How to Easily Transfer Your Site to Godaddy

You have built a wonderful site. Congratulations! Now it’s time to make it accessible to the general public, and for that, you need a web host. You’ve diligently chosen godaddy.com as your potential host because of its unmatched reputation and affordable pricing. For a long time, you have maintained good communication with the company via email. Now it’s time to make the transition official and to establish a satisfying working relationship.

Establishing a Correspondence With Godaddy

As you are probably aware, establishing a satisfying working relationship with a web host is rather important. For that matter, it’s essential that you follow the correct procedures. You need to make sure that you’re dealing with a legitimate company that is reputable and has the necessary infrastructure to support your website. Otherwise, your website could be adversely affected by poor performance or downtime due to overloaded servers.

To begin with, log into your account on godaddy.com and click on the gear menu in the top right corner of the screen. From here, you can access your ‘My Account’ page. Along with your website’s URL, you need to provide your email address. Remember, you are in the process of establishing a working relationship with this company and they need to correspond with you via email to make sure you are a real person and to ensure that your concerns are being addressed effectively. Fill in all the required information and create a secure email address. You can also add a password to your account. Next, click on the ‘Contact Us’ tab at the top of the page and fill in the form with your email address and phone number. Finally, click on the ‘Change Password’ button to update your account information. You have now set up your godaddy.com account and can begin the correspondence with the company.

Making the Necessary Changes To Your Website

Before you start making any changes to your website, it is of paramount importance to test your website in the most suitable environment. You need to ensure that all the changes you make work as intended and that your website functions properly across all devices (desktop, tablet, and mobile).

From your ‘My Account’ page, navigate to the hosting section and click on the ‘Create New Hosting Plan’ button. A pop-up box will appear with the options for a standard plan or a special offer. For the sake of this tutorial, we will go with the standard plan.

This will cost you $2.95/mo. plus 21.95 free domain names. On the other hand, you can sign up for the special offer for $2.45/mo. plus 15.45 free domain names. For both plans, you need to provide a name for your new hosting plan (it can be your company’s name or whatever you’d like) and choose a security question and answer. Finally, you will need to supply a phone number where you can be contacted. You are all set! Now it’s time to purchase the hosting service and begin the configuration process. First, log back into your account and click on the gear menu in the top right corner. From here, you can access your ‘My Account’ page. To purchase the hosting service, click on the ‘order now’ button. A payment page will appear where you can provide the necessary information to complete the transaction. Be sure to look out for any email notifications from godaddy about your new hosting plan.

Customizing Your Email

Since you are using the standard plan, you have its default email settings provided to you. For that reason, it’s a good idea to visit the ‘Settings’ section from your ‘My Account’ page and change the settings as desired. To do this, click on the ‘gear’ icon in the top right corner of the page. From here, you can access your Settings page. Change the server to your desired SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol) server and also modify the greeting message and other transactional emails (such as the confirmation email you will receive after you make the payment).

Once you have made the necessary changes, click on the ‘Save Changes’ button at the top of the page to establish the new settings.

Activating Your New Hosting Plan

In order to use your new host, you need to log back into your account and click on the ‘Hosting plan’ menu option. Here you will see a list of your active hosting plans. To activate your new host, simply click on the ‘Activate Plan’ button next to the plan you want to use. You will then be directed to a screen where you can provide the necessary information to finish the process. Once activated, you will see an invoice emailed to you and also be provided with a login and password to your new host.

Setting Up Email With Your Domain Name

In addition to having a working email account with your domain name, you can also use your domain name to send emails from. For instance, if you have a website named ‘mycompany.com’, you can use this email account to send out emails from ‘mycompany’ instead of your standard email address. This way, you can ensure that all your email correspondence is tied to your domain name and that there are no other email providers to confuse the issue (like Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo).

Making Sure Your Email Is Confirmed

To prevent any errors due to inactive or invalid email addresses, it is a good idea to confirm your email address. You can either do this manually by clicking on the confirmation link in the email you receive or set up automated confirmation via a plug-in (most email clients provide this feature).

Checking Your Email From A Different Computer

If you’re away from your home computer and want to check your email, it’s a pain to have to login to the email account on that specific computer. Thankfully, there is an app for that. Most notably, the Google App provides you with a useful feature that allows you to check your email from a different device. To utilize this feature, you need to have the Google App installed on your phone or tablet. In the event you have more than one, it’s advisable to download the free Google Apps suite for Macs, PCs, and iOS devices because it comes with a useful Gmail plug-in.

Setting Up Spam And Virus Protection

While you are setting up your email with a domain name, it is a good idea to ensure that it is protected from spam. Along with your legitimate email, you will receive a significant amount of spam as you set up your account. This is why most web hosts provide spam and virus protection packages as part of their service. These packages are built into your hosting plan and are activated when you purchase the service. For the sake of this tutorial, we will utilize the special offer from above and do not need to purchase these additional services.

Protecting Your Privacy

As you are probably aware, online privacy is at risk these days. That’s why it’s important to take the necessary steps to ensure that your personal information remains private. To help you on your journey to protect your privacy, godaddy.com provides you with three standalone privacy tools called “Private Search,” “Private Browsing,” and “Private Email.” These tools were developed with privacy-minded individuals in mind and are quite simple to use. Here’s how.

First, to use Private Search, all you need to do is enter a key word or two in the search bar at the top of any page on godaddy.com. On the other hand, to use Private Browsing or Private Email, you need to click on the gear icon in the top right corner of the page you are on and select the ‘Settings’ option.

From here, you can toggle between the two privacy tools or use them both. To learn more, visit the godaddy.com Help Center for detailed step-by-step instructions on how to properly use these tools.

Maintaining Regular Backups

Since your data is stored remotely, it’s essential that you have a regularly scheduled backup. You should make sure that your backups are stored offsite (either on a dedicated drive or through the use of an online backup service). This will ensure that you can retrieve your data in the event of a disaster.

Securing Your Web Hosting Account

While you are still on the ‘My Account’ page, click on the ‘security’ menu option. Here you can find helpful links to take you to the proper location for additional information. First, click on the ‘security overview’ link to open a page providing a general introduction to website security. Here, you will find links to online security courses, forums, and blogs written by security experts.