Question for all you Web Developers out there...

[DMass]

Hey everyone,

I'm hoping someone can help me, I've searched around on Google and through numerous websites, but I have been unable to locate an answer. I think this may be due to my ignorance of the exact terminology that I should be searching for.

I need to switch my website from one "host" to another. I use the term host loosely, and here is why.

I currently use an all-in-one platform (LearnWorlds) that handles my website, LMS etc., and over the last 6 months it has proven unreliable at best. I now need to completely rebuild my tech stack and website, which I am comfortable doing (I learn quickly), but there is one question that I just can't answer...

Everything is done through LearnWorlds at the moment, I want to build a brand new website on WordPress which will be hosted by another hosting service. However, how do I go about transferring the Domain from the old site to the new site? It'll take me a while to build the new site and test it out but then when it is ready how do I change the web address so that when people head to the URL they are taken to the new site? I don't want to have a new website address, I want to keep my original one.

The simple solution in my mind is creating a temporary website with a fresh domain e.g. www.dmassnew.com, and then when the time comes (after I've completed the rebuild) I can just change the web address for the new site to the correct one www.dmassold.com but I'm worried that it can't be this simple surely?

Thanks for any advice and experience doing this, and sorry for the daft question.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[alexkuzmov]

Hey everyone,

I'm hoping someone can help me, I've searched around on Google and through numerous websites, but I have been unable to locate an answer. I think this may be due to my ignorance of the exact terminology that I should be searching for.

I need to switch my website from one "host" to another. I use the term host loosely, and here is why.

I currently use an all-in-one platform (LearnWorlds) that handles my website, LMS etc., and over the last 6 months it has proven unreliable at best. I now need to completely rebuild my tech stack and website, which I am comfortable doing (I learn quickly), but there is one question that I just can't answer...

Everything is done through LearnWorlds at the moment, I want to build a brand new website on WordPress which will be hosted by another hosting service. However, how do I go about transferring the Domain from the old site to the new site? It'll take me a while to build the new site and test it out but then when it is ready how do I change the web address so that when people head to the URL they are taken to the new site? I don't want to have a new website address, I want to keep my original one.

The simple solution in my mind is creating a temporary website with a fresh domain e.g. www.dmassnew.com, and then when the time comes (after I've completed the rebuild) I can just change the web address for the new site to the correct one www.dmassold.com but I'm worried that it can't be this simple surely?

Thanks for any advice and experience doing this, and sorry for the daft question.

Well this is done by altering DNS settings for the current domain.
Where did you buy your domain from?

 

[DMass]

Well this is done by altering DNS settings for the current domain.
Where did you buy your domain from?

Thanks for your reply

I bought it through GoDaddy. I figured if I bought a temporary one through them (just a one year one), built the new site on it and then contacted them they just do a switcheroo but it just sounds too simple to me.

 

[alexkuzmov]

Thanks for your reply

I bought it through GoDaddy. I figured if I bought a temporary one through them (just a one year one), built the new site on it and then contacted them they just do a switcheroo but it just sounds too simple to me.

Nope, they will not do a switcheroo, they have no reason to do that.
Your domain DNS settings are in your GoDaddy account and so long as you keep paying the yearly fees, the domain is yours.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[DMass]

Nope, they will not do a switcheroo, they have no reason to do that.
Your domain DNS settings are in your GoDaddy account and so long as you keep paying the yearly fees, the domain is yours.

Thanks @alexkuzmov

Would my plan work then? Get a temporary one year domain, build on that and then when ready contact GoDaddy and make the change. I'm guessing it's something I'll need to do manually rathe than them doing it, is my best bet to search about DNS and changing sites?

 

[alexkuzmov]

Thanks @alexkuzmov

Would my plan work then? Get a temporary one year domain, build on that and then when ready contact GoDaddy and make the change. I'm guessing it's something I'll need to do manually rathe than them doing it, is my best bet to search about DNS and changing sites?

That will work, yes.
Also you dont need to contact them, the settings for DNS are freely available on your account.

 

[DMass]

Thanks @alexkuzmov

I'll do some more digging to figure out exactly what I need to do but you've set me on the right path

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[SDE]

Hi @DMass

Do you want people to be taken to the new website you created when they search your domain?

