Getting a Website Started--
Transfering a Website From Your Current Host

1. Start Early. Don't wait until either your domain is about to expire or your web hosting is due to be paid. You might not complete the transfer before you run out of time at the old place. To be on the safe side, allow at least six weeks, longer if you are hosted at a "free" site and cannot bring the files with you.
2. Transfer the domain first. This step is not required if you are a technician and can manage the domain at the present registrar. Otherwise, not doing so will make more work for both of us on an ongoing basis. NOTE: transferring a domain to a new registrar does not mean you lose control of it. It's still yours, you are the administrative contact. We just become the technical contact. The advantages to you:
   -we charge less -transferring adds another year to your expiry date
   -you get the best domain management tools in the industry
   -you have two choices of account types, bare bones at WebNameSource.com and deluxe at nameman.net
   -if you don't understand domain management, we will manage it for you, even if you don't host with us
3. Do the transfer this way: Go to WebNameSource.com, select the first transfer option in the left column and follow instructions. After you pay for the renewal and extension for another year, an email message will be sent to the administrative contact on the domain for the transaction to be approved. Follow the instructions in that email and the transfer should be complete in a week. You will not notice any difference in access to your current site with the transfer as all settings are carried over.
4. After the domain transfer, the domain would still point to your current provider. Then why do this? After all, you could just change nameservers yourself when you are ready, if you know what those are and how to do it. Well, otherwise, there could be delays in the switchover caused by access problems at the domain registrar or delays in propagation of the information across the network. Also, if you are less technically inclined, we will manage your domain, even if you later find a new web host. Of course, if you are used to managing the domain yourself (entering the nameservers is all that has to be done) you can achieve transferring hosting this without my help. That part is your call.
5. Build your new web site. If you already had the site on your own computer you may not need to do much. If you were hosting at a "free" site and used their on-line site building tools, you probably cannot take the site with you when you leave. WebNameHost does not offer site building tools nor recommend them. They tie you into the place where you use them, making you dependent on them, and resulting in considerable difficulty when (not if) you decide to change hosts. Learn enough to create your own site on your own computer, keep backups like all true paranoid programmers would, and thereby retain control of your own site, whatever happens to your host.
6. When everything is in place, and you're down to the last 2-3 weeks before your hosting expires, come back here and buy your hosting plan. Buy the lowest cost plan that works for you. It can always be upgraded, but you don't get back money for wasted resources if you pay too much. I don't want to take more money than absolutely necessary from hard working authors, church budgets, business owners, and individuals wanting a small site. Most people don't need more than the minimum account or the second one.
7. We create the framework for you new site on our server, send you the URLs of all the instructions for using it, (including creating and using eMail and FTP). Allow a week for experimenting with the control panel and all its capabilities. As soon as you have a copy of your website in place (per those instructions), either you or we use the domain management tools to tell the domain to route to the new site instead of the old one.
8. Wait three days for the new info to propagate across the net, and then you can turn the old site off. During that three days, you have two copies of the site, (and two email addresses where you get mail). Some computers will direct people to the one, some to the other, so if you are getting mail at your site, check both accounts. In most cases, our tools will result in an instant switch with no double routing, but we always say to allow three days.

From Arjay Web Services division of Arjay Enterprises and affiliate of Arjay Books