There are many reasons why you would want to convert your website to WordPress. This includes wishing to change the site’s hosting plan to a more suitable one, being unhappy with the current hosting provider, or wanting to change the domain name.
The shifting can be carried out in two ways, depending on your reason behind it. The domain name can be changed without moving the site, or a complete move can be made through manual means or using specific software.
Without Moving the Site
By making some changes to the WordPress settings and looking up the old domain name in the database through a plugin, the domain’s name can be changed without ultimately shifting the site. Here are the Following Steps.
1. Registering a New Domain Name
Along with getting a new name, it is essential to point it out in the old site. If the current hosting provider is also registering domain names, then the process is easy. Otherwise, the user would have to make the host point to the new site manually.
This can be done to the domain registrar through making alterations to either one of the following aspects:
A. Nameservers:
All the factors of your domain name would point to the hosting provider, including the email address. An email address existing with the domain name would have to be set up again with the provider.
B. A-Records:
This can be used to point the name at the IP address, where the site is hosted. Its access lies with the hosting provider.
2. Domain Settings in WordPress
When you convert your website to WordPress, it needs to be configured following the name change. In the WordPress admin dashboard, look for settings> general. WordPress Address and Site Address would need to be edited to have the new name domain name. Click on the Save Changes option to save the new domain name. All the work will be carried out with the changed name.
3. Redirect Links
Unless the old domain name is pointing to the new one, anyone using the old domain name’s links will face problems. They would not be taken to the correct page in the site, but end up on the home page again or the error 404 pages.
Important links need to be connected to redirects. This can be done by installing redirection plugins. A wildcard redirect can also be set up, redirecting all the slugs utilizing the old name to the same slug on the new one. This implies that the permalinks’ URL structure should not be altered so that the slugs for posts remain the same when the domain names are changed.
4. Remove Internal Links
The previous point works well for external links. Links internal to the site need a better fix, which involves editing those links to point to the new domain name. Again, a plugin can be installed to replace all the old domain name instances with the new one. The internal links in the posts, page contents, and widgets would be updated to show the new domain name.
Users should back up their database before taking this step. It is difficult to undo any mistakes while editing it. Hence backing it up would provide double security.
Once the change is done, there may be a need to log into the site again or refresh the browser to remove the cache related to the old links.
Moving to New Location
This process takes up more time than the previous one since it includes moving the entire site and the name change. It can be carried out in the following ways:
- Many hosting providers can carry out one migration per user for free so that the providers can do the entire task.
- Search for automated migration tools online. It is software that can be installed to the new site, from where it effectively moves all contents, links, etc. to the new domain.
- Plugins can also do the job after being installed on the WordPress site.
- The entire shifting can be done manually.
The manual process gives complete control to the user, although it can take up quite some time. The steps, in brief, would be:
- Verifying that the current (old) site is functioning
- Downloading all the content off of the website
- Exporting the database
- Uploading the content to the new domain/site
- Navigating to the WordPress options
- Updating the site URL and the home address
- Editing the connection details in WordPress’s configuration
- Checking up on the site on the new domain
- Fixing the permalinks
- Fixing broken images or media, if any
- Rechecking the site, before making it public
Conclusion
Copying a WordPress website from one domain to another can be quickly done without professional help. WordPress customization options need to be looked into after the shifting is carried out to regulate the theme’s changes.