Move your WordPress Blog to new Host in 7 Steps without Downtime [DIY]

Moving WordPress blog to a new host is an excellent idea if you aren’t satisfied with your current host. Even me, within the last 3 months, moved my blog to 3 different hosts. At last, I found my perfect hosting partner after much investigation and currently sticking with them. However, most of the industry leading hosts like HostGator, BlueHost etc provides free website transfer along with new signups. But sometimes you may want to switch between hosts rather than a single attempt.

In the above scenario, you may not get free migration from the host and you should do it yourself. So, here’s the easiest method to transfer WordPress blog to new host without any downtime. I’m currently using HostGator and I will be providing the tutorial with respect to HostGator settings.

Move WordPress Blog to New Host

Step #1 – Backup all your existing files

Whether you are a novice or an advanced WordPress user, it’s always recommended to create any backup before dealing with databases, WP files and FTP. So our first aim is to make a complete backup of your all existing data.

You have to options to backup your WordPress blog, with phpMyadmin menu and with WordPress export functions. Prior making backup of your database, you have to backup all your files in the Public_html folder.

How to Backup your Blog Files?

It’s comparatively simple. Either use any FTP clients like FileZilla or log in to your cPanel. Move towards Public_html folder (as shown below) and download the entire folder. If you host multiple blogs, make sure to copy those folders related to the blogs too.

Step #2 – Creating Database backup

This is one of the crucial steps in this tutorial. By doing database backup, you won’t miss your posts or comments in any manner even though any problem occur. As I mentioned above, you can backup your database via WP dashboard itself or with phpMyadmin panel. The first method  seems to be simple and there’s not much extra benefit on doing the same on phpMyadmin.

How to Create Database Backup? 

In WP dashboard, move Go to Tools>>Export and choose ” All Content” . Proceed with the button and you may get a file in .xml format. Treat it like your baby and place to a secure folder on your PC. Alternatively, you can upload it to cloud services like DropBox. Even though your PC HDD gets bugs, you can easily recover your DB by doing so.

Step #3 – Install WordPress on new Host

You might have searched a lot before choosing a web hosting in order to protect your blog from unexpected suspensions and down times. If you didn’t make any choice yet, we highly recommend you to opt HostGator as it provides outstanding service to their customers.

How to Install WordPress on new Host?

If you use HostGator, log in to cPanel and under “Software/services” ,click “Fantastico De Luxe“. Don’t forget to add your domain before installing WordPress. Choose “WordPress” from the left bar and click on “New Installation”.

Step #4- Uploading Files and Data

It’s time to upload all previously backed up files to your new installation.

Upload Public_HTML folder Via FTP

Open your FTP client, connect to the server and move on to root of your host. Then upload Public_HTML folder there. Done. You may check whether it’s uploaded fully by accessing via Legacy File Manager (Seen on cPanel under “Files” section.

Step #5 – Importing Database

Again go to WP dashboard, Tools>Import> WordPress. You may wan to install a plugin called “wordpress-importer” to import your DB. Just install and start importing the database (xml) file.

Step #6 – Matching Permalink structure and Installing Necessary Plugins

Here we want to match the permalink structure to the previous one. Correctly choose the exact structure from the list and click save. Also don’t forget to add “www” option if you have used “www” structure in your old blog. Then install necessary plugins from the Plugins menu.

Final Step – Changing Name servers

You are awesome and you did well. Now in order to take effect, you have to change the nameservers . You might have got your new name servers from the account details mail from the tou . So, log in to your domain registrar account and change accordingly. It should be ,

nsxx.hostname.com

nsxx.hostname.com

Note

It should take at least 8-10 hours to propagate your DNS over internet. So don’t rush until it’s completely transferred. Check with different browsers or ask your Facebook friends to check your blog. If it completes, you should see your blog online.

Moving WordPress blog to a new host task has been completed. Done. You have successfully transferred your blog to new host. If you got any trouble while the tutorial, just shoot me an email or comment below.