How would you do this?

[turboguy]

I have been here a while and I think this is the first time I have really asked for advice. So here goes.

I have about 8 websites for my business. I started off 15 years ago using FrontPage then switched to Dreamweaver and now am using Wordpress with one site under my belt and 3 more that I want to do. One of the main reasons is the change Google made almost a year ago. I am a month or two away from tacking what I consider my main site which is one I created with FrontPage a dozen or more years ago. I really am fine with the way it looks on a computer but it really looks horrible on a cell phone and it isn't responsive of course. Here is the part that makes me ask that question. When I redo the site I also want to change hosting companies (not sure which yet but that is not what I am asking about). The hosting company I use is just too expensive and when I called customer service last week for the first time in 5 years they didn't impress me and didn't seem to want to be bothered with my problem although they did give me the answer I needed.

So what I want to do is the make a new site (using Wordpress) and change hosting. I am just trying to figure out the best way of doing that. The site is probably 60-80 pages so it isn't going to be quick.

Option 1. Create the site in a subfolder on my existing site and then move the subfolder to the new hosting company. This is probably the option I am leaning toward before asking the question. One of my concerns is since I would be creating the site in a subfolder such as mysite . com/test if I moved it to the new hosting company in the root folder all my navigation would be messed up since it would all be pointing to files in the subfolder.

Option 2 I have other domain names I am not using. I could create the site in one of those domains and then move it to the proper domain. This seems to me it would make a mess and probably cause problems in the database as well as the problem I would deal with in Option 1 so at the moment this is my least favorite choice.

Option 3. Download wordpress, PHP, MySQL and whatever else I needed onto my computer and create the new site on my computer and then upload it to the new hosting company. This seems to me it could be my best option but may be beyond my limited talents (or limited experience and brain power)

Option 4. Actually I just thought about this one after typing this post. That would be to get the new hosting company first. Set up the data base and just keep repointing the domain back and forth when I wanted to work on the new site. This would be clean and easy but would have a lot of downtime on the main site right when I am in the peak of the season and getting lots of traffic.

So I would like to ask those who are a lot more experienced and smarter than I am how you would do it and which of those options would be my best choice and which are a total no-no. Of course if there is a better way I would be more than happy to hear it.

[vangogh]

I've done exactly what you want to do and I've done it more than once. The process I use is to first set up the new hosting account. You'll new host will give you a way to access the server and thus any site you build on it. Sometimes you can access everything through the IP address, but more often than not it's through your account name on the company's domain. Maybe something like host-domain.com/~your-username.

You can then build the site however you want. You can install WordPress, set up database, etc. Once you're happy with the new site, you'll login to the registrar where you bought the domain and change the name servers to point to the new hosting account (your new host will tell you what name servers to use). Then it's waiting until the name server change is updated across the web. It's usually a few hours, but could take a couple of days before it's updated for everyone.

Once you know the name server change has updated across the web, you can get rid of the old site and cancel the old hosting account.

Basically the whole thing is:

1. Set up new hosting account
2. Build new site on new hosting account
3. Point name servers for the domain to new hosting account

Your last approach was the closest, but you don't need to mess with pointing the domain back and forth. You'll be able to build the site on the new hosting account even while your domain points to the old host. You'll have to make one last change at the end in WordPress to update where WordPress is located (changing from whatever URL your host gives you to access the new site to the domain) and WordPress should take care of the rest.

[turboguy]

Than you vangogh. That sound like a great solution to the problem. I am very glad I asked the question. I have spent a lot of hours thinking about that and wasn't totally happy with any of the approaches I had thought of. That sound like a real winner.

[Harold Mansfield]

So what I want to do is the make a new site (using Wordpress) and change hosting. I am just trying to figure out the best way of doing that. The site is probably 60-80 pages so it isn't going to be quick.

If you're changing hosts, do that first. Just get it out of the way and insure all of your sites are moved and functioning properly. Then go ahead and build the new site on a folder. No sense in complicating things by doing half a move, only moving some things, or building and then moving everything.


Option 1. Create the site in a subfolder on my existing site and then move the subfolder to the new hosting company. This is probably the option I am leaning toward before asking the question. One of my concerns is since I would be creating the site in a subfolder such as mysite . com/test if I moved it to the new hosting company in the root folder all my navigation would be messed up since it would all be pointing to files in the subfolder.
Not sure I'm following the logic on this one. You can't move just the sub folder, you'd have to move the entire thing and point the root domain. No reason for navigation to get messed up just because you've moved to a new host.


Option 2 I have other domain names I am not using. I could create the site in one of those domains and then move it to the proper domain. This seems to me it would make a mess and probably cause problems in the database as well as the problem I would deal with in Option 1 so at the moment this is my least favorite choice.
It wouldn't cause problems. It's easy to change the name (or URL ) of a website. But it's unnecessarily complicated when you can just build on a folder. Either way, you're still building on a different URL and you need to move the new site to it's permanent URL.


