I have decided to move some of my websites from BlueHost to HostGator to reduce the load on my bluehost account.

I came across this article from HostGator on switching webhost without having down time.

http://www.hostgator.com/moving.shtml

Basically the steps are:

1) Find and join a new webhost (i.e. HostGator)

2) Download the entire site from your old webhost and upload them to your new webhost.

3) Now that you have all files on both hosting accounts, change the domain name dns to the one provided by your new webhost.

4) Wait for 24-48hrs for your domain name dns to update. Usually your site will load from the new host after 24hrs.

5) After the dns has updated and loading from your new host host, you have successfully switch host without any down time!

I have just signed up with HostGator as my second webhost. My first webhost is BlueHost.

As my BlueHost account is a shared hosting plan, I faced problems with “temporary account suspensions due to high traffic overload” when I was hosting too many domains on it as most of them are wordpress blogs, php files are known to eat up more resources than html files.  I know I will face more problems if I continue adding domains to it. That is the main reason I have decided to get a second webhost.

The second reason is not to put all the eggs into one basket. All my websites were down for a few days because my account got suspended while I am away for a trip to Bangkok. But overall they are still a good webhost with good pricing.

I got myself a reseller package with HostGator. They are offering 20% discount coupon “SPRING” which is valid till May 1 2008. I am a newbie at reseller account, so I still need some time to familiarize myself with the setup.

I should have sign up with them last night, as the dns nameserver requires around 24-48hrs to update. So, it is a waiting game for now.

This email from bluehost almost gave me a heart attack, “WEB HOSTING ACCOUNT DEACTIVATED”.

My adsense account is just a few dollars shy of reaching the minimum payout of $100. I estimate that I should be able to hit it during the period while I am away for Bangkok trip. I am very excited as this is going to be the first real money I am going to make thru the internet after a period of a year plus. I logged on my adsense account the moment I reached home and found it to be only $99+. What the heck?

I checked my email and found this email, “WEB HOSTING ACCOUNT DEACTIVATED”!

Oh My God! What have I done? What has happened?

This is the first time I faced this situation, the email states:

Dear Ong:

Your web hosting account for has been deactivated (reason: terms of service violation).

Although your web site has been disabled, your data may still be available for up to 30 days, after which it will be deleted.

If you feel this deactivation is in error, please contact customer support as soon as possible.

I went to check the bluehost TOS and I think I know why my web hosting account is being deactivated.
I quickly went to bluehost helpdesk to open a ticket:

Hi there,

I would like to know which of my domains has violated the terms of service and how I can re-activate back my web hosting account.

Thanks.

Finally the next day they replied:

You have copyrighted anime on your account. Also any links to adult content need to be removed. I have changed your account so that you now have access to your bluehost cpanel. Please let us know when you have removed these files and then we will reactivate your website.

Just as I expected, its those animes that I had on anime-love.com! I quickly removed all the anime hoping to recover my account fast.

Hi,
 
I have removed all the anime from anime-love.com. Regarding the adult content, I am quite sure I didnt host any of them. But if there is any, pls enlighten me at which domain and I will remove it as soon as possible.
 
Pls help me to reactivate my website asap.
 
Thanks.

I was relieved that they finally re-activated my hosting account after a few hours.

So, remember you cannot host anime websites on bluehost! This lesson also taught me that it is better to have a few webhosting accounts rather than only one all-in-one webhost because if your webhosting account is to be suspended or terminated, all your websites in that account will be affected! One more important thing to do is to regularly backup your website offline, so that you can get your website up in a short amount of time by getting another webhost and pointing your domain name to them.

Lastly, I finally reached the $100 minimum payout for adsense. OH YES!