Top 3 Reasons Why Not to Move Wordpress Site Yourself
WordPress platform is the preferred choice for most web masters nowadays. One of the good things about using WordPress is that it’s so much easier not just to import content from different content management systems, but also to move and take your content along with you. In contrast to other web apps and systems out there, WordPress would not give you the feeling of being deliberately locked to one system. But, just like most things, there is actually an art to move WordPress site to another location and often times, if you don’t respect that – there are disastrous consequences (to your website and to your traffic). Here are the top 3 reasons why you should not try to move your Wordpress site yourself and instead, leave it to the professionals.
There might be many reasons why are you thinking of moving your website to another location. It could be that you are switching hosting providers because you found a better deal or a more reliable hosting company. Shopping around for a better host is always advisable – you could get a better deal somewhere else and have a more reliable server so when traffic does come to your site, they’re not locked out or throttled. Or another reason you might need to switch hosting is because you just acquired a new website or blog and need to move it from an existing host to yours for ownership. Either way, the job to transfer your Wordpress site or other website can be complicated if you don’t know what you’re doing.
So here’s what can go wrong…
Loss of Content
The content is the most important aspect of your website that you would want to move first. You could take the XML file for your content by clicking on Tools and then Export. While this could be a straightforward process for some people, it might be confusing for you. When you are moving from a remote hosting location to a new one, then it will be easier to move the content. However, the process will be more difficult when you want to move from a local to a remote site. Bear in mind that you cannot afford to lose your content and you cannot trust WordPress to track down and import your files.
Broken Plugins
Another thing to be mindful of when you want to move website would be the broken plugins. When you are setting up your site, it’s possible that you could end up testing different plugins so you will have quite a few in your folder. Therefore, if you are trying to move your site it’s likely that you will have to figure out whether or not all the plugins are active. If you are uncertain, this could lead to problems related to broken plugins and potentially loss of traffic to your site via damaged search engine optimization.
Missed Settings
You have to ensure that you have the same settings if you are planning to move WordPress blog to another location. As you can imagine, missed settings could lead to a lot of problems and could even ruin your website. You have to be careful about things such as settings for the home page, comments and permalinks. In any other case, any linking that was done within your website might be messed up, especially with the plugin to search and replace.
Basically, when it comes to moving sites, doing it yourself may lead to frustrations and problems you’ve never encountered before. But while there are many reasons not to move WordPress site on your own, it doesn’t mean you’re stuck with your current hosting company forever! There are many good and reputable companies that can move your entire website or blog faster than you would be able to on your own. And since they are well-practiced and conduct website migrations day in and day out, they know exactly what they are doing and will keep your content, plugins and settings exactly as they are (without you having to do the heavy-lifting!).
There might be many reasons why are you thinking of moving your website to another location. It could be that you are switching hosting providers because you found a better deal or a more reliable hosting company. Shopping around for a better host is always advisable – you could get a better deal somewhere else and have a more reliable server so when traffic does come to your site, they’re not locked out or throttled. Or another reason you might need to switch hosting is because you just acquired a new website or blog and need to move it from an existing host to yours for ownership. Either way, the job to transfer your Wordpress site or other website can be complicated if you don’t know what you’re doing.
So here’s what can go wrong…
Loss of Content
The content is the most important aspect of your website that you would want to move first. You could take the XML file for your content by clicking on Tools and then Export. While this could be a straightforward process for some people, it might be confusing for you. When you are moving from a remote hosting location to a new one, then it will be easier to move the content. However, the process will be more difficult when you want to move from a local to a remote site. Bear in mind that you cannot afford to lose your content and you cannot trust WordPress to track down and import your files.
Broken Plugins
Another thing to be mindful of when you want to move website would be the broken plugins. When you are setting up your site, it’s possible that you could end up testing different plugins so you will have quite a few in your folder. Therefore, if you are trying to move your site it’s likely that you will have to figure out whether or not all the plugins are active. If you are uncertain, this could lead to problems related to broken plugins and potentially loss of traffic to your site via damaged search engine optimization.
Missed Settings
You have to ensure that you have the same settings if you are planning to move WordPress blog to another location. As you can imagine, missed settings could lead to a lot of problems and could even ruin your website. You have to be careful about things such as settings for the home page, comments and permalinks. In any other case, any linking that was done within your website might be messed up, especially with the plugin to search and replace.
Basically, when it comes to moving sites, doing it yourself may lead to frustrations and problems you’ve never encountered before. But while there are many reasons not to move WordPress site on your own, it doesn’t mean you’re stuck with your current hosting company forever! There are many good and reputable companies that can move your entire website or blog faster than you would be able to on your own. And since they are well-practiced and conduct website migrations day in and day out, they know exactly what they are doing and will keep your content, plugins and settings exactly as they are (without you having to do the heavy-lifting!).
