WordPress is without a doubt the best in content management system. When 449 people run a giant like WordPress and by covering 26% of the web, everyone would wish to have a piece of their popularity. WordPress offers you with all the advantages for you to make the best use of it.
Does importing a website to WordPress an easy task to accomplish? The answer here is quite amusing but let us put it in this way, it gets easy at the beginning and might get complicated towards the end.
To simplify things further, let us analyse how things really go, when migrating a website to WordPress.
The Plugins
One way of importing your content is through the gates of Plugins. A new set of plugins you will require for the SEO, security, contact forms, maps, backups, maintenance mode, multiple languages, social sharing button, short codes and stats. E-commerce, real estate and events are some of the specialized plugins that do require an extra setup. With plugins, it isn’t always simple and makes it even more tedious at times. For example, with some plugins, data are stored in a serialized format, which causes finding the data that needs to be replaced with, a bit difficult. Images not following under the right post are also some of the common problems it suffers. But nevertheless, it cannot be completely avoided that plugins are important for you to migrate your content to WordPress.
About the Design
The look and feel of your website depends on how you want it to be. To begin with Header, Appearance>Editor>Header is your way to make your adjustments. Image can also be added by adding the URL within the code and a much easier option is through Appearance>customize. For Branding purpose you’ll need your own background that can be uploaded under Appearance>Background.
If you prefer having the same style as your old site, open your browser and view page source of your old site. Chrome helps you inspect the elements and by that both these tools (Page source and inspect elements) will show you the styles of any element on the screen. Later styles of frontend and backend can be customized under, Appearance>customise option will help change the frontend and Appearance>Editor>Stylesheet at the bottom of the page for the backend.
Plugins can be used if you want to modify your Footer and avoid the code to do the same. By going to Appearance>Editor>Footer will help you modify it. Static or Blog-style Homepage can be customized under Appearance>Customize. Appearance setting in the dashboard will allow you to have a specific menu structure for your site as well. Going to Appearance>Menus will set up your custom menus for header, footer, sidebars, and secondary menus.
With all that being done, don’t be in a rush to show your site to the world just yet. Check everything from broken links, images, loading time, social media links, RSS etc. Having several beta testers will do only good to your site. Things won’t go smoothly always and you might need some professional experts to help you with. Reformatting every page will be a task to do and you will need a professional help to do so.
We have WordPress Development Specialists who work with dedication and proper knowledge to help you build your web site and give your website the look you always desired for.
A New Host for Your Domain
If you plan just to move from one platform to the other without making any changes to your current host, then it wouldn’t require redirecting your URL to a new domain. On the other hand, when people type in your URL they will be taken to your new web site but for that, pointing your new domain on your old website will be the first thing required for you to do.
Things Not to Forget About
SEO Data: Backing up your blog database is the first thing you must do. Yoast is the most preferred plugin any user would recommend.
Stats Tracking Tools: If your old website used Google Analytics or some other tool, do not forget to copy the tracking code to your new WordPress site.
Keeping it Similar: Keep your new WordPress site similar to the old one will make the users feel comfortable. Some of your old feature will need to be converted, like contact forms, social media feed, eCommerce features, image gallery, social media sharing links etc. Using required plugins that offer similar functionality as before would be advisable.
Bringing in the Changes: The things that your old site lacked can be added in your new WordPress site by offering more options to your users and new special features as well. Going in with a plan will always prove worthy for you and your new website.
Conclusion
WordPress is hands down the best platform for everyone. With its unique set of plugins and with notable premium plugins as well, you can make your site to be there among the best. Go with a plan and test everything before making a move, to put your site on WordPress.
We Are There For You
Here at Helios Solutions we offer the best of services to our clients. Our WordPress Development Experts provide you with in-depth analysis and also help you efficiently to move your content on WordPress. Outsourcing WordPress Development is what we offer with the best of our resources that guides you towards Ultimate satisfaction.
