No amount of SEO work, design investment, or Google Ads budget can overcome a slow, unreliable hosting environment. Your hosting affects your PageSpeed score — which affects your Google rankings. It affects your uptime — which affects your revenue. It affects your security posture — which affects your reputation. And it affects the daily experience of every person who visits your website.
Too many business owners are on cheap shared hosting — sometimes paying $3–$10 per month — and wondering why their website is slow, why their rankings have not improved, or why they keep getting hacked. The hosting environment is almost always part of the answer. Shared hosting means your website lives on a server alongside hundreds or thousands of other websites, competing for the same CPU, RAM, and bandwidth. When one site on that server gets a traffic spike or a malware infection, every site suffers.
At WordPress97, we have migrated websites from GoDaddy, Bluehost, SiteGround, and cheap shared hosts to Flywheel, WP Engine, and IONOS — and the performance improvement is visible immediately. Our Migration & Hosting Expert handles every step: files, database, DNS, SSL, email, and post-migration testing. You do not need to touch a single setting. We manage the entire process and hand you a faster, more secure website on the other side.
A WordPress97 migration is not just moving files from one server to another. It is a complete, tested transition that covers every component of your website — with verification at every step.
We keep your old website live throughout the entire migration process. We build on staging, test everything, and only switch DNS when the new site is fully verified and ready. Your visitors never see a broken page, an under-construction notice, or a 404 error during the transition.
We have direct hands-on experience with every major hosting platform used by US businesses. Whether you are moving from one of these providers or moving to one, we know the specific setup steps, the DNS configuration patterns, and the common pitfalls for each platform.
Managed WordPress hosting — our top recommendation
Best for: Small to mid-size businesses, medical practices, service companies
Enterprise-grade managed WordPress hosting
Best for: High-traffic sites, e-commerce stores, agencies, enterprise businesses
Reliable European/US hosting at strong value
Best for: Small businesses, startups, clients on tighter budgets needing reliability
CDN, DNS, and DDoS protection layer
Best for: All sites — we add Cloudflare on top of any hosting for speed and security
Common starting points — often outgrown
Best for: Starting points only — we recommend upgrading when you outgrow them
Domain management and DNS configuration
Best for: Any client — we handle all DNS regardless of where the domain is registered
Every migration we perform follows the same structured, staged process. We have never lost data in a migration. We have never caused unplanned downtime. This is why.
Before touching anything, we audit your current website: total file size, database size, number of plugins, active theme, any known compatibility issues with the destination host, and current DNS configuration. We document every existing redirect, every external service connected to the domain (email, GA4, GSC, booking systems), and every login credential we will need. This audit takes 1–2 hours but prevents 90% of migration problems before they can happen.
We create a complete backup of your current website (all files + database) and store it securely before making any changes. If the destination host already has content, we back that up too. You will always have a known-good restore point regardless of what happens during the migration.
We configure the new hosting account: create the WordPress database and user, set correct file permissions, install WordPress (or prepare the environment for the file transfer), configure PHP version to match your site's requirements, and set up the staging domain so we can test the migrated site before DNS is switched. For Flywheel, we use their built-in staging. For WP Engine, we use their multi-environment workflow.
All WordPress files are transferred via FTP/SFTP to the new server. The database is exported from the old host, imported to the new host, and a URL search-and-replace is run using WP-CLI to update all internal references from the old domain/URL to the new one. wp-config.php is updated with the new database credentials. This step is performed on the staging environment first.
With the migration complete on staging, we run a comprehensive QA test: every page loads correctly, all images display, all forms submit and send notifications, all plugins are active and functioning, the checkout process works end-to-end (for WooCommerce), all redirects fire correctly, and PageSpeed scores are measured on the new hosting environment. We fix any issues found at this stage before going near the live DNS.
A valid SSL certificate is installed on the new host before the DNS switch. We verify that HTTPS is enforced, that there are no mixed content warnings (HTTP resources loading on an HTTPS page), and that the www and non-www versions both redirect correctly to a single canonical URL. An SSL certificate that is not working on go-live day is one of the most common post-migration problems we prevent by doing this step in advance.
Once staging is fully tested and SSL is confirmed, we switch the DNS. We time this switch based on current TTL (Time To Live) values — reducing TTL to 300 seconds (5 minutes) several hours before the switch so propagation happens as quickly as possible. We monitor propagation in real time using DNS checker tools and remain available throughout the propagation window (typically 15 minutes to 4 hours, rarely longer).
Once the new site is live, we complete the post-migration checklist: WP Rocket caching configured for the new server, Imagify reconnected, GA4 verified in Google Search Console, GSC re-verified, Cloudflare CDN proxied if used, DKIM/SPF/DMARC configured for email deliverability (Enterprise), and all third-party integrations (booking systems, CRM, live chat) verified as functioning correctly.
We monitor your website for 14 days after go-live: checking uptime, PageSpeed scores, GSC for any new crawl errors caused by the migration, and email deliverability. If anything surfaces — a plugin that behaves differently on the new host, a caching conflict, a DNS record that was missed — we resolve it immediately. You receive a written post-migration report at the end of the 14-day window.
Every migration is signed off against this checklist before we consider the job complete. Nothing launches until every item is ticked.
