Hi Folks! You may have noticed that I haven’t written in a bit. This is because I spent the last week or so moving Free From Broke (and a few other sites I have) over to a new web hosting server – Media Temple. I’ve never done a move like this before so I needed the time to make sure everything went correctly. Its best to do the move without and new articles scheduled and when traffic is a bit lower. Since you are reading this you can see I managed, though not without some hiccups and lost sleep.
What Is A Web Hosting Service?
Think of it as a place to park your site and all of the files that are involved in it. Many people use a free service like Blogger or WordPress.com and they use their server. Because its free, there are limitations on what you can do with your site on their space. (For example – I couldn’t use Thesis as a site framework and design on a free service) To get more control over your site you can move to self-hosting. The control comes with costs – you need to buy server space and your files are more hands on. The cost is well worth it though if you are getting a decent amount of traffic.
Why Change Hosts?
I had my previous website hosting services provider for two years. The host had inexpensive website hosting which fit my budget as I was not sure what I was really getting myself into. For the most part they filled my needs but there were a few instances where I had big bursts of traffic that the host couldn’t handle. On the one hand there is no such thing as too much traffic! On the other hand, the traffic is useless if people can’t see your site because its down. I also wasn’t thrilled with the layout and usability of my previous host. So I resolved to try a new hosting service.
I Decided On Media Temple.
I have seen a number of other bloggers move over to Media Temple and they were very happy with them. I liked that they were an established company that would be able to handle my traffic and more if needed. They also have 24/7 support if any issues come up. I certainly tested out their support and overall they were pretty good. For one issue their answer wasn’t great but the other times they were responsive and helpful. Understand, moving your site is your responsibility and they give general directions but the directions aren’t exact. There were lots of little things to keep an eye out for that isn’t in their documentation. Depending on your level of comfort, some thing may be obvious while others may not. Fortunately I had a few sites to move so I was able to practice on smaller sites before moving Free From Broke.
So far I’m happy with Media Temple. I’ve already been able to optimize my site in a few areas to make it run faster that I wasn’t able to do on my previous host. This is important because I don’t want you waiting too long for my pages to pop up AND there is the possibility that a site’s speed and structure could affect its search rankings. I want my site to be as fast as it can!
I’ve only been on Media Temple a week but I’d say I could recommend them based on my experiences so far. If you are thinking of moving to self hosting or you are thinking of moving to a different web server then you should give Media Temple a look and see if they fit your needs.
I’d like to give a special thanks to a few folks who helped point me in the right direction when I was moving my sites. Without their insight, I would have a few less handfuls of hair on my head now! Lynnae at Being Frugal for telling me about using the WP Database Backup plugin to get my database files. Mike at Four Pillars for telling me how to configure the database values in my wp-config.php file to point to the new server database. And Mrs Micah of Blogcrafted for telling me to turn of my caching plugins before transferring my files and directing me to the Settings>Miscellaneous settings to make sure my filepaths were accurate. (I probably should have hired her to migrate my wordpress site in the first place!).
If you happen to see something wonky in the way the site is working please contact me so I can take a look!
As always, thanks for reading Free From Broke! Your regular programming will soon resume.
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Craig, glad to see everything went smoothly. I’ve moved simple html sites a few times but never a Wordpress blog. That would make me nervous becuase I think there’s a lot more that could go wrong.
.-= Mike – Saving Money Today´s last blog ..Saturday Night Link Fever =-.
Yeah, the whole time my fingers are crossed hoping that it all went smoothly! There are a lot of little things you need to keep an eye out for. Once you know how its supposed to go its easier.
Congrats on moving to Media Temple! I’ve been with them for about a year now, and couldn’t be happier with the service, and reliability. Since I moved to Media Temple I’ve only had one outage that was caused by a plugin and quickly resolved by restarting my dedicated virtual server. At my old host I was constantly down, and it was a huge pain. Hopefully your experience at MT will be as good as mine has been.
.-= Peter´s last blog ..How To Deal With Your Creditors. David Style! =-.
You were one of the people I knew moved over there! I know the types of issues you have at the previous host as I had them too at times. I’m glad to hear MT has been great!
I moved most of my sites over to MediaTemple from Dreamhost for speed and up-time issues. I’ve been very happy so far!
.-= jim´s last blog ..Failure Is Good For You =-.
Great to hear! I used your tips on gzipping on Wangarific to speed up my site. I couldn’t do that on my previous host. I think I’m up to a C (up from a D) on Yslow now! Thanks!
Good stuff FFB. I’m on MT, and they are OK. Been down twice, but they were quick to respond on Twitter, so use that method if you have probs.
I forget if they gave me a 2nd month credit or not. Thnx for the reminder. The Yakezie Network plugin by Forest really is neat. I clicked my own site to get here to read this!
Best
Sam
.-= Financial Samurai´s last blog ..The Benefits of Debit Cards Over Cash and Credit Cards =-.
Twitter response, nice!
Yes, they are VERY responsive and so should they. Imagine if your blog was down and you were tweeting about what the heck is going on. They gotta fix the prob asap!
.-= Financial Samurai´s last blog ..The Benefits of Debit Cards Over Cash and Credit Cards =-.
You would think that would be the case but not all companies are that responsive. I think that’s why so many are on MT now.
I’m glad it worked out. I’m looking to make a change in the next few month. Almost everything I hear about MT is good.
Take care,
.-= Jeff @Deliverawaydebt´s last blog ..Net Worth – March 2010 =-.
Let me know if you make the move. I’m no tech expert but I have an idea of things to look for now.
Recently moved over to MT and love it. Similar to you, I had problems with my old host and couldn’t be happier these days.
.-= Jason @ One Money Design´s last blog ..Budget busters: How to save money and control spending for housing =-.
Another satisfied customer! Great to hear.