What Happens When You Transfer Your Website

Getting a new website can be scary! You may have your Farm’s domain name, high ranking search results, a custom email, and you don’t want to lose anything. Thankfully, our team at Barn2Door will ensure you maintain all those valuable assets and the brand credibility you’ve built. You don’t have to worry about losing anything. What’s most important to us is to improve your online presence to save you time, increase orders, and ultimately equip your Farm business with the tools to help it thrive.

This is why it’s important to make sure your website is up to par. We take great care to transfer your assets to the beautiful new websites we create with no negative impacts to your existing business. We’ve addressed some common questions below to help you understand how.

What’s the difference between a domain and my site?

Your web domain and your website are both connected, but are two different things. Your website is whatever someone sees on their computer screen.

Your website is an electronic file full of code. It’s kind of like a complicated Word Document. When people view your site, they temporarily download a copy of that file. The web browser they are using (e.g. Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.) reads the code to display the webpage they see.

Your web domain (ex: yourfarm.com) is the way that a person’s computer finds and access the files that make up your website.

The file that is connected to your domain is full of code that makes up your website, which is stored in the “cloud” (with our third party web hosting service). A person’s computer trying to visit your site has to know where to look for the file. That’s where the web domain comes into play. It’s a lot like a phone number.

Do I get to keep my domain name?

Yes! As detailed above, your domain and website aren’t the same thing. We can take your domain, disconnect it from your current site (if you have one), and connect it to your new site. That means, by typing in the same web address, or URL, people will be able to reach your new site (ex: www.yourfarm.com).

To allay any concerns, we generally transfer your domain in the background (without any impact to your current website). After the design of your website is complete, we then simply “swap” the files your web domain points to, so when someone enters your URL, they will see your new site on their screen. Pretty cool, huh?

Do I have to continue paying for my domain?

Yes. With your new Barn2Door site, you have two options for payment of your domain. The first option is to simply keep your domain where it is. You’ll keep paying for it just as you do now. The second option is to transfer it to Squarespace (where your Farm website will be built). Squarespace charges $20 a year for domains, which you would pay along with the annual payments for your site, to Barn2Door.

Will I lose my custom email?

No. Your custom email is connected to your domain (e.g. farmer@yourfarm.com is connected to yourfarm.com), not your website. As such, your email will stay unchanged through the transition to your new site. Like your domain, you will continue paying separately for your email service.

If you want to consolidate your email service with your website, we recommend G! Suite.

What does it cost for a custom email?

If you’re interested in getting a custom email (ex: instead of being farmer@gmail.com, you could have farmer@yourfarm.com), this can be set up through Squarespace.

Squarespace will set you up with a G-Suite email on the basic plan ($72 per user per year / $6 per month), which you will pay for on an ongoing basis. G-Suite emails are managed a lot like Gmail emails.

*SEO helps your website appear higher in search results.*

Will I lose my search engine optimization?

Search engines like Google improve their search results by ranking websites. These rankings are caused by many factors, including traffic to your site, outside links to your site, etc. Search engine optimization (SEO) can take a long time to build. Thankfully, you keep it with your new site. We will set up your site so links from your old site still work (and redirect to new pages). This way, your search engine optimization stays the same.

What happens if I cancel with Barn2Door in a year?

If you elect to cancel your Barn2Door subscription, your cancellation will be effective after written notice effectively submitted online at www.barn2door.com/contact - as set forth in our our Terms of Use.

All of your Customer data and Order data is available for you to download into a *.CSV file at anytime while your subscription is still active. We encourage you to download all of your data prior to the effective date of termination. Thereafter, your data will no longer be accessible.

As of your effective date of termination, we will delete your website. Unfortunately, your website is non-transferrable - it is not possible to move a website subscription from one site to another. However, you can export certain content from your website into a *.CSV file that may be useful if you elect to build a new website (e.g. WordPress or another Content Management System). Note many features and capabilities native in the website will not transfer (including SEO, navigation, the Store etc.), so plan ahead to design a completely new site.

While your termination of Barn2Door subscription will end your use of your website and commerce capabilities, you still own your Domain Name. Like a phone number, you can transfer your Domain Name to another hosting provider (to build and host another website). Note, you will also be liable for any third-party subscriptions that you may have integrated - including your Domain Name, GSuite or Office365, MailChimp, Quickbooks, TaxJar or others.

No need to be intimidated by transitioning to your new website to Barn2Door. Our team is eager to do the work on your behalf to ensure it all goes smoothly. If you have any questions at all, feel free to reach out. A member of our team will get back to you and walk you through everything.