How to Migrate from Bluehost to a2 Managed WordPress Hosting

If you’re reading this, I assume you’re either already aware of what Bluehost is or curious about migrating to another hosting platform. If you’re not already familiar, Bluehost is the #1 web host used by bloggers worldwide. The pricing is extremely affordable ($2.95 per month) and, for that reason, the platform has gained a significant following. WordPress fans can enjoy the convenience of having the world’s #1 content management system (CMS) and best-in-class hosting all in one place. That’s a tough deal to beat.

Migrating to another web host can seem daunting if you don’t know what resources you’re going to need. That’s why we’re here to help with three steps that will get you started on the right foot.

Step one: Set a backup plan in motion

You can never be too safe when it comes to hosting your content online. That’s especially true if you have content that’s sensitive in any way. For example, if you’re a registered sex offender, you probably don’t want to host a pornographic website from the get-go. You also don’t want to put yourself in a situation where you can’t fulfill your end of the bargain should anything happen to your website. That’s why you need to set up a backup plan. Fortunately, Bluehost offers a peace of mind backup service that’s included with your purchase. The service stores your blog posts and associated files in an offsite server that’s located in a different country than your hosting platform. Just visit this link to reach the backup policy page on Bluehost.

Here’s an example of what that page looks like when used with the United Kingdom as your country of residence:

• Your blog will be backed up every month.
• You’ll be able to access your backups from any computer.
• There will be no data loss due to hardware or software glitches.

You can choose to store files in either HTML or WordPress format and can further customize the backup process by tweaking the settings in the My Backup page. The peace of mind that comes with this service makes it well worth the price of admission. You can read more about Bluehost’s backup service here. Keep in mind: this is an extra step that you’ll need to take on your own before you go live on a new hosting platform. That way, you can rest assured that your site will always be accessible should anything happen.

Step two: Migrate your site’s content

Moving from one web host to another can be a painstaking process. For the sake of this tutorial, we’ll assume that you’ve already purchased a new hosting account from Bluehost and want to migrate your existing content over. That means you’ll need to go through each blog post and manually change the URL in each instance to point to your new account. You can do this by visiting each post’s page and using the “Edit” button to make the necessary changes.

This is probably the most tedious part of the process, especially if you have a lot of content to move over. To help with this process, Bluehost offers a content migration tool that’ll make the task less strenuous. This tool makes it easy to export your site’s content to a file called a csv. Simply log in to your Bluehost account, navigate to the tools section and click the “CSV” button to access the content migration tool. The next step is fairly self-explanatory:

• Select the blog posts you want to migrate (using the checkboxes to the left of each entry)
• Click the “Migrate” button to initiate the process
• When it’s finished, click the “Logs” button to review the progress

The content migration tool saves the selected posts in a zip file that you can download and later import to your new hosting platform. It also creates a log file that lists out the details of each post that was migrated. You can find the log file in your “Downloads” folder once you’ve finished using the tool.

This process can be both time-consuming and mentally taxing. If you want to streamline the process, you can click here to read our in-depth guide on how to do this automatically. You’ll learn 5 easy ways to migrate your content without needing to lift a finger.

Step three: Launch your new site on a2 Hosting

When you’re finally done with the tedious process of migrating your content, you can launch your new site. You’ll need to point your domain name to your new hosting account, create a user account with password protection, and install WordPress to launch your site. The rest is up to you!

You could use this third step to do a variety of things. You could install a fully-fledged e-commerce store or make your blog into a digital marketing agency and grow your revenue through subscriptions.

You could also choose to use this step to set up a direct marketing channel to send out automated emails to existing and potential customers. For example, you could set up autoresponders that’ll send out email notifications when a new blog post is published or when a specific product is sold on your e-commerce store. The possibilities are endless!

The above steps will get you started on the right foot when it comes to migrating from Bluehost to a2 Hosting. If you’ve been hesitant to try a new hosting platform because you’re not sure what resources you need to make it work, this tutorial will assuage those doubts. Just remember: even though you’re now on the right foot, you still need to take care of business behind the scenes to ensure a smooth transition.