Moving my gite website host? Advice please

Nice site btw.

For several years I hosted several Scout Charity web sites as well as a few private ones on a fairly basic Linux machine hanging on the end of an ADSL line. After deteriorating speed and reliabillity I transferred the sites to IONOS in the UK. The sites were a mixture of basic hand crafted HTML, Wordpress, Silverstripe, Joomla and one site written in Dreamweaver. These days I only host personal sites but I would be prepared to help you with a transfer. Transfers of CMS sites (Wordpress, Silverstripe, Joomla) are mostly straightforward providing your ISP allows you access to the inner workings and files, also your new ISP. However, things can go wrong so it is important to follow the procss accurately.

Feel free to contact me.

@scoutdubna Thanks very much for the offer.
I’ve found the guy who did the original template and lessons and have contacted him directly - not via facebook. Depending on how he responds, I may well come back to you. Thanks very much. I’ll let you know either way.

Thanks Sue. I look forward to hearing form you. Hope you get it sorted.

GoDaddy

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I moved my sites to ReclaimHosting.com a few years back and they have been terrific. They are oriented to supporting educational users - I think they spun out of that domain - but run all the usual hosted services. They transfer your first website for free (they even fixed up some problems for me) and charge next to nothing for additional sites. Their turnaround is very fast and you get really personal and very knowledgeable service often from one of the founders, it doesn’t feel like a commercial service at all, but it is totally professional. Their annual fee 45 us$. I would totally recommend.

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I’m using O2Switch for several websites. Especially interesting if you have more sites, because they offer unlimited space for €5 a month. Hébergement web - L'Hébergeur web o2switch

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I would highly recommend Krystal Hosting (a UK firm) - I have used them for years and they have been very reliable as well as helpful in the rare event of a technical question.

They are not the absolute cheapest, but you know the old adage… YGWYPF.

If you are running a single website then their “Amethyst” plan (£49.99 a year) should be adequate - though you can upgrade/downgrade plans anytime as your needs change).

If your current site is WordPress it should not be too hard to migrate over.

If you have registered your domain separately (as opposed to buying it bundled in with the hosting) then you can copy your site over to Krystal and make sure it’s all working properly on a temporary URL before “pointing” your domain to Krystal’s nameservers so that the new copy of the site goes live.

This is the safest way to do things so that your site visitors do not see any interruption in service.

I have a referral code for Krystal which will get you £10 off - 183c6858

(Disclaimer - I get a tenner as well if you use this code! But I recommend them regardless).

Do ask if you have any technical questions about the process!

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Thanks everyone for your suggestions/comments. Just to give you some feedback. I’m spending a wet afternoon trying to get to grips with all of this.

Firstly, I’ve learnt to totally distrust “The best web hosting sites” type list since they all seem to have Siteground way up there with no recognition of what it does with its fees over the years.

Secondly, I’ve been looking at other reviews, especially for any mentions of less than good customer support for complete novices like me - that unfortunately includes IONOS and Fasthosts. Those of you who recommended these may have found them just fine, but I’m being ultra cautious knowing how hard I struggle with all this. I can design a site, but understanding what happens behind the scenes and the language that is used is quite beyond me.

I’ve found Krystal’s response to reviews on Trustpilot to be very proactive and so I am going to call them on Monday and discuss with them what the implications are and what help they give if I move to them.

Thanks of the offer of help @ChrisMann I may well take you up on it, depending on how the Krystal sales team behave! :slight_smile:

Thanks for your offer of help @scoutdubna but as you can see, I’ve ruled out IONOS because of the slight question mark re their support. I think from your posting you are much more knowledgeable than I am about all this so would have no difficulty, but I would struggle.

Do be careful of Trustpilot. As I have learnt to my cost businesses can pay to “massage” their reviews!

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Not a problem Sue, give me a shout if needed.

Despite what Jane said about Trustpilot (which may well be correct) I recommend Krystal based on personal experience and nothing else! :grinning:

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I know Jane, which is why I only look at the bad ones. :grin:
And it’s there that Krystal are being proactive.

Otherwise, I’ve been looking at reviews on techie websites and online magazines - not that I understand much, except for the number of stars for customer support.

Thanks Chris