Now this isn’t too much of a problem, especially if you’ve backed up regularly. But mistakes can happen, and it’s nice to refer to the old site and see how it’s set up, especially if it’s still live.

For example, as I transferred one blog over, I realized I hadn’t upgraded to the newest version. Since it was still live on the old site, I could – but if I had already transferred it, that mistake could have been a real annoyance.

As well, if the main domain is full of code (for example, help desk, blog, forum, downloads and extra files), that’s a lot of important information to have inactive from the time you move from one site to another completely (and possibly redo if a mistake happens). In contrast, if you use one of your extra domains for the old host and one for the new, each site can be moved, and checked at your leisure.

But probably the main reason to use a spare domain name is to reduce stress in the transfer. Since I’ve used them, I’ve shuffled hosting around for many of my sites – and with fewer problems. I use a spare domain for each host, old and new, and the transfers go smoothly because neither is pressing.

So feel free to keep those ‘impulse’ domains. You might find them useful for a hosting platform – even if you might never build a business on it!

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