Technically doable. The most common mistake will cost you your email.
You move a website by first checking that the domain is in your name, then making the new environment fully functional, reducing the DNS expiration time a day in advance, and only then switching. Don't forget your mail records: that's the most expensive mistake of any move.
STEP BY STEP
This is how you approach it
- Check whether the domain is in your nameLook up your domain in a public WHOIS service. If your old builder is the holder, arrange that first: otherwise you won't be able to move without his cooperation.
- Make a full backupFiles, database and an export of your email. Even if the move goes well, you want to have a fallback point.
- Get the new environment ready to workFully tested before you change anything in DNS. There shouldn't be a moment when the old one is gone and the new one doesn't work yet.
- Make a note of your current DNS settingsEspecially your email records. If you only move the website and forget about it, your email will be gone: the most expensive and most common mistake.
- Decrease the expiration time one day in advanceThen the world will change more quickly. Lowering it afterwards no longer helps.
- Switch and checkWebsite, sending and receiving e-mail, forms, SSL. Do this on a day with support, so not on Friday afternoon.
PITFALLS
The mistakes that cost money
Forgetting mail records is number one. Your website works, and three days later you see no more mail coming in: including requests you never saw.
Number two is to immediately cancel the old environment. Keep it on as a fallback point for at least a month; those few tens of euros are the cheapest insurance available.
- Forgot mail records — the most expensive mistake.
- Cancel old environment immediately — keep it on for a month.
- Moving on Friday — wait for support one day.
- No backup — always, even with trust.
- Do: test the new environment first — before DNS changes.
- Do: Lower TTL in advance — that speeds up the transition.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
More about moving
Will my site go offline during the move?
Not if you prepare it properly. The new environment is ready and working before you change DNS, so visitors end up with the old or the new: never with nothing.
Will I lose my Google positions?
Not with a similar move where your addresses remain the same. If the structure also changes, you need a redirect card; that's a separate topic.
Do you help with a move?
Yes, even if we didn't build your site. We will arrange the transfer including email and check afterwards whether everything works.
CONTINUE READING
Of course, continue reading about this subject.
Moving without hassle?
We will arrange the transfer, including email, and keep the old environment as a fallback.