.

 

[webhostuk]

Nothing to make things complex, as I can see you wish to redesign a new website what you do is first develop the new website on your new co.uk domain( by adding .htaccess rule to avoid google /seo crawling). what it does is keep your .com as it is and working. Once you are done with new website on co.uk ( tried and tested) just ask your hosting company to change domain name for new website from co.uk domain to .com domain, if its a wordpress or db website you need to update access URL in DB which is quit simple ( for html website just domain change will do the job) , this will make sure you new website works on .com ( keeping the old domain ranking) and then just park your co.uk domain to point to .com domain. ( its a cpanel feature )

 

[WESH.UK]

Nothing to make things complex, as I can see you wish to redesign a new website what you do is first develop the new website on your new co.uk domain( by adding .htaccess rule to avoid google /seo crawling). what it does is keep your .com as it is and working. Once you are done with new website on co.uk ( tried and tested) just ask your hosting company to change domain name for new website from co.uk domain to .com domain, if its a wordpress or db website you need to update access URL in DB which is quit simple ( for html website just domain change will do the job) , this will make sure you new website works on .com ( keeping the old domain ranking) and then just park your co.uk domain to point to .com domain. ( its a cpanel feature )

This is overcomplicating things, is 100% unnecessary, and is missing a lot of detail.

 

[webhostuk]

This is overcomplicating things, is 100% unnecessary, and is missing a lot of detail.

Really???

Depends on your existing hosting, but quite often, when people migrate to us for example,

I guess thats the only way you don't complain

 

[eddio]

You are changing the name.

name.co.uk and name.com are different names as far as the internet is concerned.

Also be aware that you cannot do an HTTP redirect, eg name.co.uk -> name.com in DNS. You would need a virtual server on the new host to perform that.

I understand. Thanks for the heads up!

Nothing to make things complex, as I can see you wish to redesign a new website what you do is first develop the new website on your new co.uk domain( by adding .htaccess rule to avoid google /seo crawling). what it does is keep your .com as it is and working. Once you are done with new website on co.uk ( tried and tested) just ask your hosting company to change domain name for new website from co.uk domain to .com domain, if its a wordpress or db website you need to update access URL in DB which is quit simple ( for html website just domain change will do the job) , this will make sure you new website works on .com ( keeping the old domain ranking) and then just park your co.uk domain to point to .com domain. ( its a cpanel feature )

Yes, that sounds like the whole plan I was thinking on doing.

So basically, Iv got the current hosting which is located in Germany (don't ask me why I chose it haha), but my target audience is in the UK and that's why I am willing to migrate to a UK based hosting and at the same time, redesign my site. I think most of you will agree with my reason for this migration. Loading speeds, geolocations and so on. I know about the cdn's, but I personally believe, that this migration would still be more beneficial than cdn, cachings, clouds etc
+on top of that, I also want to explore new web hosting providers, see what they got to offer, so, I am kinda looking forward on this migration.

 

[fisicx]

Why do you need to redesign the site? If it get traffic and converts don’t mess with it.

If it doesn’t then a redesign isn’t the answer. You first need to analysis why you aren’t getting traffic and conversions. It may just need a couple of small tweaks.

 

[eddio]

Why do you need to redesign the site? If it get traffic and converts don’t mess with it.

If it doesn’t then a redesign isn’t the answer. You first need to analysis why you aren’t getting traffic and conversions. It may just need a couple of small tweaks.

I'm not 100% happy with the design, and it does not represent the way I would like to. And there are more technical reasons.

 

[webhostuk]

I understand. Thanks for the heads up!

Yes, that sounds like the whole plan I was thinking on doing.

So basically, Iv got the current hosting which is located in Germany (don't ask me why I chose it haha), but my target audience is in the UK and that's why I am willing to migrate to a UK based hosting and at the same time, redesign my site. I think most of you will agree with my reason for this migration. Loading speeds, geolocations and so on. I know about the cdn's, but I personally believe, that this migration would still be more beneficial than cdn, cachings, clouds etc
+on top of that, I also want to explore new web hosting providers, see what they got to offer, so, I am kinda looking forward on this migration.

This is very much possible.. you can ask any of your selected new hosting provider for help and they can get what I have suggested.

 

[dx3webs]

This is very much possible.. you can ask any of your selected new hosting provider for help and they can get what I have suggested.

This...
this is an idea way to find out if you new host is going to be helpful or not. Drop them a line and see who gives you the best advice