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Tutorials

Step-by-step written walkthroughs for the setup tasks people actually get stuck on.

How to Point a Domain to Your New Host

If you bought your domain from one company and your hosting from another (very common), you need to tell the domain who's hosting the site. There are two ways to do this — use whichever your host's setup instructions call for.

Option 1: Change nameservers (most common)

  1. In your host's control panel, find the two nameserver addresses it wants you to use (often listed on the dashboard or in a "connect a domain" guide).
  2. Log in to wherever you registered your domain, and find DNS or Nameserver settings.
  3. Replace the existing nameservers with the two your host gave you, and save.
  4. Wait — this can take anywhere from a few minutes to 24 hours to fully take effect everywhere.

Option 2: Point an A record (when you want to keep DNS elsewhere)

  1. Get your hosting account's IP address from your host's dashboard.
  2. In your domain's DNS settings, edit the "A record" for your domain to point to that IP address.
  3. Leave nameservers as they are — only the A record changes.

Use Option 1 if you want your host to manage everything (email, subdomains, DNS) in one place. Use Option 2 if you're already using a DNS or email service tied to your current nameservers that you don't want to disrupt.

How to Move a Website to a New Host Without Downtime

Migrating hosts is safer than it sounds if you do it in this order — the key is not touching your domain until the new host is confirmed working.

  1. Copy everything to the new host first. Use your old host's file manager or an FTP client to download your site files and database, then upload/import them to the new host. Many hosts also offer a free migration tool or service — check before doing it manually.
  2. Test on the new host before switching anything. Most hosts give you a temporary URL or let you edit your computer's local hosts file to preview the site on the new server before your domain points there.
  3. Only once it looks right, update your domain (see the nameserver/A record tutorial above) to point to the new host.
  4. Keep the old host active for a few days after switching, in case DNS propagation means some visitors are briefly still routed to the old server.

Once you've confirmed the new site is fully live and stable for a few days, you can cancel the old hosting plan.