Canadian Web Hosting
Safely Transferring Your Site to a New Canadian Web Hosting Company
Why might you elect to go with a server hosting Canada specifically rather than a U.S.-based company, or simply one that hosts anyone anywhere? The most obvious is nationalism. If you're a Canadian citizen, why not keep your money in your mother country and opt for a Canadian web host?
Convenience and familiarity with your Canadian web hosting market and your specific needs are the next two reasons for going with a Canadian web hosting provider. Servers hosting Canada provide the same global access and the same quality of service as any of the other top-notch web hosts, but with the added benefit of being located in your own backyard.
At the very least, with Canadian web hosting, you'll find customer support easier to access and possibly more amenable to your needs. You might also find it easier to reach your target clients (or site visitors) as part of a community of Canadian web hosting clients.
Another major reason Canadians might want to go with a Canadian web host is money. All costs listed on Canadian web hosting company websites are in Canadian dollars. Oftentimes, internet transactions don't handle currency conversion as adequately as, say, an airport. As such, online customers not based in the U.S. are often made to suffer slowdowns/delays and, oftentimes, the brunt end of currency conversion discrepancies (i.e. a price listed as $10 may be $10 flat, whether U.S. dollars - USD - or Canadian, despite the fact that USD and Canadian dollars are not precisely equivalent). With a Canadian web host, you can feel safe that your financial dealings (with your customers and with your host) are handled in a completely fair and even, apples-to-apples manner.
Before you begin transferring your site from one web hosting company (Canadian or otherwise) to a Canadian web host, there are a few preparations you'll want to make:
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First and foremost, you must back-up your website completely—every single file down to the last graphic. Use any FTP program to download the files from your current hosting provider.
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Secondly, choose the best possible Canadian web host for your needs. There are plenty of Canadian web hosting companies from which to choose, and you don't want to be hopping from Canadian hosting company to hosting company if you can help it. If you're ready to make the hosting provider switch now, then use this opportunity to get the best Canadian hosting deal you can, with the tools and resources most relevant to you and your visitors' needs.
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Lastly, in order to issue a request for a change of hosting companies, you'll first need to make sure you know your domain name (i.e. mycoolnewwebsite.com), the name of the company where your domain name is currently registered, the username and ID (if applicable) that you used to register the domain name, and your new Canadian web hosting company's name server information. You can either find this last item in the welcome email your new hosting provider probably sent you, or in the help files on your new hosting company's website.
Now you're ready to make the switch from your old hosting provider to your new Canadian web host:
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Login to the site where your domain name is currently registered.
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Find the link related to Domain Name Servers or DNS Information.
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Replace the name server information of your former hosting company with that of your new hosting company, and submit the changes.
It's as easy as that!
Now that your domain name has been moved from your old web hosting company to your new Canadian web hosting company, you need to get your website up and running. Upload all your website's files and transfer all your web pages to your new Canadian web host.
Then you'll want to visit your website (from a few different web browsers) to make sure it appears as it should on your new Canadian hosting company's servers. If it doesn't, you'll have to go back into the HTML code to find out why. Possibly, part of the code didn't properly transfer and simply needs to be re-entered.
Finally, when you're certain your Canadian-hosted website looks perfect and is accessible to all, you can then, and only then, cancel your service with your former hosting company. But take notice; this is the last step you should take, NOT the first.
View our list of Top Canadian Hosting Companies
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