How to Change to a New Domain Name

When changing over to a new domain name, there are some precautions you should take before doing so. You must determine whether it's important enough that you change domain names to possibly lose some established customers and efforts you've made to gain traffic to your website.

If you already have a number of visitors coming to your website, then please think really hard before getting a new domain name. Consider the risks. If you're still sure this is the route you should take, then read the tips below for a smooth domain name transition.

What You Should Do Before Changing Your Domain Name

Below is a quick checklist of things to do before changing your domain name. Do these BEFORE you cancel your current domain name. Otherwise, you could lose valuable information or content on your website!

1. Create a thorough backup copy of your entire website.
This includes autoresponders you may have created in the email portion of your hosting control panel. Don't make the same mistake I made when changing to a new host. I forgot about the email section completely. There were several emails and two autoresponders I used on a regular basis. These were, of course, deleted when my website's hosting was shut down. I had to try and remember all the emails I had created and re-write my autoresponder messages! Imagine if I had 20 to 30 autoresponders or emails. What a nightmare that would be!

Check with your hosting company before changing domain names to see what is involved in backing up your site. If you have special programming features stored for your site, you'll need to back up these as well.

2. Re-design your web pages with the new domain name inserted in all your links. Before switching to a new domain name, be sure your site is designed with its links all changed to the new domain name. When you upload the new domain name to the Web, the website should be fully functional under the new domain name.

Redirect to Keep Good Search Engine Rankings

Understandably, a brand new domain name will be subject to the "aging delay" at Google and other search engines. The aging delay for your new domain will happen because search engines will not recognize it as your "same old" website. They will assume it's a brand new one because of the new domain name.

To help things move along faster, keep your old domain name for a while until your new one gets established. Only, do a "temporary redirect" on your old domain name. You can create this through your domain hosting control panel or by contacting your host if you're not sure how. The search engines will recognize the website as your old one much quicker.

Once your new domain name starts getting indexed in the search engines, change the redirect to a permanent one for a while. A "permanent redirect" should be left at your old domain name until your new one has been established at the search engines and any other sites or directories that were linking to your old domain name.

Your goal is to hang on to the old domain name while waiting on the new domain name to get established. It's well worth the effort, even if it costs you a little more each month for a while!

Changing a Large Company's Domain Name

If you own a large company or corporation with many employees using your website, this process can be even more complicated. Your employees' log-in information must be updated on the new domain name. Check with your hosting company and in-house programmers to find out what needs to be done.

Changing over to a new domain name is a pain, but sometimes needful. Decide if it's right for you and use the tips above to simplify the process.