How to transfer websites to one hosting plan in 2020, pain-free.
If you need to know how to transfer websites to one hosting plan in 2020, you probably realize that technology has grown a LOT since you started your first website, and it’s time to move to greener pastures. Have you been building a lot of websites over the years? If they’re scattered all over the place, you’re probably fed up with the chaos of multiple hosting accounts and difficult-to-track expenses and bills.
I’m creating this post for one of my website design and maintenance clients who wants to simplify and declutter her previously existing online portfolio. She has some really amazing websites but isn’t happy with her current hosting company. If you’re also underwhelmed with your current situation and want to combine all your websites in one place, there’s an easy way to transfer them all to one host.
Transferring Websites to a New Host: Why is it so scary to move your websites to a new hosting company?
The scariest thing about the idea of transferring all of your websites to a new web host is the idea of backing up and moving all of your hard work… what if something goes wrong? What if your website gets deleted? Each host has slightly different software and compatibilities. What if you make some small mistake and things just don’t work properly after you move to a new host? There are so many things to know to make sure everything goes smoothly, and if you’re not really that web savvy, this is a risky and daunting task. That’s why I recommend moving to a host that will have professionals handle all of this for you. This article includes an affiliate link for a company I love and use often. If you buy hosting through my link, you can get yourself a great deal, and I’ll get a small commission to keep this free blog running. So it’s win-win, and we all help each other.
Blazing Fast & Secure Eco-Friendly Web Hosting
If you are hosting multiple WordPress websites on GoDaddy or some other outdated company’s servers, and want to transfer them all to a new host that is optimized for WordPress and special effects plugins like Slider Revolution and Elementor, there is one company I recommend above all others. Green Geeks is the only web host I’ve found that can handle all the latest WordPress advances without sticky complications. Their technology is cutting edge, they’re the only existing eco-friendly WordPress hosting solution, and their customer service is fantastic. They optimize their servers specifically to deliver the best performance for WordPress powered sites. Click the GreenGeeks image link below, and scroll down to select WordPress hosting.
Getting Started with migrating your WordPress Websites to a New Host
- Click here to go to the page where you will select your new WordPress Hosting Plan. (Don’t worry, the link will open in a new tab, so you can keep coming back to these easy WordPress migration instructions.)
- Scroll down to where it says WordPress Hosting and click where it says See Plans.
- If you have multiple websites, you’ll want to choose the Pro plan, since it allows unlimited WordPress sites and unlimited data transfer. Click Get Started. You will see an area that looks like this:
4. Choose I want to signup with my existing domain, and the site will walk you through the steps from there. If you have any questions for them at any time, you can talk right away with one of their support technicians without leaving the page.
5. From here, a Green Geeks Support tech can walk you through the entire process, holding your hand every step of the way. Just click the Chat With Us button at the top righthand side of the page. You can even copy/paste this text into the chat to get them caught up with what you need:
Hi, I want to transfer all of my existing WordPress websites to the Green Geeks Pro Plan. I’m at the “Web Hosting Order Form” page. Can you please walk me through this process, and migrate all of my websites to Green Geeks, so I know that everything is done correctly? Thanks!
[If you’re on a Mac: To copy text, highlight the text you want, then click command c. To paste, click command v.]
Pro Money Saving Tip:
When you sign up with a new hosting company, you pay for blocks of hosting time upfront. To encourage customer loyalty, they will often offer you extremely cheap starting rates! Sometimes, you can get three years of hosting for the price of one when you first sign up. If you can afford it, I strongly recommend buying the most time possible at the beginning. They offer a 30 days no question asked money-back guarantee, so you can try them out and see just how amazing they are!
FAQ
What do I do if I need help with the WordPress hosting migration process?
GreenGeeks offers Live Chat, which is the fastest and easiest way to get help. You can chat with a real person who will make sure you get everything you need.
How do I get my existing websites onto the GreenGeeks server?
They offer a free site migration service, so their well-trained migration team will migrate your websites to GreenGeeks for you. If you are using cPanel at your current host, then your complete account would be migrated as it is.
Is there some kind of backup? Is there a risk that my files could be lost?
No, there won’t be any risk. They simply copy the files during the migration process and don’t delete anything you already have. So once the migration is complete, you can compare the newly located sites to your previous sites and see that everything is exactly the same on your websites.
I have more than one website. Which plan do I need?
The Pro plan gives you the ability to host unlimited websites under the same account. You can check the plan details here.
The Green Geeks website says “cPanel Migrations include all domains, Addon Domains, Subdomains, cPanel settings, email and email accounts. Please note that this requires your old host’s cPanel backup generator to be active.” I have backups currently through Installatron. Is that what they mean?
Yes, that backup will work as well without any issues.
One or two of the sites at my current host currently have SSL, but moving forward I would actually prefer to use the GreenGeeks-provided free SSL for all my sites. Is this something they can set up for me as part of the migration?
Yes, it can be done as well without any issues. You have the ability under your account to install the SSL on any domain name which is hosted with GreenGeeks, and their chat reps can help with this as well.
But they can do it for me at the beginning as part of the migration process?
Let’s Encrypt SSL can not be installed on a domain name until it is pointed to GreenGeeks name servers. SO, you need to get the migration done first and then update the name servers of the domain name in order to have free Let’s Encrypt SSL. But the 24/7 service reps are always available to help you with live chat for free. This service comes with your WordPress hosting plan.
How long would my websites be down during this process?
You won’t face any downtime during the entire process as we do offer zero-downtime migration.
If you have any more questions, feel free to ask them in the comments below!
In case you read through all the information here before starting the hosting transfer process, whenever you’re ready, you can click the image below to begin!
Once that hosting migration is all done, it might be a good time to revisit getting your website seen by the search engines.
Check out this article on 10 easy steps to SEO Wizardry.