Steps to Transfer Website to Another Hosting Provider

Here is an ad that you can place on craigslist.org, kijiji.com, usedanywhere.com or your local online classifieds to find a qualified person to move, transfer, migrate your WordPress website to another hosting provider like Bluehost.

This process will cost you anywhere from $100 to $350. You may find cheaper offers to do this, but you may be dealing with someone inexperienced and a site like yours is much more active with many more moving parts than just a simple WordPress blog or website. We will provide this service for you for $300. E-commerce websites and cremation arrangement websites cost $500 to transfer.

Other resources:
Bluehost Website Hosting
http://codex.wordpress.org/Moving_WordPress

Step by Step Guide:

1. Create a Bluehost hosting account. Click on “Sign Up Now” and then choose the “I Have a Domain Name” option, enter the main domain name for your website and complete the “Account Information” registration page.
2. You will receive an email (SUBJECT: Welcome to Bluehost!) with your new hosting account login information and your FTP access credentials. You will need to provide this information to your WordPress Technician later.
3. Place free ad on craigslist.org, kijiji.com, usedanywhere.com or your local online classifieds (see ad sample below)
4. Make sure that you have access to your Domain Name Registration account such as GoDaddy.com, NetworkSolutions.com, FuneralFuturistDomains.com, etc. (Submit Support Request for Domain Name credentials if hosted with FuneralFuturistDomains.com)
5. Request a complete backup of your website files, website databases, WordPress plugins and WordPress theme from your current website host. Also request a new WordPress User for your website with Administrator permissions to give to the WordPress Technician (Submit Support Request for Complete Site Backup & New User) – there is no charge to request this once. Repeated requests are $100 each.
6. Review applicants / responses from your ad. Be sure to check with at least two references. Choose the one that you are most comfortable with but keep the contact information of others if they appear to be good as well for future WordPress work.
7. Provide Bluehost credentials (and copy Bluehost DNS Setup info from below), WordPress User credentials, links to backups of website files and databases to successful WordPress technician.
8. Technician or Bluehost support to set up DNS & MX (email) Records at Bluehost (see Bluehost DNS Setup  below)
9. Technician to transfer files & setup databases at Bluehost account.
10. Once the files are transferred and the site is tested, it is time to change the Nameserver records in your Domain Name Registration account. The nameservers for Bluehost are: NS1.BLUEHOST.COM & NS2.BLUEHOST.COM

Notes: When transferring your website, it may take up to 24 hours for the site to fully resolve on the new server, but can usually be seen on the new server within 2 to 4 hours or less. We recommend that the transfer takes place in the evening, the best time is 8 to 10 pm. The reason why we suggest this is that the transfer should be done at the quietest time of the day and when you and your staff are not actively adding obits and approving condolences. By the next morning the site should be working fine on the new server.

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AD SAMPLE:

Posting Title:
WordPress Pro Needed to Transfer site to Bluehost

Posting Description:
I am seeking a (your local area)-based WordPress technician to move my existing site from a Rackspace server to a new Bluehost account.

I have a complete backup of the website files and databases from the current site. I would the transfer to take place in the evening between 8 and 10 pm local time since my site is quite active during the day.

The successful applicant will be responsible to test the website and ensure that the theme and plugins are working properly.

Once the site is transferred, a daily backup for the website files and the databases must be set up.

Only apply if you have a lot of experience doing website transfers and provide the URLs for 3 WordPress websites that you have transferred.

Also in the future, I will be seeking a WordPress Technician to provide on-going support for my website. If you are interested in helping me for the long term, also include 5 links to WordPress sites you’ve built and maintain.

If you are serious about this posting, please also provide the following. We will not considering any responses that omit the following:
– Your fee for the website transfer
– Your location – (your-local-area)? Elsewhere?
– Your status – Are you an agency? An individual? A project manager working with an off-shore team?
– Your hourly rate for WordPress website maintenance (we are seeking an individual to work with).
– Your availability – I am looking for someone to do the transfer ASAP
– Your previous transfers: provide 3 links
– Your previous work: provide 3 references of clients that you maintain their WordPress website.

In your response, please include the codeword, Lincoln. This is to ensure that the successful applicant can follow detailed instructions.

Thank you.

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BLUEHOST DNS SETUP:

Before changing the Nameserver Records with your Domain Name Registration account, make sure that if you are using Google Apps for your email, you set up the following MX Records:

For each entry, set the name value as @, the priority as the number, and the destination as the entry itself.

If you are using mail.example.com to check my email
To be able to access the Google Apps by using mail.example.com, you will need to change the CNAME for the domain using the DNS Zone Editor tool in the cpanel. You would enter the following information:

Host Record: mail
TTL: 14400
Type: CNAME
Points To: ghs.google.com

Once the files are transferred and the site is tested, it is time to change the Nameserver records in your Domain Name Registration account. The nameservers for Bluehost are: NS1.BLUEHOST.COM & NS2.BLUEHOST.COM