3. Download wordpress, PHP, MySQL and whatever else I needed onto my computer and create the new site on my computer and then upload it to the new hosting company. This seems to me it could be my best option but may be beyond my limited talents (or limited experience and brain power)
You could do this, but I prefer building on the actual hosting environment so that I'm sure of how things will work when the site is live.


Option 4. Actually I just thought about this one after typing this post. That would be to get the new hosting company first. Set up the data base and just keep repointing the domain back and forth when I wanted to work on the new site. This would be clean and easy but would have a lot of downtime on the main site right when I am in the peak of the season and getting lots of traffic.

Again, over thinking it. Just move to the new host and build on a folder just as you said above. No reason for all of the back and forth pointing, or for the main site to go down other than when you're moving the new site to the URL. If you're building on the new hosting environment, you don't need to create a new database and all of those other complications. You just move it, and it's up.

Instructions for moving is here. Many times a new host will move your sites for you as well.
https://codex.wordpress.org/Moving_WordPress

[turboguy]

Thanks Harold, That makes my options much clearer and was very helpful.

[MyITGuy]

One thing to keep in mind in this discussion is FrontPage. If you intend to migrate your existing site to your new host, they may not support/enable FrontPage extensions which will be an issue if your site relies on this functionality.

[Harold Mansfield]

One thing to keep in mind in this discussion is FrontPage. If you intend to migrate your existing site to your new host, they may not support/enable FrontPage extensions which will be an issue if your site relies on this functionality.

Hadn't thought about that. Would he need Windows hosting since Frontpage is discontinued now? I would imagine that it's not supported much anymore.
WordPress doesn't work well on Windows Hosting.

[romels33]

Hadn't thought about that. Would he need Windows hosting since Frontpage is discontinued now? I would imagine that it's not supported much anymore.
WordPress doesn't work well on Windows Hosting.

That is a very good point. I've only tested a few WP sites on a Windows hosting, and although it worked, I've had some issues with some of the plug-ins (can't remember which ones exactly). I think he will need Windows if FrontPage is required for some of the functionalities in his site. The hosting company I've used since 6 years ago have switched to Windows Server 2012 now, and although they no longer support Front Page, Front Page is still installed on their new servers, since they know that there are still a lot of legacy sites out there using FrontPage. I just don't know if "ALL" hosting companies do this though.

Romel

[Harold Mansfield]

So if I'm understanding correctly, you have 8 sites, at least one is in Frontpage, some are Dreamweaver and 1 is WordPress.

In that case, and I agree that a lot of hosts probably aren't supporting Frontpage anymore, then you would have to leave the Frontpage site where where it is and rebuild on a spare URL set up on the new host. When it's done, change the domain on the build and change the domains DNS accordingly.

If the others are in Dreamweaver you should be fine there. And of course your WordPress will be fine to move as well.

What you don't want to do is get Windows hosting on the new server just to accommodate Frontpage because Windows hosting sucks for WordPress. You want Linux hosting.

[turboguy]

So if I'm understanding correctly, you have 8 sites, at least one is in Frontpage, some are Dreamweaver and 1 is WordPress.



I believe I have 4 sites yet that I created 13-15 years ago in Front Page. I have 3 sites I created more recently using Dreamweaver and the site I just finished that was FrontPage and is now WordPress. I have one other site that I manage and sort of half own that was done in Joomla and I just helped create that one. These are scattered over about 5 hosting companies. When I am done i want to be down the 3 hosting companies and still haven't decided which will be the third. I do want to drop all my hosting companies except two and find a new hosting company for the sites I am redoing.

Two of the Front Page sites that I want to redo should be pretty fast and easy and if the sites are down for a few days I really don't care so I am not so worried about FrontPage compatibility. Those sites are small around 7 or 8 pages and I have the content copied so that isn't a big deal. The main one I was asking about is one that generates more than half my business and it is about a 60-80 page site and I do want to spend a great deal of time on that one and get it the way I want it. I am not sure what FrontPage features or plugins may or may not work if I move the site but as long as the basics stay intact I am OK with that.

I am also open for suggestions on hosting companies. Someone on another forum was raving about Sectorlink and that had been the one I was considering but I see more bad reviews on them than good as I look into them more. I do have a few hosted with GoDaddy and that has been OK and I will probably keep them for the sites they host now but would prefer to switch the others to someone new.

[Harold Mansfield]

OK, so if your content on the Frontpage sites is copied and you're OK with starting those from scratch on WordPress then that takes care of compatibility because you won't have to worry about it. Frontpage was discontinued 8 years ago. I doubt there's any support from MS or easy to find compatibility with new hosting. It makes sense that Go Daddy still supports it for you since they may have you on an old configuration from when you started.

I also have to imagine that those sites have some gaping security holes by now.

I'm not a fan of Go Daddy or 1&1 for hosting. Never heard of Sectorlink. There's a million hosting companies and re sellers out there. I prefer to go with the mother company who actually owns the equipment. Bluehost, Justhost, Hostmonster, Hostgator, 2cows and about 30 others are all the same company. I send shared hosting clients to Bluehost and have never had a problem, and dedicated server clients to my host Webair. There are also a few hosts around the forum as well.

