Whilst it’s a straightforward process – we do like to take care to ensure downtime is minimised and there’s no disruption to crucial services such as emails.

We’ll look at the different ways you can move your services to Ascot – starting with …

Moving your website but keeping your domain hosting where it is?

1 Set up a copy of your site on our server

We set up web hosting space on our server and ask you to provide a full copy of the site and (crucially) the database export file. You can do this by

  • sending the file package across via email / WeTransfer

or

  • Provide us FTP access to your website where it is presently hosted – we can download a copy and upload it to your new server space for you.
! Remember not to update your website with new copy, pictures etc from this point onwards

2 Test the site on its new server

Once it’s fully uploaded, we test the site but don’t worry – it’s not live to the world yet!

We test:

  • All site pages
  • Links – internal and external
  • Web forms – we confirm they are going to the places you want them to

3 Point the domain to the new Ascot Server

In order to do this – we need to update the DNS settings on your domain. This can be done in one of two main ways

  • Ascot update the DNS settings by logging into your domain control panel. You provide us with Username and password. We do the rest

or

  • Ascot provide you with the changes that need to be made and you or your IT representative make the changes in your domain control panel.

4 What happens next?

Over the next 24-48 hours, visitors will begin seeing the new (Ascot-hosted) site rather than the previous one. This is called DNS Propagation.

If everything goes smoothly – no one will see any disruption in service, although we never say never. Some configurations of larger internal networks can occasionally cause some people to see the old site for a while through caching.

We advise keeping your IT team in the loop at all times.

You can now go ahead and make amends to your website in the same way as before.

You can now delete the files on the old web hosting server.

Excluding IP addresses on Google Analytics

Having an accurate picture of how your customers interact with your website is crucial. To achieve this, it’s necessary to exclude internal traffic, such as that of your employees, from your Google Analytics tracking. You can do this by excluding an IP address, such as that of your business location.

1- Find your IP address

Finding your IP address is easy. Simply visit https://whatismyipaddress.com/, and your IP address will show next to IPv4.

2 - Excluding your IP address on Google Analytics

To exclude your IP address on the GA4 platform, you’ll need to have Administrator access to the account. Here’s how:

  1. Log into your Google Analytics account.
  2. Click the Admin icon in the bottom left hand corner

 3. Select Data Streams under the Property menu

  1. Under Web, click on your website
  1. On the popup screen, click Configure tag settings
  1. Select Show all in the Settings box to increase the drop-down menu

 7. Select Define Internal Traffic
 8. Click Create

 9. Decide on a Rule Name, for example: matm office
10. Set the traffic_type_value as internal
11. Select “IP address equals” from the drop-down menu under IP addresses and add your IP address in the Value box next to it.
12. If you have multiple business locations to exclude, click Add Condition to add more IP addresses
13. Click Create in the top right corner

Glossary

What is an IP address?

An IP address is a unique identifier that identifies a device on the internet or a local network. It’s assigned to your device by your Internet Service Provider and is unique to your location.

An IP address is shown as a sequence of four numbers separated by dots, for example: 123.456.78.91.

What is FTP?

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol – it’s a system for easily accessing other files of your website, and transferring them from one server to another.

What is DNS?

DNS stands for Domain Name System – it is the address book of the internet, telling computers which server to go to in order to view your website, or where to send your emails to.

What is DNS Propagation?

When changing DNS settings, it can take up to 24 hours for servers across the world to refresh and show those changes.

What is a website database?

A website database stores all of the dynamic content for a website, such as news posts, page content and site settings.