How to: Move your blog to a new host

Are you tired of your host because of too much downtime and slow loading times, but one of the many who have not made the switch to the greener grass on the other side because you are afraid of the technical difficulties of moving your blog?

If that is the case, then this quick guide is just what you need. It will show you how you can easily move your blog to a new host with just a few relatively simple steps, and it even includes a short illustrational video which highlights the steps.

The first thing you should do is to make sure that your new host has the required specifications to host a blog. In particular you want to be sure that your host supports MySQL databases, and that you will be given access to phpMyAdmin, which is the interface you will use to export the contents of your database from your old host, and import it to the one you create at your new host.

Step 1: Copy all the files of your blog from your old to your new host.

You will obviously want to include all the files of your blog at your old host. As you can see in the video, the easiest way of doing this is to simply log in to your account through FTP, and directly download all the files to your computer. Once you have successfully downloaded all files, you simply connect to your new host and upload the same files. No need to tamper with any of the files or the directory structure, just upload them just as you downloaded them.

Step 2: Create a new database at your new host.

Now that all the files are in place, the only thing that remains is to get the database ported over to your new host. What you can do is open your wp-config.php file (if you are using WordPress) and see the specifications of your old database. The easiest thing is to simply duplicate the details, and create an identical database and database-user at your new host.

This is not always possible however, because your database name and username might be given a different prefix at your new host. If that is the case, then you need to modify the information in your config file. If you do this, don’t forget to re-upload your config file and overwrite the old one, which should already be in place at your new host after completing the first step.

Step 3: Export your database from your old host.

This is often the most confusing step for those who have no experience with phpMyAdmin, the interface you use to manage your databases. Don’t be afraid however, as shown in the video, you simply login to phpMyAdmin at your old host, select your database, and go straight to the Export tab.

Once there, hit select all in the left menu, and just scroll down to the bottom. Here you will give the export of your database a new, and choose if you want to have it compressed. For no specific reason at all, I like to compress it in a tar.gz format, but it makes no practical difference whether you choose no compression, zip or gz - When importing the database, which is the next step, phpMyAdmin will automatically detect the compression and decompress it.

Step 4: Import your database at your new host.

When you’ve successfully downloaded the contents of your old database, just login to phpMyAdmin at your new host, pick the correct database and go straight to Import. Here you will be prompted to select the file with the contents of your database, which is of course stored locally at your computer. Just pick this file, and don’t worry with the other settings. Execute the import, and you will then get a short message telling you that the import has been successful.

Step 5: Update the your domain’s DNS settings.

This is the final step of the move. We have already moved the blog to your new host, and all that remains is to update the DNS (Domain Name Servers) of your domain. This is done from your control panel at your domain registrar, and not at your old host. Unless of course you registered your domain at your old host.

Once you have updated the DNS, it will take some time before your domain is actually pointing to your new host. It can take as much as up to 48-72 hours for the changes to propagate, but normally it takes no more than 24 hours.

Finally, I have included a short video documenting and showcasing the steps as I recently moved my own blog to a new host. If you have any questions regarding the procedure, don’t hesitate to ask through the comments!

Youtube video missing.