Moving a WordPress site from HostGator to 1and1 Hosting

[Paul Elliott]

I need to move a WordPress site from HostGator hosting to that of 1and1. Is there a way I can do it simply and easily?

Thank you for any help.

Paul

[vangogh]

I think it's relatively simple and easy, but I regularly move WordPress sites from one host to another. I don't think it's difficult and I can help walk you through things as I'm sure will a few others. The basic idea is to set up the site first on the new host (1and1) and once you know it's working, change the nameserver information with your registrar.

Before giving you some details about moving WordPress do you mind a few questions? How big is your site? How many posts? How many pages? Are you running a lot of plugins or any plugins? Is there any ecommerce? I just want to get a feel for the size of the site and what functionality it has beyond words and images on pages.

[turboguy]

I wish I had read that post a few months ago. I had been under the erroneous impression that to work on a WordPress site it had to be live. Basically when switching to a new host I set up the new host and changed the name servers and then had no easy way to copy the files from the old site. The old site wasn't WordPress but rather an old one that I had created in Front Page a million years ago but it would have been nice to be able to refer back to the old site.

Well, once I have figured WordPress out I have more to do so I will keep track of what gets said in this thread and it should help me a lot. I am just curious to see if I have any hair left by the time I get my first WordPress site all worked out.

[billbenson]

Paul, why do you want to use 1 and 1. They don't have a very good reputation.

[krymson]

I know hostgator will transfer everything over for you. They use cPanel, I don't know about 1&1 what their control panel is. But they say they offer transfer services as well. Then you don't have to do any work. That's the lazy way and not always fool proof.

There are tons of resources and many of us can walk you through it, it's not too difficult. One word... BackupBuddy

But you have options.

[vangogh]

I know hostgator will transfer everything over for you

That's a good point. A lot of hosting companies will move your site for free because they want your account. I don't see 1and1 mention that they do the transfer for you. I didn't look through the site exhaustively, though.

[krymson]

That's a good point. A lot of hosting companies will move your site for free because they want your account. I don't see 1and1 mention that they do the transfer for you. I didn't look through the site exhaustively, though.


Says it at the bottom of their web hosting page

[vangogh]

I was on a different page. I guess I needed to look harder. From what I can tell now, I don't think they'll do the transfer for you. I think all they do is assist and I assume it's in the form of help files and FAQs more than anything else.

[krymson]

I was on a different page. I guess I needed to look harder. From what I can tell now, I don't think they'll do the transfer for you. I think all they do is assist and I assume it's in the form of help files and FAQs more than anything else.

Secure web hosting | Shared hosting packages from 1&1 (http://www.1and1.com/web-hosting?__lf=Static&linkId=hd.subnav.mywebsite.hostinglanding#service)

is what I looked at... Left blue box

[Harold Mansfield]

I need to move a WordPress site from HostGator hosting to that of 1and1. Is there a way I can do it simply and easily?

Thank you for any help.

Paul


Paul, why do you want to use 1 and 1. They don't have a very good reputation.

I have to agree here. Not sure why you're going to 1&1 ( which is pretty much the Go Daddy of Germany). By the nature of what I do, I'm constantly having to work with various hosting companies and they are always the one I dread having to work with.

I HIGHLY recommend that you rethink this. Far too many issues. Poor customer service. Far too many sites on their servers. Configuration issues with certain plug ins and functions. I really suggest that you NOT host with them. I normally don't get into where people host, it's your decision..but please man...for the love of the Internet Gods...not them.

[krymson]

I have to agree here. Not sure why you're going to 1&1 ( which is pretty much the Go Daddy of Germany). By the nature of what I do, I'm constantly having to work with various hosting companies and they are always the one I dread having to work with.

I HIGHLY recommend that you rethink this. Far too many issues. Poor customer service. Far too many sites on their servers. Configuration issues with certain plug ins and functions. I really suggest that you NOT host with them. I normally don't get into where people host, it's your decision..but please man...for the love of the Internet Gods...not them.

