O’DonnellWeb

I’m in the process of doing this now for multiple sites, and I think I have a system down that works well.

On old server
1. Back up. Zip up your entire blog directory and put it somewhere, just in case.
2. Export all posts as a double backup.
3. Export the dB to your local computer
4. Copy your entire wp-content directory down to your local computer.

On new server
5. Upload WordPress to new server. Make sure to follow same directory names and structure as the old server. It will make your life much easier. Trust me on this one.
6. Create new database.
6. Delete wp-content directory that comes with WordPress and replace with yours from existing blog.
7. Edit wp-config-sample.php file with new dB details, and rename to wp-config.php
8. Import dB from old server into the new server.
9. Point domain to new server.
10. Wait. I am doing this within the same ISP, just consolidating some accounts. So the change for me is instantaneous as I don’t even need to edit name servers. It may take 20 minutes to 2 days for your domain to point to the new server. In the meantime it should still load the old blog.

That’s it.