Move your website to Bluehost

Back up before anything else

Take a copy of the files and the database and keep it off both hosts. This is not the migration copy — it is what you restore from when the migration copy turns out to be incomplete.

• Files from your current host's file manager or over FTP
• Database as a single SQL export
• Store both somewhere that is neither the old host nor the new one

Request the Pro Migration

Purchased as a service from the Bluehost portal

• Typical duration: Varies
• Create a dedicated admin account for the migration rather than sharing your own, and remove it afterwards

Or move it by hand into public_html

Compress on the server and move one archive. Dragging thousands of small files over FTP is where migrations stall.

• Turn on hidden files before compressing, or .htaccess is left behind
• Upload the archive into public_html and extract it there
• If the archive contained the web root folder itself, move the contents up one level
• SSH is available on some plans, which makes this considerably faster

Create the database, then grant the user

The database and its user are separate objects. A site that loads but reports a connection error is almost always a missing grant rather than a wrong password.

• Use phpMyAdmin
• Grant All Privileges on the new database
• Panels usually prefix both names with your account name — use the full names

Import the database and update the credentials

Import into the empty database, then point the application at it. Check the table count against the source; a partial import reports nothing useful.

define( 'DB_NAME', 'the new database name' );
define( 'DB_USER', 'the new user' );
define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'the password you just set' );
define( 'DB_HOST', 'localhost' );

Rebuild what the migration left out

The exclusions again, because this is the step people skip: DNS records, email, the registrar transfer. List them at the old host before you cancel, because afterwards the list is gone.

• DNS records
• Email
• The registrar transfer

Test before you touch DNS

This is what separates a calm migration from a bad one. Load the new copy while the old host still serves the public.

• Use the temporary URL Bluehost provides
• Better: a hosts file entry so the real domain resolves here for you only, which catches redirect loops a temporary URL hides
• Click through properly — forms, logins, checkout, an image deep in an old post
• Match the PHP version to the old host first; upgrade later as a separate change

203.0.113.10  example.com www.example.com