Host Gator's not bad, i used to work tech support for them at one point in my life. I dislike 1 & 1 too. Paul, just so you know Host Gator is based here in Houston, and it data center is up there in Dallas with SoftLayer. You're basically down grading. Softlayer has outstanding equipment. I don't know who 1 & 1 uses for their data center but i know it's not any of the major data centers... Rackspace, Softlayer, AWS none of them.

At the end of the day it's your choice and I along with many others will support your decision.

[Harold Mansfield]

Just for the record, Hostgator, JustHost, Host Monster, and Bluehost are all either the same company (EIG) or use the same data centers. Their main data centers are in Provost Utah, but they have many. Even though they are the same infrastructure, I find the customer service and support different depending on which you use.

1&1 is a German company with data centers in the UK, Germany, Russia, and Kansas City. Back in the day 1&1 was the first hosting company I ever signed up for. Once I knew enough to look around I figured out that my website was on a Russian server and freaked out.

Also, I now know, that they were absolutely horrible. Customer service was bad. I had a lot of technical issues that were their fault, and the user interface was a joke.

Obviously things have changed and advanced since then and they have expanded massively as one of the top website hosts in the world, but just like Go Daddy they are bottom tier, cheap, consumer level hosting. However, it is still the company I hate dealing with the most. Some things have changed, but some haven't.

I've dealt with sites on all kinds of hosting companies, and from around the world. I've even logged into c-panels that were in different languages and had no English translation. It's safe to say that when it comes to hosting I've been around and seen some train wrecks. But for many configuration and technical issues, 1&1 and Go Daddy remain the ones I recommend clients get away from as fast as possible.

The are both huge companies, but working with them is like trying to steer a super tanker around a fishing pond.

JMO of course.

[Paul Elliott]

Thank you all for your help!

My client used to be with 1and1 and liked their mail handler. I switched to HostGator using cpanel and she didn't like the cumbersome nature of using email through cpanel. I agreed to switch back to 1and1 to help the email issue.

I have just started building her WordPress site on HostGator, so it has only a couple of menu items, one post, a header graphic, and one article. It should be easy to move; however ...

If there is a convenient, easy to use mail handler to work with cpanel, that would be the easier solution.

Any suggestions on how to make the email work easier for her?

Thank y'all, again, for your help!

Paul

[Harold Mansfield]

Thank you all for your help!

My client used to be with 1and1 and liked their mail handler. I switched to HostGator using cpanel and she didn't like the cumbersome nature of using email through cpanel. I agreed to switch back to 1and1 to help the email issue.

I have just started building her WordPress site on HostGator, so it has only a couple of menu items, one post, a header graphic, and one article. It should be easy to move; however ...

If there is a convenient, easy to use mail handler to work with cpanel, that would be the easier solution.

Any suggestions on how to make the email work easier for her?

Thank y'all, again, for your help!

Paul

How involved are her email needs?
Sounds like she's logging into the hosting account to manager her email. That's kind of cumbersome no matter who your host is.

Many people use a 3rd party email client to manage their email and email accounts.
Outlook in Microsoft Office, Thunderbird ( free), MAC mail ( for macs), or you can even use Gmail to import other email addresses.

With all of these you just need to put in the right settings to import the email account, and you manage your emails from whatever client you're using on your computer.
In other words, no logging into c-panel for your emails.

[Owen]

Download Duplicator. It's so simple, you just install it on your Wordpress site and download the installer.php file and the .zip file. It's actually free on the Wordpress download place and I have used it many times. It's very recommended.

https://wordpress.org/plugins/duplicator/

[vangogh]

What Harold said. Paul I have several sites, each with multiple email accounts. I can't remember the last time I logged into webmail. I pull all my email into Apple's Mail. Before that I used Mozilla's Thunderbird. Lots of people use Outlook. Other than a few email programs that are gmail specific, most will let you pull mail into an email program. You can even have everything run through gmail and only use that too.

