Moving your WordPress site to a new host is simpler than most people think. A step-by-step guide to migrating without downtime, data loss, or stress.
The idea of moving a live WordPress site feels risky. What if something breaks? What if there's downtime? What if you lose content? These concerns are reasonable, but the process is more straightforward than most people expect. Migration and DNS cutover are two separate steps - you can move your entire site to the new host, test it, and only switch DNS once you're satisfied everything works. Your old site stays live throughout. If you would rather not do any of it yourself, we do the migration for you at no charge on either plan.
A WordPress site is two things: files and a database. You don't need to move WordPress core itself - that's the same on every host. What you need is:
Those two things, properly exported from your old host and imported on the new one, are your entire site.
Log into your old host's control panel (cPanel, Plesk, or a file manager) and navigate to your WordPress installation. You want to download the wp-content folder as a zip or tar.gz archive. This contains your theme, all installed plugins, and your uploads (images, PDFs, and any other media).
If your host doesn't provide a one-click download, you can use FTP/SFTP (FileZilla is a free client that works well). Connect to your server, navigate to your WordPress root, right-click on wp-content, and download it. For most sites this is under 500MB. Media-heavy sites can be larger but the process is the same.
Most hosts provide phpMyAdmin for database access. Log in, select your WordPress database from the left panel, then click Export at the top. The default "Quick" export as SQL format is exactly what you need. Download the .sql file.
If your host provides SSH access, you can also export via the command line:
mysqldump -u dbuser -p dbname > site-backup.sql
Either method produces the same result - a .sql file containing your entire database.
At this point you have everything: a wp-content archive and a .sql dump. What happens next depends on your new host. With DownUnder WP, you upload both files through your dashboard and we handle the import - your wp-content gets extracted into your container and your database is restored. The URL replacement (updating old domain references in the database to your new domain) is handled automatically.
On a self-managed host, you'd extract the wp-content archive into your WordPress installation and import the SQL file via phpMyAdmin or the command line. You'd then need to update thesiteurl and home options in the database to reflect your new domain.
With the site running on the new host, test it before pointing your domain anywhere. How you do that depends on the host. Some hand you a temporary URL on a domain of theirs, and otherwise you can edit your local hosts file to preview the site on your own machine without affecting anyone else.
We do it differently: you build on a subdomain of your own domain, usually new.yourdomain.com.au. You add one DNS record for it, which changes nothing about your live site, and from that moment the new site is a real, working, secured website you can log into and hand to anyone for review. When you're happy, one button moves your actual domain across and rewrites the links inside your content to match. It avoids the hosts-file fiddling entirely, and it means what you tested is exactly what goes live rather than a preview on someone else's hostname.
DNS records have a TTL - how long other nameservers cache your entries. Standard TTL is often 3600 seconds (1 hour). A day before you plan to cut over, lower your A record TTL to 300 seconds (5 minutes). This means when you do switch, propagation is fast.
When you're ready, update your domain's A record to point to the new host's IP. With a 5-minute TTL most visitors switch over within minutes. Keep your old hosting account active for 48-72 hours as a fallback while any cached DNS clears.
SSL not provisioning: Most hosts (including us) issue Let's Encrypt certificates automatically once DNS is pointing to the server. If you see a certificate warning, wait 10-15 minutes for provisioning to complete.
Images broken after migration: Usually means the database still contains your old domain in image URLs. On DownUnder WP this is handled during import. On other hosts, a search-and-replace on the database (old domain to new domain) fixes it.
Email stops working: Your MX records control email routing separately from your A record. If you're only changing the A record, email is unaffected. If you're switching nameservers entirely, make sure MX records are configured on the new provider before you switch.
With DownUnder WP, migrating is straightforward. Once your site is deployed, you upload your wp-content archive and your SQL dump directly through your dashboard - no FTP, no cPanel, no third-party tools. Your container handles the import, replaces the domain references in the database automatically, and your site is running on Australian NVMe servers. Point your DNS when you're ready.
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