How to Move Your Website to Yahoo Web Hosting
You’ve worked hard to build a name for yourself in your industry, and now you want to showcase your work to the world. After months of researching and deliberating, you’ve decided to host your website on a new platform called Yahoo! Web Hosting. You’re ecstatic about the opportunity to host your website on the most respected platform in the industry, but you’re also a little anxious about the prospect of moving your website. After losing a few customers due to technical errors and unexpected downtime that you weren’t able to control, you’re left wondering if this is the right decision.
The good news is that you can use various tools and strategies to successfully migrate your site. Below, we’ll outline a few key things you should do to ensure a smooth transition.
Set Up Automated Backups
You’ve heard the saying “if it’s important to you, it’s important to me.” Well, the mantra applies to your website’s backups as well. After all, you’re responsible for backing up your website’s content every night, and you don’t want to risk losing a single piece of data due to unforeseen circumstances. To that end, you need to set up automated backups so that you can restore your site in the event of a crash. There are several companies that offer this service, such as BackBlaze and Amazon S3. Even if you go with the cheapest option, it will still cost you a small fortune a year.
Migration Checklist
As your first step towards making your move a success, you’ll need to follow a meticulous checklist to ensure everything goes smoothly. First, make sure you have all the necessary documentation and permissions to transfer your website to the new hosting platform. This could include getting a new SSL certificate, replacing your domain name with the.com TLD, etc. In some cases, you might even need to consult with the registry to update your contact information. Once you have all the proper documentation, it’s time to move forward.
Review Key Website Metrics
In addition to having all the necessary documentation and permissions to move your site, you’ll also need to ensure everything is set up correctly on the new platform. This includes things like verifying your domain name is active and registered to your account, reviewing your site’s configuration options (e.g., FTP credentials), and making sure SSL is enabled (for eCommerce sites). After you’ve checked all the necessary technical aspects, it’s time to review the key metrics for your site.
Migration Strategy
This is probably the most important step because it dictates how you’ll handle the migration process. As you consider all the data you’ll need to move and the time it could take, you’ll need to determine whether you’ll do the process in two phases or if you’ll take the plunge and do it all at once. There are pros and cons to both options. For example, if you’re using a template for your site, you can take advantage of the fact that most hosting providers allow you to drag and drop code snippets to change the look of the site. In that case, you might want to do the process in two phases.
User Testing
User testing is essential because it ensures you’re not making any major mistakes on the new platform. As a first step, it’s a good idea to test the migration strategy you’ve developed by temporarily setting up a clone of your website on a different platform (e.g., Google Apps or Bluehost) before committing to the big move.
Downtime Management
This step is all about minimizing the amount of time your site is unavailable due to technical glitches or unexpected downtime. First, make sure you have a plan in place to minimize this type of downtime. For example, you could use a resource-heavy server that was built for a large company to host your site (e.g., digital ocean). Alternatively, you could use a virtual private server (VPS) from a reputable provider to host your site. VPSs are like clouds in the form of a server. Your site’s files are stored on the server, so you have full access to everything.
Post-Migration Evaluation
Finally, you need to put in place a post-migration evaluation system to monitor the performance of your site after the migration. This could include things such as checking your bounce rate, the time people spend on your site, and the types of pages they’re visiting. You’re also going to want to look at the analytics for your site to see how the platform is performing and if you’re generating the type of traffic you’re hoping to.
When it comes down to it, you’re betting your website’s future on this move. The last thing you need is for something to go wrong because you didn’t prepare correctly. Ensure you have everything you need before making the plunge.