Moving Your Site To A New Domain Name

Changing the domain name of your site seems pretty easy at first.

You just submit a helpdesk ticket to tech support, they wave their magic wand over the server and your domain name is changed.

Right?

Unfortunately for one of my SKP clients, it’s more complex than this.

Last week, she asked my technicians to change her domain name to a new one.

That’s when the problems started.

First, we realized she hadn’t registered the new domain name. Support sent her to Watersweb Hosting to register the domain. So now, we’re looking at spending some money.

She purchased the domain, Support made sure the nameservers were correct and then modified the account to point the domain at her site.

Easy enough, right?

Not so fast. The second problem reared its head. Basically, the custom template she bought for her Shop Kit Plus site had been written using image and CSS links based on the old domain. So none of the images, styles or links worked on her site. Yikes!

So now, she needed to hire her web designer to recode the template. That’s another expense.

After reviewing her situation myself, I added her domain name back to her site as a parked domain, so the site is working properly now. However, if she lets this domain expire before she has her template recoded, her site will break again.

The morale to this story?

Before moving your site or changing your domain name, make sure you consult with a knowledgeable business coach.

Had this client hired me before she requested her domain name change, I would have outlined the whole process for her and notified her of the additional expenses that she would incur.

Chances are, tech support at any host is not going to be concerned about the design on your site, as this is not their job. When you ask them to make a change, they are going to do it and that’s it. You’ll have to deal with the fallout.

So, make sure you’re fully informed before you make these changes.