moving to a new web site host

judygarland

I've currently got a one page website with a hosting service and have been quite disappointed with the service. Because of this I've chosen another provider and will move my site over to them.

The only thing I'm worried about is the fact that our business always ranks in the top two when you type in our town and product that we sell and I dont really want to upset this.

I own the .co.uk and the .com domain names but have always pointed the .com to the co.uk. I was going to start with moving the .com and uploading my site to that.

Any advise would be very much appreciated!

victor2

If you're transferring the domains to a new hosting company, it shouldn't make any difference to the search engine ranking - unless you are paying the current hosting company for some sort of SEO service and will also be cancelling that.

steve1980

Who are you moving from/to? where is your domain held? Old host, new host or other?

judygarland

steve1980 wrote: »

Who are you moving from/to? where is your domain held? Old host, new host or other?

I'm currently with Purplecloud and have lots of issues with them over the years (email constantly goes down and their server was hacked) and I've just set up an account with godaddy. Seems a whole lot more professional.

My current site was a one page table based layout that I put together about 6 years ago. My new site uses CSS.

judygarland

ItsJuicy wrote: »

As long as there is no downtime as you move host, then you shouldn't notice any difference.

I've only ever submitted the domain.co.uk to the search engines and trade directories online so I'm thinking that if I now use my new hosting service and use the domain.com instead, I could point the co.uk to the .com. I purchased the .com to stop anyone else being able to buy it but have never actually done anything with it.

victor2

judygarland wrote: »

My current site was a one page table based layout that I put together about 6 years ago. My new site uses CSS.

CSS controlled sites are supposed to be much more search engine friendly than table based ones. So long as the content is the same, you shouldn't have a problem with your ranking.

steve1980

judygarland wrote: »

I'm currently with Purplecloud and have lots of issues with them over the years (email constantly goes down and their server was hacked) and I've just set up an account with godaddy. Seems a whole lot more professional.

My current site was a one page table based layout that I put together about 6 years ago. My new site uses CSS.

Another person going with the elephant killers.

Out of interest, how much are you paying with the elekillers? I just looked on their site and the cheapest plan they do is £43.08 per year :eek:. There are so many better packages and deals out there.

judygarland wrote: »

I've only ever submitted the domain.co.uk to the search engines and trade directories online so I'm thinking that if I now use my new hosting service and use the domain.com instead, I could point the co.uk to the .com. I purchased the .com to stop anyone else being able to buy it but have never actually done anything with it.

victor2 wrote: »

CSS controlled sites are supposed to be much more search engine friendly than table based ones. So long as the content is the same, you shouldn't have a problem with your ranking.

If you transfer the .co.uk to the .com you'll lose the rankings you gained as you're essentially creating a new site. Ensure that when you do it you point the domain you're not using using the correct 301 redirect.

victor2

Smart move getting the .com if you think somebody else could register it.
I'd just move the .co.uk over to the new hosting platform and point .com at it unless you think you'd benefit from being a .com. Personally, I see .com as having a more international flavour and .co.uk as more likely to be a UK based business.

InsideInsurance

The only possible issue is the fact that GoDaddy's server's arent in the UK and so according to some you may be penalised for this if you're targetting the UK. Purplecloud's own site at least is on a UK server. One way to mitigate it is to ensure that in the Google Webmaster Tools you've specified that your targetting the UK.

Given you've already committed, I wouldn't recommend GoDaddy to anyone nor to host a UK site outside the UK, then your best bet is to replicate the site onto the new server and submit the nameserver changes to the domains at the same time. Leave it at least 1 week then close down your PurpleCloud hosting account.

texranger

InsideInsurance wrote: »

nor to host a UK site outside the UK

Explain this, as a UK hosting of 10+ years who has 3 of their server based outside the UK which host UK sites without any problem

judygarland

Thanks for all your replies. Have I just made a very costly mistake?

When I was talking to godaddy yesterday evening, they mentioned that I could not transfer domain.co.uk to them so am I correct in presuming that this has to remain in the UK?

Luckily, I have only transferred the .com and my .co.uk is still with purplecloud.

My main objective really is to 1) maintain my high Google ranking 2) move to a better webhosting service which has excellent customer service 3) update my web presence to something more professional.

I've prepared my new website after spending the last 3 months learning CSS so that's ready to upload.

So, I need the following from my new hosting provider:-

1) Excellent customer support hotline so that if there are any issues (like my email not working or site has been hacked) I can tell them straight away and not have to wait 3 days for an email only response.
2) UK based provider
3) Easy to use!

Any help greatly appreciated!