How much should it cost to move a Word Press Blog?

[George Wright]

Hi Again,

How much should one expect to pay for someone to move their WP blog from one hosting account to another. Assuming both accounts have cPanel.

Thanks,
George Wright

[thunderbird]

Prices vary. I'm sure you could get someone to do it for you for $20.

I'll do it for $0.00 if you want (which is actually a lot of you think that you universe came out of nothing)

[Istvan Horvath]

I can do it for you, too - no charge
PM me if interested.

[ChrisByrns]

yep, twenty to thirty bucks.. or have a look at this tutorial i found in my bookmarks:

how to move wordpress to a new host

[mr2monster]

Originally Posted by thunderbird

Prices vary. I'm sure you could get someone to do it for you for $20.

I'll do it for $0.00 if you want (which is actually a lot of you think that you universe came out of nothing)

Man I could have used your services about a week ago when I completely demolished a transfer for a clients site... haha...

[George Wright]

Hi All,

Thanks much. I'm going to sell a couple of blogs and I don't want to be a "hosting company," forever. so I need to factor in the move.

Thanks again and I'll be in touch.

George Wright

[ikontent]

Most regular hosts running cPanel will provide assistance with "moving" sites (wordpress or other); there's an option through WHM. If you (or your customer) aren't self hosted, check with support; they usually do it for free or a nominal charge ($1 is common).

If this doesn't apply (example : hosted on a budget reseller account that doesn't include support), you can find people to do this for anywhere between $5 - $20.

Doesn't take too much time, if you have the skills.

[Spencer Haws]

I paid someone recently at GetAFreelancer to do it for $30 recently. It was for a client of mine, so I didn't want to mess with it, and I didnt have time. Wish I would have known a warrior would do it for free!

[houdy]

For free... be careful sometimes you get what you pay for.

Well since it only takes 2 sec from one cpanel to another (if you owned dedicated it can be done instantly) other than that just a few minutes for regular servers.

If you build up a relationship with the person you are working with it would be done for free since it is only a few minutes.

Other than that if you hire someone they would probably charge you like $20 - $50...

James

[Istvan Horvath]

Originally Posted by houdy

For free... be careful sometimes you get what you pay for.

Generally, I would agree with you - and as a matter of fact when I was in the WP business I had way higher prices than yours (if that is your measure of quality ) because I was good. Very good. It's just that simple.

Next, I usually don't work for free.

Finally, offering free help for a fellow warrior shouldn't be seen as 0 (zero) value. It is not "working for free". I didn't offer that help for free because I am desperate to get a WP client. To be honest, I don't want WP clients anymore

I offered to help because I can do it in minutes and professionally... and I got so much valuable info and help in this forum that I felt my obligation to give a hand to a fellow warrior.

[sbucciarel]

Originally Posted by George Wright

Hi All,

Thanks much. I'm going to sell a couple of blogs and I don't want to be a "hosting company," forever. so I need to factor in the move.

Thanks again and I'll be in touch.

George Wright

I've been charging $15 to move blogs to a new host and new domain which is a little more complicated than just moving it to a new host ... but this is for customers who are buying my niche blogs. When I flip a site, I move it for free, but I don't sell anything under $300 sites so I feel I'm compensated for moving it for them.

[mr2monster]

okay, so since you experts are so quick at it... Want to give me a real quick 1.2.3. on how this is accomplished?

I've tried 3 different ways now and failed miserably at all three (except export, install new blog, reconfig, import)

[spicer]

I would back up the database.
1. Go to back ups in cpanel select the wordpress database.

2. If the wordpress blog is the entire site I would then back up the home directory as well. If the wordpress is the only thing you want then I would download the wordpress directory using your ftp client.

3. Go to your new website and restore the database. Go to back ups in your cpanel and under the Restore a MySQL Database select browse and find the database you downloaded in step one.

4. Then if you did a back up of the entire site go to Restore a Home Directory Backup and browse to the backup of the home directory you did in step two. If you just downloaded the wordpress directory I would then use ftp to upload the directory to the new server.

5. You then need to create a new database user

6. Add this user to the wordpress database

7. if the user name for cpanel is different you will need to edit the config.php file in the blog root directory. You will edit the database name and database users so that they match your new database name and user. Cpanel uses the cpanel user name as a prefix
to the database name and user name if your cpanel user account was cpanel and your database name was db1 and your database user name was user. Cpanel would actual name them cpanel_db1 and cpanel_user. You would need to edit lines 19 and 21 in the config.php file to match your new database name and database user name

8. If you are using permalinks so that the page name matches the title of your posts. You need to open the wordpress site admin and then select settings and then peramlinks. resave to set the URL rewriting. you do not need to make any changes just select save.

9.If you are using the same domain name you are done. for example Transferring hot4sales.com to hot4sales.com. If you are changing domain names say hot4sales.com to amazonscript.info or whatever. you need to open the database with phpadmin or some other tool to edit the database. Select the options table and edit any variable that is set to the old domain name. Now your blog is completely transferred.


Your wordpress blog should now be accessible.
Not sure if there is an easier way, but I know this works.

[thunderbird]

Originally Posted by houdy

For free... be careful sometimes you get what you pay for.

The flipside to that, sometimes one learns the hard way that often what you get for free is way better than what you paid for. Anyway, I can't say I thought my offer through. I just thought I could be helpful. I've migrated lots of wordpress sites before so it's no big deal for me, so I thought I could be helpful

[mr2monster]

Originally Posted by spicer

I would back up the database.
1. Go to back ups in cpanel select the wordpress database.

