Transcript
Introduction
Welcome to the first session of migrating your website. In this lesson, we will explore how you can change hosting providers and your domain name. Why would someone want to migrate their site? Some of the reasons might be moving to a new host, changing your domain name, or moving from HTTP to HTTPS. This tutorial is right for you if you want to move WordPress hosts and change your domain name.
Using a plugin
All you need to do is set up a new site and install a migration plugin on your old and new websites. And also remember to make a backup of your site on a device before starting the migration. There are various migration plugins available in the Plugins Directory. Plugins such as Duplicator, Backup Migration, and All-in-One WordPress Migration are just some of the plugins worth exploring. Some hosts even have their own migration plugins if you plan to move your site to them.
Export
Today, I am going to use the All-in-One WordPress Migration plugin. So once you have set up your new domain with your new host, let’s make our way to the front end of our old website, which we will transfer to a new home. Our first tip now is to go to the dashboard, head to plugins, and add the All-in-One migration plugin. Once it is installed and activated, we will go to the plugin in the left sidebar, click Export, and select File. It is also advised to export to an external drive to ensure you have a backup. When you click on File, it will start preparing the export. Once completed, we can click on Download and download the file to our computer.
Import
The next step is to make our way to our new domain and install the plugin there as well. We need the plugin on the old website and the new one as we export and import from one to the other. Once the plugin has been installed and activated, we can hover over the plugin in the left sidebar and click on Import. Next, we will import or upload the file from our computer. Please take note that this might take a few minutes. Once the process has been completed, we can click on Proceed, as we have not added any other content to the new site. And lastly, Finish. Now, if we make our way to the front end of our new domain, we will see that the entire site has been transferred or migrated.
Redirects
Before we end, there is one last consideration. If you are concerned about SEO, it is advised to set up 301 redirects. A 301 redirect indicates to search engines that a page has been moved permanently. It means users will automatically be sent to a new URL if they request an old URL. There are a few ways to do this, but the easiest way is to use a plugin such as Redirection, Simple 301 Redirects, or All-in-One SEO to ensure you don’t lose your website’s search engine rankings, traffic, and conversions. You can search the Plugins Directory to find the right plugin for you. But I did want to mention some plugins may offer additional and faster ways to set up redirects through paid features. But it is also possible to change the redirects one by one using many free versions of plugins.
Conclusion
All the best in migrating your site to a new hosting provider and domain name.