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Transferring
a Domain Transparently
The following are instructions on
making your domain transfer to HelpQuest.Com without your visitors
experiencing any downtime or interruption in your service.
First, you need to place an order for our
virtual domain hosting service. After you have placed your order, we
will process your order and e-mail you with your IP address. Think of
your IP address as a unique group of numbers that identify yourself to
the world, just like your telephone number. Every virtual domain has its
own IP address, but most everyone refer to their virtual domain rather
than their IP address.
For example,
http://www.helpquest.com and
http://209.15.20.183 both take you to
our main webpage. It should be no surprise why people and organizations
choose to use virtual domains rather than IP addresses when referring to
their websites: virtual domains are easier to remember and often say
something about the website.
Virtual domains costs range from $9.95 to $11.95 per year when
ordered through HelpQuest. IP addresses are owned by the hosting service
(HelpQuest.Com) and are borrowed by the customer.
So how does all of this play a role in
transferring your domain without interrupting your traffic? You will
receive your IP address for your website soon after placing your order.
Your virtual domain name will still be pointing to your old hosting
service. You will receive by email directions to inform your domain name
registrar of the change, or we will order the change for you after we
receive your order so that your domain name will now be listed with
HelpQuest.Com instead of your old hosting provider.
When you receive our e-mail notifying you
that your account has been activated along with your IP address, you
must act fast! You need to upload all of the files on your website at
your old hosting provider to your new account with us. This "grace
period" begins when your domain name registrar is instructed to point
yoursite.com to us rather than your old hosting provider to when they
actually make the change. This "grace period" can be anywhere from 12 to
72 hours. So you have this amount of time to upload all of the files for
your website to our server.
Next, your domain name registrar will
send you an e-mail (because you own the domain) asking you if you wish
for your domain to now point to HelpQuest.Com. You need to respond to
this e-mail as quickly as possible. You might also notify your current
hosting provider and tell them that you authorize them to transfer your
domain to HelpQuest.Com. They might receive an e-mail from your
registrar as well, so you might want to notify them of your intentions
of moving your domain to us.
When the registrar updates their records,
they will begin directing traffic from yoursite.com to us rather than
your old hosting provider. Because you have already uploaded the files
to our server, your virtual domain will never be inactive and visitors
will not even be able to tell you switched hosting providers. You can
now notify your old hosting service that you wish to discontinue your
service.
So here is a
summary of what you need to do to transparently transfer your domain to
HelpQuest.Com...
- Place an order for virtual domain
website hosting with us.
- When you receive our e-mail notifying
you that your account is active, immediately upload all of your files
for your website to your HelpQuest.Com account.
- Notify your current hosting service
that you grant permission to transfer yoursite.com to HelpQuest.Com,
your new hosting provider.
- Contact your domain name registrar and
instruct them to direct your domain name to HelpQuest.Com (according
to the instructions you'll receive from us in your initial email) --
OR -- we will help you make the change.
- When you receive an e-mail message
from your registrar asking for your permission to have yoursite.com to
point to HelpQuest.Com, be sure to click "reply" and follow the
instructions to permit the transfer.
For Non-U.S. domains:
- Place an order for virtual domain
website hosting with us.
- When you receive our e-mail notifying
you that your account is active, immediately upload all of your files
for your website to your HelpQuest.Com account.
- Notify the appropriate organization
responsible for registering your non-U.S. domain extension of
HelpQuest.Com's name server information as given above.
That is all you need to do to ensure your
website is transferred to HelpQuest.Com without any problems or
interruptions in service. At HelpQuest.Com, we understand the importance
of your website to you and make this feature available so you can take
advantage of the great features we offer with our hosting services. If
you have any further questions regarding transferring your existing
domain to HelpQuest.Com, please e-mail
support@helpquest.com.
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![[Check Your Domain]](images/domain.gif)
