I am thankful for Hostgator’s headache free migration service to https. But isn’t everyone is giving a free SSL certificate? Don’t know about everyone, but Hostgator just did it for me. This makes July my favorite month till now in 2018. I was worrying so bad about this, that I had a weekly headache on this topic. Yes, I tend to schedule worrying too. It’s not productive, but the worrying acts as a type of highly concentrated prayer or mindfulness exercise. Whichever way you look at it, this helps me find solutions or get gifted solutions.
Let me tell you the story. I was worried about the tech stuff associated with redirecting my entire website after the https migration, July was busy with two of my books being published back to back.I was pushing this torture to August. A very big risk, what with Google threatening to downrank sites. But you have only one head and two hands. Juggling everything and traveling made July the wrong month for this activity.
But God is kind. He magically inspired Hostagtor to give free SSL certificate to all plans irrespective of everything. You have to do nothing except redirect your website content. When I talked to Hostgator support about finding two versions of my blog, like Cinderella’s stepsister, one which Google will love and the older one which Google wants to ignore, this is my exact experience. I am not exaggerating at all.
The story :
First, the customer service person couldn’t find my https blog. Yes, that surprised me too! I had to tell him to type it on the browser separately Guess what, he found https://healthwealthbridge.com after a step by step instruction
2)All through this, he was polite and helpful. But not well-informed.
3)He then asked for my cpanel password, on checking which he confirmed my answer. Good news. A free SSL certificate was installed on my site. I was so happy that my headache disappeare d.His ignorance failed to make me irritated. My next query was, whether they had some resource for redirecting the pages and posts since I didn’t want two version of my blog. It gives faulty traffic numbers, can cause havoc with your rankings.
He politely informed me that no they had no such resources. Guess what I did? I typed the same question to Google and found all the Hostgator resources to help you do everything yourself with zero irritation.
Good news
- Hostgator has a great Blog.
- Hostgator has a polite support staff.
Bad News
Hostgator need to have more aware support staff. If I could Google and find it in less than ten seconds. I am sure he could too. This could have meant a lot of a headache for some people. Also looking at the blog I realized many faced similar complaints about misinformed support staff. Unusual problem, considering they have one of the best hosting services.
What did I do next?
- Signed into my cpanel. Did a virus scan.
- Took a full site backup.
- Checked the SSL certificate myself again.
- Downloaded and activated Really simple SSL plugin for activating SSL on my WordPress setup.
- One click activation, no headache, and all my blog links were redirected.
- Changed my WordPress login URL for my blog.
- This you can check in settings>General on your WP dashboard.
- Then I set up my new GA property. I am set.
Welcome, August. Thankful Thursdays are the best time to say Thank you to Hostgator, for making a painless transition to https possible.
News Flash:Hostgator is giving a free https migration to all their accounts irrespective of the plan.
[bctt tweet=”Did you know @Hostgator is giving a free https migration to all their accounts irrespective of the plan?” username=”misra_amrita”]
Warning: Before making any changes you should have a backup present and have some idea about blog tech stuff
Why I wanted to share my experience.
1)Don’t believe everything you hear from support. Support is often outsourced with controversial quality.I am proof of that.
2)You still have a great resource to fall back on, if the service has a blog. Most businesses write about the good news related to their biz on the blog.
3)Never lose hope, when a difficult problem arises. Sometimes the answer is a simple click away.
Affiliate disclaimer: The following link is an affiliate link. I only recommend products I use and find useful. Your support means a lot to me.
Takeaway:
I still like Hostgator and the service they provide. I honestly wish they gave more training to their customer support . In case support is outsourced you must check its quality. The only reason I have managed to do everything for my blog myself is because of the outstanding support I had received from Hostgator.
Other products I recommend are here
Blogging: How to start in India?
Get my books on blogging too, while Amazon is offering them at a special prize!
Disclaimer: This is my personal experience. Kindly do all plugin activation at own personal risk.Healthwealthbridge is in no way responsible for your decision to buy, download and install the plugins on your site or any issue that may or may not arise out of it.
