Transferring your web site from one web hosting company to Green Geeks is a straight forward process which can take less than a day if you follow some simple but important steps. Below are the instructions on how you would move your site to us without experiencing any downtime.

First purchase your web hosting package with GreenGeeks.com. Once you have purchased a web hosting package we will send you the login controls to your server space.

Next backup all of your web site files from your old web hosting server onto your PC and then through your GreenGeeks control panel upload those files to your web hosting space on Green Geeks. You also want to make sure to set up all of your email accounts on the Green Geeks servers through the control panel as well so that you do not lose any emails.

**Green Geeks has step by step walk through video instructions on how to create your email accounts and how to upload your files to our server in your control panel. When you login to your control panel at the top look for the image of a camera with the text VIDEO TUTORIALS below it. Click on that image and scroll down to the tutorial for Email Accounts & File Manager.

**Please note that when we first send you your account login information email that there are 2 ways to login. The first is a temporary IP login address and the second is http://yourdomainname.com/cpanel. Until your domain's DNS are pointing to GreenGeeks only your temporary IP address login will get you into your cpanel to upload your files and setup your email addresses and upload your web site files on our servers. Please be sure that you do not change your dns to GreenGeeks until you have added your emails and uploaded your web site files to our servers or you may experience downtime**

Once your web site files and emails are setup on our servers then your domain name needs to point to our servers in order for your hosting to be live at Green Geeks. The process of pointing your domain to our servers is called, redirecting your Domain Name Server (DNS) settings.

Your domain name will then start to redirect to our servers across the internet which is  called propagation. As the DNS propagation to our servers takes place your site will become visible from the Green Geeks servers.

As your domain name is propagating (through our DNS) to our servers, your web site and emails start to get picked up by the Green Geeks servers and at the same time go off line with your old host's servers. It is very much like turning on one light bulb and turning off another simultaneously, so that all of the functions of your site & emails continue to occur without interruption.

**Please note that emails received by you prior to your domain residing on our servers are on your previous host's servers and therefore will need to be downloaded from those servers in order for you to retain them.

How to change your DNS:
If Green Geeks registered your domain name for you as either the primary domain name for your account or as an addon domain, then we automatically set the DNS settings to match Green Geeks'.

If you signed up with an existing domain name, we send you the DNS settings in your account login email. If your domain name was registered with a 3rd party domain registrar you may have an access login to change your DNS settings yourself. Green Geeks representatives are available to assist you in changing your DNS. If you have any questions on how to proceed on changing your DNS please contact our Domain Names department at domains@greengeeks.com

If your domain name was registered with another hosting company you most likely will want to transfer that domain name to Green Geeks or to some other 3rd party domain registrar. We have a domain name department which can help you with the transfer of your domain name if you want to transfer the domain to Green Geeks. Once the domain is transferred we will change the DNS settings for you and your site will be live at Green Geeks. You may also request to your old host that they change the DNS settings to ours before you transfer your domain to us so that you can upload your files from that service to ours and have the old service change the DNS to ours which will avoid any downtime.
 
To transfer your domain name to Green Geeks please send an email request to sales@greengeeks.com and include the domain name you want transferred to Green Geeks.