Here’s a confession.
I didn’t know what I was doing with my website 14 years ago.
But like you…
I was running an online business, and nothing could stand in my way.
Oh, the passion. It was intoxicating.
Besides, I had read Think & Grow Rich like the Bible.
Meaning I was pumped to the high heavens, and nothing was impossible.
Nothing.
After a while, I had to move the website to another web host.
I went to work because that’s what raw, unbridled passion makes you do.
It forces you to mad action.
Nothing else matters.
I thought I knew everything about moving a WordPress site.
Because, how hard could it be? It is moving computer files, right?
Just copy-paste the website from here to there, and boom, you’re done.
So I thought.
Come and let’s hop on the wayback machine.
Regard, with your mind’s eye, my sheer inexperience back in the day.
It’s laughable, but I’ve learned tons since.
Enjoy my good friend.
Hey there, fellow voyager.
How’s it going? Your day, that is.
Are you up for the new week?
Or are you stuck in the aftermath of a weekend gone too fast?
I come bearing news.
I moved!
Oh yeah, I did.
From one neighborhood to another. Yes, moved houses.
Because I read somewhere that your environment matters.
I also moved this website from one web host to another.
I hope you noticed the faster load speeds and whatnot on your way in.
And I love my new web host. Well, it’s more like “liking them.”
It wasn’t a hard task, you know, moving from one neighborhood to another.
It was a matter of picking up everything and lo and behold, a new home!
Moving things in the virtual world, on the other hand, wasn’t exactly easy.
Assuming green is easy and red is hard, moving a website is shades of grey.
Yeah.
Moving a WordPress website is cruel. There’s no color code for it.
It’s confusing.
Like one of those colors (or shades?) that only makes sense to ladies.
For example, Aureolin is a shade of what color? My point exactly.
One thing I wanted to avoid completely was downtime.
Can’t believe I knew such big words back then. Ha-ha!
The point is I didn’t want my website offline at all. Who wants that?
Well, I transferred my website from Fatcow to Bluehost without going offline.
I bet you wouldn’t have noticed, but guess who spilled the beans?
Beans all over the floor…this is what I did.
A few months ago, I bought a web hosting package from Bluehost.
Fatcow was alright but didn’t support some of my scripts.
But keeping two hosting accounts when one is enough is wasteful.
One web host had to bite the dust.
Until recently, this website was hosted by the good folks at Fatcow.
I had other websites there as well before migrating to Bluehost.
Fatcow had nothing on Bluehost, so I moved for more features.
And, of course, to save money.
Download Your Content and Database
I logged into my Fatcow account and went to the File Manager.
Then I compressed the WordPress website files into a .zip folder.
Most web hosts allow you to compress your website into an archive.
The archived folder could be .rar, .zip, or something else.
This is easier to download compared to downloading each file separately.
After that, I downloaded my database.
It is usually a small file that ends with a .sql extension.
For example, mine was vistad***12.sql.
Don’t sweat at all if you can’t find your database.
Chat with the customer support team, and they will help.
At this point, you have your database and the compressed website.
Armed with the two, I logged into my Bluehost account.
Then I created a folder named “vista” in the public_html folder.
The public_html folder is the default root folder in many web hosts.
This is normally the folder where your website is stored.
Upload Your Website to the New Web Host
I uploaded my compressed website to the “vista” folder and extracted it.
In the Bluehost cPanel, I navigated to MySQL and imported the database.
To import a database, simply create an empty database.
Then upload the .sql file you obtained earlier.
It is as simple as A, B, C. I don’t expect you to run into any problems.
All this time, my website was still running on Fatcow servers.
I hadn’t deleted it.
I had just downloaded the database and website files.
And uploaded them to Bluehost.
Testing Your New Website
I decided to test my website before making the full transition.
For this, I navigated to the Domains tab and created a sub-domain.
Note: This only works if you have a domain with your new web host.
Luckily for yours truly, I had a domain with Bluehost.
So, I created a sub-domain pointing to the “vista” folder.
A moment later, the sub-domain was ready.
With database and files in place, I entered the sub-domain in my browser.
I felt like some badass from the Mad Max movies.
I waited a moment for the Internet to kick in.
You know, Internet speeds were something else back then😀
Then, nothing.
Actually, there was something – an error!
This error: “Error establishing database connection.”
I panicked like any sane person, especially a beginner, would.
Not good at all.
Probably like you, I often rush and totally misunderstand guides.
You know, like this one on how to move your WordPress site.
