New Website & Host

RedBalloon

Hi. I have an existing website currently live / hosted.
I'd like to overhaul the website and also move the hosting - so effectively starting from scratch and finding a new host to point my domain to.

1) I'm looking for solid host recommendations please? - Templates may be useful for the new site.
And as stated, I already have my domain on the live site.

My plan is to create the new site, and then point the domain to the new site when ready.

2) Is that do-able? Or do I have to take the old one down in order to progess with the new one?

TIA

Neil_Jones

1) Define "solid".  Do you need 99.9% uptime?

2) A domain can only point to one website at a time.

RedBalloon

Neil_Jones said:

1) Define "solid".  Do you need 99.9% uptime?

2) A domain can only point to one website at a time.

Thank you. Sorry, when I said 'solid', I meant good reputation / service  

I was hoping I could complete the new website and then point the domain to the new website when it's finished - ie. have no downtime.

Farway

RedBalloon said:

Neil_Jones said:

1) Define "solid".  Do you need 99.9% uptime?

2) A domain can only point to one website at a time.

Thank you. Sorry, when I said 'solid', I meant good reputation / service  

I was hoping I could complete the new website and then point the domain to the new website when it's finished - ie. have no downtime.

There may be some downtime as the DNS settings are changed over, similar in a way to transferring a mobile phone number, usually no longer than 24 hours, often quicker than that

[Deleted User]

Farway said:

RedBalloon said:

Neil_Jones said:

1) Define "solid".  Do you need 99.9% uptime?

2) A domain can only point to one website at a time.

Thank you. Sorry, when I said 'solid', I meant good reputation / service  

I was hoping I could complete the new website and then point the domain to the new website when it's finished - ie. have no downtime.

There may be some downtime as the DNS settings are changed over, similar in a way to transferring a mobile phone number, usually no longer than 24 hours, often quicker than that

Good point - but if you change your TTL on the DNS records to say 600 (10 mins) a few days before the change over you can minimise downtime.

RedBalloon

[Deleted User] said:

Farway said:

RedBalloon said:

Neil_Jones said:

1) Define "solid".  Do you need 99.9% uptime?

2) A domain can only point to one website at a time.

Thank you. Sorry, when I said 'solid', I meant good reputation / service  

I was hoping I could complete the new website and then point the domain to the new website when it's finished - ie. have no downtime.

There may be some downtime as the DNS settings are changed over, similar in a way to transferring a mobile phone number, usually no longer than 24 hours, often quicker than that

Good point - but if you change your TTL on the DNS records to say 600 (10 mins) a few days before the change over you can minimise downtime.

Thank you both. I'm just not very techy. I see the process as:

1) find a new host
2) design new site on new host
3) redirect DNS (existing domain) to new site

However, I'd like host recommendations - there seems to be countless! And one that provides templates for wordpress / flexibilty would be good. I need to use a template as I can't write / design my own.

Simple landing page with sign up options / forms.
Also to support a blog page/subpages.

Grandad2b

Is this a business or leisure website? 

There will be no difficulty creating your site on the new host and then changing over. Talk to your new host about any gotchas.

RedBalloon

Grandad2b said:

Is this a business or leisure website? 

There will be no difficulty creating your site on the new host and then changing over. Talk to your new host about any gotchas.

It's a business / coaching website. So landing page with a sign up option and also blog capability.

Editted to add - I'm amazed there are no recommendations so far.... will keep digging.

[Deleted User]

RedBalloon said:.

Editted to add - I'm amazed there are no recommendations so far.... will keep digging.

We need some more info! So far it is a bit like you have asked for a recommendation for a different car but haven't told us which one you've got now, why you don't like it, what your budget is, how big it needs to be, how many miles per year etc.....

So ...

1. What's wrong with your current provider that has prompted you to leave?
2. What do you pay now and what is your budget?
3. What is the traffic like to your site (visits per hour/day etc) what are you hosting - text and images, videos etc - ie how much bandwidth is needed? Do you need e-commerce?
4. What are your website skills - can you do Java, Python, PHP, React, HTML, CSS, Wordpress, etc or just need a point-and-click template site?
5. What is your current hosts' terms for moving the domain?

Personally, I self-host my websites from servers at home but not sure that's your cuppa tea so I'd probably suggest something like Squarespace but who knows, that might be your current provider!

Newcad

I have a domain on Ionos, never had a problem with it, however I do use it just for email.

Here's their website builder page: https://www.ionos.co.uk/websites/website-builder

deskhelp

RedBalloon said:

[Deleted User] said:

Farway said:

RedBalloon said:

Neil_Jones said:

1) Define "solid".  Do you need 99.9% uptime?

2) A domain can only point to one website at a time.

Thank you. Sorry, when I said 'solid', I meant good reputation / service  

I was hoping I could complete the new website and then point the domain to the new website when it's finished - ie. have no downtime.

There may be some downtime as the DNS settings are changed over, similar in a way to transferring a mobile phone number, usually no longer than 24 hours, often quicker than that

Good point - but if you change your TTL on the DNS records to say 600 (10 mins) a few days before the change over you can minimise downtime.

Thank you both. I'm just not very techy. I see the process as:

1) find a new host
2) design new site on new host
3) redirect DNS (existing domain) to new site

However, I'd like host recommendations - there seems to be countless! And one that provides templates for wordpress / flexibilty would be good. I need to use a template as I can't write / design my own.

Simple landing page with sign up options / forms.
Also to support a blog page/subpages.

Yes you can try wordpress for website template you can get many ready-made templates try themeforest for templates.
For Web hosting you can get manage wordpress hosting with one click installer and good support for wordpress from some companies I have personally used.. if you wish you can try below provider:

1) https://www.Rshosting.com

2) https://www.Webhostinguk.com

Both the companies are over 15 years in web hosting industry with good customer support.