changing website name (an idiots guide please!)

[molly_and_magic]

I am not PC literate at all....I own 2 domain names. The 1st is hosted by myhosting but I want to change the website name to the new domain name that I have just bought. Apparently this is possible (?) but I have just been into the account manager and do not understand a thing - its another language completely. Can anyone please explain how to do this, very very simply for me? Thankyou so much to anyone who can

[sgoodman]

Hello,

I don't understand what you mean exactly.

If someone goes to your 1st domain, do you want them to be automatically redirected to your 2nd domain?

If that is the case, then it depends...

The best option is to set it up with your Registrar. If you are registered with Network Solutions, then Web Forwarding costs $12 a year.

If your registrar doesn't offer forwarding, then you can set it up yourself. The exact steps depends on whether you are using Windows hosting or Linux hosting. If you are using Linux hosting, you can create an .htaccess file to redirect traffic.

Is redirecting visitors what you were wanting to do? If so, who did you buy your domain name from? Do you have Windows or Linux hosting?

Shane.

[AnthonyJohnson]

Do you want to redirect it as described above, are you trying to move your site to the new URL or do you just want to rename your site?Your question left me confused as to which of those you were trying to do.

Each one would require a different course of action though so pin pointing your goal will help :)

[melissas]

ya - I'm not sure understand your question... so, your best bet is to contact the dedicated myhosting customer service rockstars who will help you accomplish just about anything!

[jeremya]

Changing a domain name associated with a website is not always an easy thing if that's literally what you want to do. Aswell, it's often not recommend to change it cold turkey unless the site hasn't been up very long. The reason is largely search engine related. If you change the domain name or IP address or other underlying setup of your site then search engines will essentially remove the existance of your content completely.

The recommended way to avoid this is to setup your site again under the new domain name such that it's essentially duplicated. When it's done, redirect your old domain to your new one, preferably using what's called 301 redirects.
A 301 redirect indicates to search engines that this content has permanently moved to the new location you specify. Once traffic has begun redirecting for some time you may consider removing that old domain name but often you'll find there's no need and can simply leave the redirects in place permanently.

So essentially, how hard this all is depends on how concerned you are about your search engine placement to date and maintaining your rank and status.

[molly_and_magic]

thanks for all your replies - told you I didn't know what i was talking about - will try myhosting people though

[SweetTarts]

The reason is largely search engine related. If you change the domain name or IP address or other underlying setup of your site then search engines will essentially remove the existance of your content completely.

They really do go out of their way to make that super annoying. I really hated switching from a free hosted blog to one on its domain because of the fact that I lost all my hard earned ranking. It really seems like there should be some sort of way for your page rank and things to carry over.