Dade Construction needed a new website to replace their outdated online presence. They had been on a low-cost shared hosting plan that delivered PageSpeed scores in the mid-60s and suffered occasional downtime during peak traffic periods. The domain was registered at a different provider from the hosting, DNS was inconsistently configured, GA4 had never been installed, and there was no SSL certificate on the old site — meaning browsers were flagging it as Not Secure. They needed a clean new start on reliable infrastructure.
WordPress97 built the new website on Flywheel managed WordPress hosting from day one. The Flywheel environment was configured with WP Rocket caching, Imagify WebP compression, and Cloudflare CDN before a single page was published. SSL was installed and HTTPS enforced. DNS was cleaned up at the registrar level. GA4 was installed and configured from the ground up. The site launched with a PageSpeed score of 91 on both mobile and desktop — and has maintained that score since launch.
PageSpeed: 65 to 91 | SSL installed | DNS corrected | GA4 live from day one | Zero post-launch issues | Flywheel managed hosting active
For this multi-location healthcare practice, we performed a full hosting performance audit alongside the speed optimisation engagement. Cloudflare CDN was layered onto the existing hosting environment, WP Rocket was configured, and Imagify was deployed — improving PageSpeed from 38 to 91 without a full server migration. For clients where the hosting is adequate but misconfigured, we optimise without migrating.
A US-based e-commerce store owner contacted us after their web agency went out of business, leaving their WooCommerce site on unmanaged hosting with no backup, no SSL renewal, and an expired domain control panel access. WordPress97 recovered full access, took a complete backup, migrated the site to Flywheel, renewed SSL, reconfigured DNS, and had the store trading again within 24 hours. Zero order data was lost.
We do not have affiliate relationships with any hosting provider. Our recommendations are based solely on what performs best for the type of website you have — not what pays us the highest commission.
Flywheel — Growth plan. Excellent performance, easy to manage, great support. From $25/month.
WP Engine — Growth plan or higher. EverCache handles WooCommerce extremely well. Better for stores with high concurrent users. From $45/month.
IONOS — WordPress Hosting Essential or Business plan. Reliable, affordable, SSD-based. Lacks Flywheel's polish but solid performance. From $6–$12/month.
WP Engine — Agency plan. Multi-site management, Global Edge Security, and dedicated account management. Priced on site count.
Cloudflare — Free or Pro plan on top of your existing host. Adds CDN, DDoS protection, and significant PageSpeed improvement regardless of underlying hosting.
No — your current website stays live throughout the entire migration process. We build the migrated site on a staging environment, test everything, and only switch the DNS when the new site is fully verified. The DNS switch itself takes between 15 minutes and 4 hours to propagate globally, during which some visitors may see the old site and some the new one — but both are live. There is no offline window, no maintenance page, and no downtime for your visitors.
We need access to three things: your current hosting account (cPanel, Flywheel, WP Engine, or FTP/SFTP credentials), your WordPress admin login, and your domain registrar account (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, etc.) to update DNS records. If you also want your email accounts migrated, we will need access to those settings too. We will send you a secure credential request form — you never need to share passwords over email or WhatsApp.
Yes — WooCommerce data (orders, customers, products, coupons, subscriptions) is all stored in the WordPress database, which is fully migrated as part of our standard process. We perform a database integrity check after migration to verify that all order records, customer accounts, and product data are intact. For stores with active subscriptions, we verify subscription renewal dates and payment method tokens are correctly migrated before going live.
DNS propagation is the process of the new DNS records spreading to all internet service providers (ISPs) globally. With TTL (Time to Live) values reduced to 300 seconds (5 minutes) before the switch — which we do as part of every migration — propagation typically completes within 15 minutes to 2 hours for most users. In rare cases, it can take up to 24–48 hours for some ISPs. We monitor propagation in real time and keep you updated throughout.
A properly executed migration should have no negative effect on Google rankings. The risks that cause ranking drops — changing URL structures without 301 redirects, removing content, reducing PageSpeed, or having extended downtime — are all prevented by our process. We re-verify Google Search Console after migration to check for any new crawl errors and resolve them within 24 hours. In most cases, moving to faster hosting actually improves rankings over time as PageSpeed and Core Web Vitals improve.
Yes. If you do not currently have a hosting account, we can create one for you at Flywheel, WP Engine, or IONOS, configure the environment, set up WordPress, and either migrate your existing site or deploy a new one. We will advise which hosting platform and plan is right for your specific needs and budget during the discovery call.
We always have a complete backup of your old site before we begin. If anything goes wrong — a plugin incompatibility on the new host, a database issue, any unforeseen problem — we roll back to the backup on the old hosting within 30 minutes. We have never had to do a full rollback that we could not recover from. But the backup is always there, and we never delete it until you have confirmed you are happy with the new site.
We handle the DNS configuration for email (MX records, SPF, DKIM, DMARC) as part of every Professional and Enterprise migration. For clients using Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 for email, we update the DNS records to point to those services correctly. For clients on hosting-based email (cPanel), we can migrate email accounts and historical mail to the new host. Full email migration (moving years of historical inbox data) is scoped separately as this can be complex depending on email volume.
