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One of the most common questions I get asked since writing about the joys of using WordPress in How to Get to the Top of Google is:
“Should I consider moving my website to WordPress?”
If you can answer YES to any of the following questions, then I would advise you to consider making the move:
- Do you have to contact your web guy or gal if you want some new content on the site?
- Are you likely to update the look and feel of your site in future, and would you like to do this in a few clicks without losing what you’ve already got?
- Are you starting to do your own on-page SEO but struggling with putting in the hidden META data?
- Do you look after your own site but are not very comfortable with coding?
Request a free website and marketing review and our team will tell you how to improve your marketing.Is your marketing underperforming?
How to Move Your Site Onto WordPress
The biggest hurdle moving a site over to WordPress is the initial set up. The site will need to be essentially rebuilt in WordPress from scratch. This includes the layout, the navigation and the page content. The good news is that once this is done, you have a site that is easy to update, simple to SEO and that you can update at any time with very little fuss.
If you need any help, remember that we have WordPress ninjas capable of rebuilding sites in WordPress very efficiently, so please contact us for more information or to get a price. Our head ninja Tim also has a course on building a WordPress site from scratch.
Step 1: Install WordPress
You’ll need to set up a WordPress installation on your hosting.
Step 2: Find a theme
Next you’ll want to install a theme on your site that matches the layout of your current site, or of course you could find a better and more suitable one. Don’t be afraid to pay for a premium theme as these will often be better coded, have good back end support and be updated to work with the latest versions of WordPress
Step 3: Adapt the theme to suit
This step is entirely optional, but many times it will be necessary to slightly alter your theme to get it just right. Depending on the required alteration, you might need some coding chops to do this (we can help), or you might be able to find out how to do it through the theme’s support forums.
Step 4: Update the content
You’ll now need to populate your new site with all the content from your old site and format it properly. Sidebar widgets, plugins and add ons can all be useful when trying to clone a none WordPress site in WordPress
Step 5: Move the site over to your old domain
How you do this will depend on how your domain and hosting is configured, but could involve changing the DNS (domain name servers) to point at the hosting your WordPress site is on. You’ll also need to remember to change the site URL in the WordPress settings as well!
Step 6: Rebuild sitemaps and submit changes to search engines
An important final step is to get your site crawled and indexed. Once this is done you are ready to take on the world with your new site!
Bonus Step: WooCommerce
If you’re using WordPress with WooCommerce to run an eCommerce store, then make sure you read our guide on SEO strategies for WooCommerce. This will help you get a head start on ranking your store on Google, and some of the methods that might have worked on your old platform might not work on WordPress, or might work differently. You might even find that your search engine optimisation is easier on WordPress!
How We Can Help
If we lost you at ‘hello’, then don’t fear. We have dedicated WordPress ninjas on the team who specialise in moving websites over to WordPress. They’re efficient, skilled and you’ll be delighted with the results. If you’d like to find out more or get a price, please get in touch by emailing head ninja Tim at tim@exposureninja.com or by getting in contact through the form on the right.
