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Web Hosting Articles
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The More Things Change, the More They Stay a Pain
Even the most unskilled businessperson knows instinctively the old adage
that it is "location, location, location" that is most important
when reaching one's target customer base. Why then, do so many companies
ignore this concept when building their eBusiness? Fundamental business
practices are strikingly similar for both bricks-and-mortar and virtual
storefronts. The only difference is that an eBusiness exists on the
virtual "lot" of a Web host. Choosing the wrong host for your
eBusiness can be as damaging as attempting to open a baby-goods store
next to a brothel.
Much
has been written on the methodology of choosing the right Web host for
your business. But what happens when you want to move to another - hopefully
superior - hosting company? Just as a decline in local income, a rising
crime rate, or limited space in the face of corporate expansion will
cause a bricks-and-mortar business to move to another location, an eBusiness
will sometimes need to find another virtual lot to set up shop in.
Why
would you want to make such a move? As always, it's an issue of expansion
of business or reduction of service. Perhaps your store has outgrown
the meager resources of that small, inexpensive hosting company that
was such a godsend when you were working out of your basement. Or maybe
a recent merger has caused the service agreement to change in a detrimental
way. The worst-case scenario - your host is going out of business -
will definitely necessitate a move.
The
assumption is that many eCommerce professionals are too complacent,
and are unwilling to make such a large, fundamental change to their
business. However, this complacency is well founded, as changing your
Web hosting service can be a long and complicated process. This is especially
true for an e-tail site, since the store's software, catalog, customer
database and Web commerce server needs to be moved as well - all without
causing an instant of disruption to the day-to-day transactions and
sales of the company.
In
general, however, you can make the process relatively effortless as
long as you take some preemptive steps:
- Make
sure you've already secured the services of the new host.
- Ensure
that you have access to your existing scripts and data.
- Resolve
any issues that may surround your domain name with the move.
While the temptation may be to rush through the change in order to move
and resecure your site as quickly as possible, if you don't take the
time to choose the right provider, you could experience similar problems
down the road - which will necessitate another move!
eCommerce
sites in particular have some special issues to address when choosing
a new host:
- Ensure
that the eCommerce package your business is using is supported by the
new host, unless you wish to redo the entire architecture of your storefront.
- If your
store runs on CGI scripts, you must find a host that supports these.
Even so, leave some extra time, as your scripts will probably still
have to be amended to reflect the new server environment.
- If your
business is running on a single-source eCommerce solution (such as Yahoo!
Store), then be prepared to leave time for a major overhaul, as you
will have to select and configure a new eCommerce package.
- The next
major hurdle is the transfer of data to your new host. Obviously, in
order to do this, you will need to have access to your current data
and scripts. Ideally, you will be able to download these from your existing
host, but issues of propriety, or your host going out of business can
make this problematic. The best solution is to always maintain a local,
updated copy of this info, as your most valuable asset as an eBusiness
is your customer, sales, and product data.
The
issue of you domain should be the easiest step. Your new host should
be able to give you the nameserver information, which you then pass
on to your domain name authority. It's best to do this on a Friday,
as it will probably take about 72 hours to fully direct your current
traffic to your new nameserver.
One
obstacle you may encounter is that the naming authority will only accept
change requests from the person listed as the administrative contact,
so make sure your name is there and not the host's, for if you host
goes out of business, this person might be impossible to track down.
Remember,
the quality of your location will influence your customer's opinion.
If your eBusiness is stuck in a bad neighborhood - it's time to move
on!
We can recommend you quality and cheap web hosting
http://www.AvaHost.net
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