I love rushing out and meeting the challenge head-on.
Like the warriors charging the fields in Braveheart.
Or the poor souls in 300 who rush into swords like it pays in gold drachma.
Or the bloodthirsty fellows in Vikings with dreams of Valhalla.
But I digress.
I believe most solutions we seek are found somewhere in our minds.
If only we dug deep enough.
Still, I couldn’t figure out why my website had this particular error.
I guess some things are just too technical.
Even for boatloads of raw, unyielding desire 😀
Anyways, I could not for the life of me figure out the error.
Long story short, I threw in the towel and contacted Bluehost’s support.
The conversation went something like this:
Hello guys, I just moved my WordPress site to YOUR server but it is not working. I have tested it on a sub-domain….blah blah…and the error I’m getting is “error establishing database connection”…blah blah…please help me.
Short pause.
Hey Freddy…blah blah verify your account…blah blah.
I verified that I owned the account by providing some info.
Which is pointless if you ask me because I was logged in for Pete’s sake!
Okay. Thank you for verifying. Let me check what might be the problem,
came the reply.
Ok,
I answered and sipped from my glass.
A few minutes later, she came back. That’s right, she was a lady.
And she was exuberance personified. Don’t even ask 😀
Try your site now.
I refreshed the page, and the site was there! She must be a genius too!
What was the problem?
I asked because I like knowing things.
And because I couldn’t “thank” her with a coffee. What?
After uploading your site, you have to rewrite a few things in your wp-config.php file…
My wp-what now?
I wanted to ask but said this instead:
Ok. Thanks.
If only I had fully read the how to move your WordPress site guide.
I would have saved that sweet lady the trouble 😀
Changing Nameservers (NX)
Now that the website was working, I was ready for the next step.
My portfolio website still pointed to the website at Fatcow.
I just needed to point the domain name to the “vista” folder in Bluehost.
Are you following? I hope so.
Good thing I buy all my domain names straight from a registrar.
I have worked with Namecheap.com since day one, if you’re wondering.
I am extremely averse to the “Free Domain” most web hosts offer.
All I had to do now was simple.
I logged into my Namecheap account and changed the nameservers.
It is a simple process, and all domain registrars and web hosts have this option.
So, I changed my nameservers from:
- ns1.fatcow.com and ns2.fatcow.com to
- ns1.bluehost.com and ns2.bluehost.com respectively.
Normally, the change takes about four to 48 hours to propagate.
At times, longer.
This usually results in downtime.
It’s especially the case if you move (cut-paste) your website.
You know, as opposed to copy-pasting and testing.
So, I wasn’t worried my website would go down during migration.
If that happened, I’d have just redirected visitors to the site at Bluehost.
See the brilliance in that? David Copperfield, babey. Ha-ha.
After the NX edit, my domain would point to the site at Bluehost.
Back at Bluehost…
I added the domain name to my Bluehost account as an ADD-ON.
This I did without deleting the site at Fatcow.
I made sure to point the domain to the “vista” folder.
I added the domain as an ADD-ON coz I had another domain with Bluehost.
My website was up at Fatcow, so I wasn’t worried about downtime.
In fact, I was tirelessly promoting this top 16 web content tips article.
When the NX finally switched 24 hours later, my site was live at Bluehost.
I didn’t edit a single thing, and the website was perfect.
All my blog posts were there.
Every single line of web content was there.
Every image was there.
Everything was there.
And nobody noticed the move.
Such is the versatility of the WordPress platform.
Update: I have long since moved from Bluehost because I was hacked!
It’s not even funny.
A Simpler Way Exists, Bad Bunny
Instead of going at it as I did, do this instead.
Contact your old web host via chat.
Tell them you’d like to download your entire website and database.
If they ask why, say you know your Miranda rights.
Just kidding. They won’t ask.
Ask them to compress the website, and they’ll oblige.
Ask nicely.
With your database and website files, chat with your new web host.
Tell them you’re moving to their platform simply because you love it.
You can’t help it.
Mention also that you have your database and website in a compressed archive.
Ask them to move the site for you.
They will ask you to upload the files to your root folder, aka public_html.
They will take it from there.
Saving you time to do whatever you want.
You can move your site on your own for the thrill.
Or/and to learn something new.
Or you can have your web host do it for you and save time.
It is all about you – the customer. Isn’t that right?
That will be all.
If you want to add to the discussion, use the comment section below!
Also, don’t forget to share this story with a friend or two 🙂
See you around.
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