Setting your client to get email through Outlook I assume will be easier than moving the site.

[billbenson]

Another thought: I don't use the same site for my emails and my web site. In my case it just worked out that way, but why move a whole site for emai?

[Business Attorney]

I have several email accounts on Hostmonster and they all get pulled into one gmail account. I can't remember the last time I used cpanel to read the mail. I log in every once in a while just to delete the old mail. I have it pulled to gmail but not automatically deleted on the Hostmonster server, just in case I delete something that I later want to retrieve. Every 6 months or so I log in just to delete the old mail.

[Harold Mansfield]

...but why move a whole site for email?

You don't have to. You can set up a 3rd party email service by changing the MX records in your hosting account. That way your website is still hosted with one company and your emails are handled through another.

This is how you set up business email services like Google Docs, Microsoft Exchange, and so on.

[bytechef]

Using a third party Email provider, maybe something like Zoho Mail can sort out the requirement. Just have to connect the MX records and your good to go. Zoho provides a free account too and works fine, we have been using the same for 2 years without any major issues. When compared to Gmail, spam filtering in Zoho is not that effective though....

[Georgias Gifts]

Can I go back to the original question about moving sites? I am considering moving to bigcommerce and they suggested I use cart2cart to migrate my product data. But I'm not sure they can work with my current platform of shoppingcartsplus

Can I move the data myself by exporting the products to a csv file and then uploading it? Or any other suggestions on the best way to move things?

[Harold Mansfield]

Can I go back to the original question about moving sites? I am considering moving to bigcommerce and they suggested I use cart2cart to migrate my product data. But I'm not sure they can work with my current platform of shoppingcartsplus

If this is what they suggested you do, why are you second guessing it? Do you have some reason to believe they aren't telling you correctly?


Can I move the data myself by exporting the products to a csv file and then uploading it? Or any other suggestions on the best way to move things?
Not if Big Commerce doesn't have the ability to accept a CSV batch upload from that platform. You can't just do whatever, you have to use and do what's compatible.
Honestly, you'll probably get better results and a lot more control by inputting your products into the new platform manually.

[Georgias Gifts]

Thanks Harold. I think I did not say it right- cart2cart was not familiar with my current shopping cart host and said they would have to check it out & get back to me. ( Also, the chat person could not spell, which kind of turned me off.)

I do think bigcommerce can get a csv batch. Manually entering 500 products sounds a bit daunting. I will go to their free trial and explore.

[Harold Mansfield]

Thanks Harold. I think I did not say it right- cart2cart was not familiar with my current shopping cart host and said they would have to check it out & get back to me. ( Also, the chat person could not spell, which kind of turned me off.)

I do think bigcommerce can get a csv batch. Manually entering 500 products sounds a bit daunting. I will go to their free trial and explore.

Big Commerce takes CSV product imports, but it can be a pain in the ass if your current shopping cart program doesn't output the information exactly as Big Commerce needs it to fill in the information properly. If not, you have to adjust the information on the file for each item to make sure it's configured properly.
https://support.bigcommerce.com/articles/Public/How-do-I-import-products-and-product-options-with-a-CSV-file#notes

I personally hate doing cross platform CSV imports. It is never seamless, but sometimes it's better than nothing.

[Georgias Gifts]

Thanks for the link, it was helpful.

[billbenson]

If you don't know how to do it, hire someone.

That being said, you may want to do it for your own personal education. It will take more time and less money.

It's generally not a difficult thing if you know some of the basics.

Then changing from a proprietary program does complicate things.That is one of the reasons many of us don't recommend site builders. Other reasons as well.

[HostColor]

I know hostgator will transfer everything over for you.

Jonathan, are you sure that this particular web host would provide a management service to outgoing customer? Other than that, as other folks said WordPress is not hard to transfer Paul. If you do not have the nerve, you'd just get a management service from your new web hosting provider.