Your Dreamweaver, Joomla, and WordPress sites should be fine to move to new Linux hosting. You'll likely not have any support for the Frontpage sites so expect that they can't be moved unless you do find a host with support.

Having things spread among 5 hosting companies is a lot. You can probably get a dedicated server for what you're spending on 5, what is probably, shared hosting accounts. Not sure why you even need 3 hosting companies when you can have one good one that satisfies all of your needs.

I think your first step is to determine how much hosting you want/need, check out a few companies, and then determine what sites are the most important to move first. Again, don't get your hopes up that your Frontpage sites will work on a new host if you try to move them.

[vangogh]

I am also open for suggestions on hosting companies.

A few people here, including one person in this thread offer hosting. Do you know what kind of hosting you want? Are you looking for inexpensive shared hosting or are you looking for something more, maybe a virtual private server or a dedicated server?

[turboguy]

I would say that I am looking for inexpensive shared hosting that will host multiple domains. When I add up what I am paying it probably totals close to what I could get a dedicated server for. I hate to make this too complicated but the Joomla site is hosted and is the same site with my forum and I plan to not change anything there. I am only paying part of the costs myself and a trade association I helped found a decade ago pays the other part. I basically donated the use of the forum to them so the Joomla/Forum site isn't going to be moved.

I did move the site I created on Wordpress to a new host and am cancelling my account with the former host (spunky world) so that is one that is gone. I have a few hosted on GoDaddy and will likely just leave them alone. One of the ones on GoDaddy needs updating but the hosting will stay the same. The hosting on some of my other accounts were set up way back when hosting wasn't as competitive and I could probably negotiate a lower price but I am paying too much. My main site and one not quite as important are hosted with Reliant and I am paying $ 85.00 a month for hosting two sites. Another not real important site is hosted with Hostway and I am paying around 20 bucks a month for that site. (That is what I can recall them quoting back more than a decade ago and if I looked at a bill I might get a surprise and not a good one.)

I can't say I have had any problems with GoDaddy and when I have used their support it was quite good. I am sure this isn't necessary but of the sites I have, two of them generate 80% of my business. Actually a couple are more designed to be helpful than to sell anything. I am sure it isn't necessary but I would prefer to have the two main sites with different hosting companies.

So basically I am looking for shared hosting somewhere around $ 15.00 a month give or take 5 bucks. I would be hosting 3-4 sites with that host, will save a little money and make updating things easier since I would not have to keep track of so many hosting companies and log in info.

[Harold Mansfield]

I would say that I am looking for inexpensive shared hosting that will host multiple domains. When I add up what I am paying it probably totals close to what I could get a dedicated server for. I hate to make this too complicated but the Joomla site is hosted and is the same site with my forum and I plan to not change anything there. I am only paying part of the costs myself and a trade association I helped found a decade ago pays the other part. I basically donated the use of the forum to them so the Joomla/Forum site isn't going to be moved.

OK, so that site stays put. Understandable.


I did move the site I created on Wordpress to a new host and am cancelling my account with the former host (spunky world) so that is one that is gone. I have a few hosted on GoDaddy and will likely just leave them alone. One of the ones on GoDaddy needs updating but the hosting will stay the same. The hosting on some of my other accounts were set up way back when hosting wasn't as competitive and I could probably negotiate a lower price but I am paying too much. My main site and one not quite as important are hosted with Reliant and I am paying $ 85.00 a month for hosting two sites. Another not real important site is hosted with Hostway and I am paying around 20 bucks a month for that site. (That is what I can recall them quoting back more than a decade ago and if I looked at a bill I might get a surprise and not a good one.)
I pay just over $85 mo. for a managed dedicated server. I've been through shared hosting, VPS and every other configuration and it's worth the peace of mind to know I'm the only one on a server, and have my own email server..which is crucial since IP addresses from shared mail servers get blacklisted all of the time for no reason.


I can't say I have had any problems with GoDaddy and when I have used their support it was quite good. I am sure this isn't necessary but of the sites I have, two of them generate 80% of my business. Actually a couple are more designed to be helpful than to sell anything. I am sure it isn't necessary but I would prefer to have the two main sites with different hosting companies.

Not neccessary, but it's really your call. I think you can get everyone on one server for less than your total payout, but it would be some work to get it all moved. I think worth it in the long run and much more secure.


So basically I am looking for shared hosting somewhere around $ 15.00 a month give or take 5 bucks. I would be hosting 3-4 sites with that host, will save a little money and make updating things easier since I would not have to keep track of so many hosting companies and log in info.

I'm sure you can find that price easily. Just FYI shared hosting is risky. I wouldn't trust anything that I depended on and needed to operate well and securely on shared hosting.
I always tell people, "This is your most important business and marketing asset and where all of your money comes in, why choose this area to spend the least amount of money possible?".
JMO of course.