Are you trying to do something like mentioned in the below articles?

https://help.one.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005585969-Move-your-WordPress-site-to-another-domain

How to Move My WordPress to a New Domain in 9 Simple Steps Without Losing SEO

Check this article to learn how to move WordPress site to new domain in 10 simple steps without losing SEO or traffic.

www.hostinger.com

How to Move WordPress to a New Domain (Without Losing SEO)

Do you want to change your domain? Follow our step by step guide on how to move your WordPress site to a new domain without losing SEO rankings or traffic.

www.wpbeginner.com

I'm sorry if I misunderstood your post

 

[DMass]

Thanks @SDE

Its actually even simpler than that, I don't think that the current site is built on WordPress, its built through LearnWorlds own builder so I don't think I can move everything across. Luckily, I only have a few pages which I can easily rebuild and improve. I have all my course content backed up so its just a case of uploading that to the new host.

In a nutshell, I want to build a replacement website, and then when it is ready I want to be able to change the domain to the new one. I'm basically swapping them out if that makes sense.

Thanks

 

[9w13cky7]

Hey everyone,

I'm hoping someone can help me, I've searched around on Google and through numerous websites, but I have been unable to locate an answer. I think this may be due to my ignorance of the exact terminology that I should be searching for.

I need to switch my website from one "host" to another. I use the term host loosely, and here is why.

I currently use an all-in-one platform (LearnWorlds) that handles my website, LMS etc., and over the last 6 months it has proven unreliable at best. I now need to completely rebuild my tech stack and website, which I am comfortable doing (I learn quickly), but there is one question that I just can't answer...

Everything is done through LearnWorlds at the moment, I want to build a brand new website on WordPress which will be hosted by another hosting service. However, how do I go about transferring the Domain from the old site to the new site? It'll take me a while to build the new site and test it out but then when it is ready how do I change the web address so that when people head to the URL they are taken to the new site? I don't want to have a new website address, I want to keep my original one.

The simple solution in my mind is creating a temporary website with a fresh domain e.g. www.dmassnew.com, and then when the time comes (after I've completed the rebuild) I can just change the web address for the new site to the correct one www.dmassold.com but I'm worried that it can't be this simple surely?

Thanks for any advice and experience doing this, and sorry for the daft question.

There are no daft questions. Daft questioners, on occasion, and daft answers.... where was I?

Yes. DNS.

So, if I've understood correctly - your site is hosted at LearnWorlds and your domain was bought through the lovely folks at GoDaddy as two separate transactions. Now, you want to rebuild on WordPress. Possible (likely, even) that you have either a subdomain at LearnWorlds (like oldsite.learnworlds(dot)com) and you'll probably end up with a subdomain at WordPress (newsite.wordpress(dot)com) or even, if you buy some hosting and install WP yourself, newsite.newwebhost(dot)something.

My guess is you can just build the new site on whatever (rubbish) subdomain they give you at your new host, and then 'point' the current URL to the new site when it's ready. This is all made possible by DNS. DNS is a service that perpetuates a table around the web that links URLs to actual places (can be other URLs, IP addresses and so forth).

Your domain host (GoDaddy) allows you to mess around with your DNS table to your heart's content, but it's also quite possible to totally break your website and email by accident and even lock yourself out (I did that once, it's not fun), so it is best to try and understand what you're doing, or get someone to do it for you.

If you want someone to do it for you, just make sure to change the credentials to your GoDaddy account BEFORE they do it, then change them to something else AFTER they've done it, and you've tested it. But, it's not hard to do, just prone to error if, like me, you didn't do your research

Here's the Go Daddy explainer: GoDaddy - Manage DNS records

I'm guessing you fall into (1) "Your domain is registered with GoDaddy and is using our nameservers: you'll manage DNS settings in your GoDaddy account."

Think that's everything but feel free to reach out if I missed something.

All the best,
Guy

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Andy Black]

@FastNAwesome

 

[FastNAwesome]

It's simple.

Let's say your current website is example.com

You can simply create a new subdomain, e.g. dev.example.com, or new.example.com or whatever you like.

Point that new subdomain to your new server.

That way, you current website stays live at example.com
while you are making your new website on dev.example.com

When you're happy with your new website and ready to switch up:

1) Point your main domain to new website.
2) Make sure that in your WP database all URLs are updated
from subdomain to main domain. I think there are plugins for this.

 

[DMass]

Wow. Thank you so much for the information.

I've purchased a new WebHost and a temporary domain (dmasstemp.com). I'm going to rebuild and enhance the website with the new plugins and LMS that I need.

Once it's ready I want to transfer the old domain (dmassorginal.com) so that when people head to the original website domain they get the new site.

Essentially I want to wipe out the old site and replace it with the new one when the time comes. Looking around I think I can contact my WebHost (or manually) and change the dmasstemp.com to dmassorginal.com when I'm ready

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.