2. If the wordpress blog is the entire site I would then back up the home directory as well. If the wordpress is the only thing you want then I would download the wordpress directory using your ftp client.

3. Go to your new website and restore the database. Go to back ups in your cpanel and under the Restore a MySQL Database select browse and find the database you downloaded in step one.

4. Then if you did a back up of the entire site go to Restore a Home Directory Backup and browse to the backup of the home directory you did in step two. If you just downloaded the wordpress directory I would then use ftp to upload the directory to the new server.

5. You then need to create a new database user

6. Add this user to the wordpress database

7. if the user name for cpanel is different you will need to edit the config.php file in the blog root directory. You will edit the database name and database users so that they match your new database name and user. Cpanel uses the cpanel user name as a prefix
to the database name and user name if your cpanel user account was cpanel and your database name was db1 and your database user name was user. Cpanel would actual name them cpanel_db1 and cpanel_user. You would need to edit lines 19 and 21 in the config.php file to match your new database name and database user name

8. If you are using permalinks so that the page name matches the title of your posts. You need to open the wordpress site and then select settings and then peramlinks. resave to set the URL rewriting. you do not need to make any changes just select save.

9.If you are using the same domain name you are done. for example Transferring hot4sales.com to hot4sales.com. If you are changing domain names say hot4sales.com to amazonscript.info or whatever. you need to open the database with phpadmin or some other tool to edit the database. Select the options table and edit any variable that is set to the old domain name. Now your blog is completely transferred.


Your wordpress blog should now be accessible.
Not sure if there is an easier way, but I know this works.

Thank you. This is exactly what I did. I figured out my problem though... notepad was screwing up my config file when i edited it.... ugh. I don't know why it's doin it though.

[theimdude]

Originally Posted by thunderbird

The flipside to that, sometimes one learns the hard way that often what you get for free is way better than what you paid for. Anyway, I can't say I thought my offer through. I just thought I could be helpful. I've migrated lots of wordpress sites before so it's no big deal for me, so I thought I could be helpful

Somehow I think you offer was for the OP and didn't expect to do a few 100. Not pointing at you but to just freely except for anybody that you don't know is irresponsible as if anything goes wrong or the mover move your stuff for himself as well you can end loosing in the long run.

Also if you flip sites working in $20 to outsource the move will be a good model to follow as you don't want any comebacks on you flipped site

A cpanel move is easy but insure you have backups in place as they even go wrong. If moving to another host there will be no charge as they will restore a cpanel backup for the new client for free but they wont do thrirdparty testing so make sure you know the conditions that goes with the move.

Make sure you dont do a move and cancel your old host without testing you new location as if the move had a problem your old host could have deleted your account.

The best way to do it is get a new hosting account. Dont change the DNS when you do. Do a full cpanel backup using ftp transfer to the location of your new host. The new host address would be http://xxx.xx.xx.xx/~yourusername. The x being the ip address which your new host will have

Insure the usernames and passwords stay the same as there will be problems in the cpanel restore.

Once restored check you site on the ip address but remember that some content might not work as locations might resolve to the domain name and not the IP

When done change the DNS on you domain to point to the new host. Wait 48 hours and ping your domain. If the ip address is returned the same as the new host you OK. Do some final checks on your site to see if all is well and only then cancel your old host.

This transfer apply if you have a domain hosted on a individual account and if you do flip sites it is worth it to get a reseller hosting account instead of a multi domain hosted account.

The best time to do a move is in the middle of the month as that way your transition on the account can take place at the end of that month. You need to also budget for one months hosting either way during during the transfer. If it is a new site not doing business then this wont apply

The above move only apply to a cpanel - cpanel move

Then again as IM'rs make a lot of money $20 is not much to pay for the exsperts to do the move for you.

[sbucciarel]

Originally Posted by mr2monster

okay, so since you experts are so quick at it... Want to give me a real quick 1.2.3. on how this is accomplished?

I've tried 3 different ways now and failed miserably at all three (except export, install new blog, reconfig, import)

Here's my instructions for my customers who want to give it a whirl themselves
http://domainingdiva.com/installationinstructions.pdf

[theimdude]

Originally Posted by mr2monster

Thank you. This is exactly what I did. I figured out my problem though... notepad was screwing up my config file when i edited it.... ugh. I don't know why it's doin it though.

Get yourself Pspad as it is free and meant for this kinda work
editor PSPad - freeware HTML editor, PHP editor, XHTML, JavaScript, ASP, Perl, C, HEX editor

[mr2monster]

Originally Posted by theimdude

Get yourself Pspad as it is free and meant for this kinda work
editor PSPad - freeware HTML editor, PHP editor, XHTML, JavaScript, ASP, Perl, C, HEX editor

Thanks! I just downloaded it... taking a look around now.

I appreciate the link

Just though I would point out if you own a dedicated server that is cpanel then you do not have to do any backups at all.. All you have to do is go into WHM and add the other servers information and the site is pulled directly from that host to your account.. Like I said it takes 2 sec....

In this case there is no need to upload, download, make any backups or anything... (Not to move it anyways, you should always have backups of your sites)

James

[theimdude]

Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet

Just though I would point out if you own a dedicated server that is cpanel then you do not have to do any backups at all.. All you have to do is go into WHM and add the other servers information and the site is pulled directly from that host to your account.. Like I said it takes 2 sec....

In this case there is no need to upload, download, make any backups or anything... (Not to move it anyways, you should always have backups of your sites)

James

Sometimes if you move from a reseller or share hosting account some host is spiteful and block using this feature trying to do it the way you mentioned. Doing a ftp backup to your new server is also very fast.