Moving a Website is just like moving a home…. You have all your stuff… the big important stuff that guests see when they walk in the door - like television, beds, couches, tables, chairs, etc… - and you have your miscellaneous stuff that’s important and people don’t get to see (speeding tickets, bills, condoms, weapons), and then you have your stuff that you totally forgot about, and is just useless (that keychain you got at that bar-mitzvah 20 years ago, that dog whistle, those expired coupons from 9 months ago, the stuff you never bothered unpacking from your last place!).

Well… a site is the same. You have to transfer the big noticeable stuff — your HTML / PHP, followed by transferring your SQL database… for my site, that means reinstalling Wordpress, then migrating over all the images, posts, and articles that I had on the other host… basically, so you can’t tell that I even moved! Then there’s transferring the important stuff that other people don’t get to see– E-mail for example… Stuff that was being backed up on the server for safe-keeping (backups of my address book for example). Then there’s the miscellaneous stuff that you forgot you had… old e-mail accounts that were set up for a 1 day event and will never be used again… Files that were uploaded so one person could get their pictures 2 years ago, and then the file’s never been touched since….

Just like in a home-move, you have to pack/unpack, and throw out all the old crap that’s really useless, or it will sit there like boxes that waste space in your garage… that are filled with things you will never ever use.

Last night I moved to my new home. Just like in a home, if you’re sick of that leak that you’ve fixed 100 times, and it’s just not staying fixed…. the same is true on a site. GoDaddy.com ran slowly when it comes to database driven stuff (like this site), and there were e-mails that I did not receive, that their support staff could not help me find. Whenever I’d call for tech-support, I’d have to tell the computer my ID #, and then they connect me and the people ask me immediately for my ID #- so what’s the point of giving it to the computer 1st? Bottom line– I got sick of those leaks, creaks, squeaks, and bad odors… and it was time to move! My new place is much more spacious, affordable, efficient, and quiet.

They (BlueHost) include:
10 GB disk storage, FREE Domain Name (even though I already have my domains), 2500 POP /WebMail addresses, 200 GB/mo transfer, Host 6 Domains on 1 Account, 20 Subdomains, 50 mySQL databases, Free Control Panel, Free Fantastico, 24/7 Network Monitoring, 99% Uptime Guarantee, Mirrored Storage Backups, No hidden fees, Voted Best Support in 2004. And there’ s much more… And it’s only $6.95 a month!

Since I’ve transferred, I’ve noticed their PHP engines, and SQL Servers are much more effecient than GoDaddy’s…. Everything runs faster! And it’s much more efficient for working with Wordpress- I can use PermaLinks (pretty page names) — for example… To see my Movie Review of an amazing movie, The Illusionist (I gave it 6 out of 6 couches!), you can now go to http://www.couchsurfingori.com/movie-reviews/illusionist/ instead of http://www.couchsurfingori.com/?page_id=62. The Movie Review section is also now http://www.couchsurfingori.com/movie-reviews/ instead of http://www.couchsurfingori.com/?page_id=15. Don’t those sound better?

Moving the e-mails is a bit of a pain, as those don’t transfer in the exact same manner as HTML/PHP files, but I’m managing… and I’m also having to go through and delete the old crap that I will never touch again.

Was it worth the effort? Definitely! The site runs more quickly, I have a lot more space and bandwidth, so I may not even use LiveVideo to host my videos, I may use my own site. I can upload much larger files for my clients. I can give out @couchsurfingori.com e-mail addresses if people want them…

Was the move a pain? Isn’t it always? Except this time, instead of 3 days, begging all my friends to help out, and buying everyone pizza and beer afterwards, I was able to do the whole thing in a few hours on my own, without breaking a sweat.

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