Services we provide…
Website Migration Service
A website migration is common in its digital lifespan.
Why would you consider changing platforms?
Change is the one constant in every organisation’s future, thus using a website migration service is key.
A variety of circumstances can drive you to decide to perform a website migration from one platform to another.
Internal business structural changes, new product launches, acquisitions, the desire for new functionality, a brand and design update or technical debt, are just a few of the reasons we’ve encountered.
This can also become an opportunity to make changes such as enriching content, rebranding or integrating new technologies, so having a goal and a plan is crucial.
Moving your website needs to work for you.
Migrating a website takes planning and patience
Occasionally, businesses feel they need to change due to advice from a Marketing or a Digital Agency, but that often can be because they’re comfortable using that platform, over if it’s better for the business.
This assumes that only technology has changed since the last version of a website, but building anything comes with a cost and you want to add more value to customers, rather than change for changing sake.
The time and cost to use a website migration service, can be almost on par with a new website build, so careful consideration is required from the start.
We do specialise in specific platforms, not just because they are popular, but we’ve had years of experience working with these platforms and we know the benefits, disadvantages or unique nuances that make that work for your website.
Migrating to WordPress
WordPress is a great platform for content and is incredibly flexible. Originally launched in 2003 as a blogging platform, it quickly gained traction and has grown to be the largest CMS platforms online.
With the new Gutenberg editor, creating unique layouts and landing pages is very customisable and you can easily recreate content saving a lot of time in editing.
In addition the ability to use plugins (to plug-in functionality) has been a core reason why WordPress powers so many websites online.
You can add eCommerce, subscriptions, memberships on your site, and easily connect to other third-party websites.
We love to use Yoast SEO with WordPress as this gives our clients fundamental control over their SEO, but allows us the advanced tools to ensure SEO is retained during a migration.
A real-life example is the migration of Ginger Leadership Communications, to WordPress. This involved many types of content; Resources, Team Members, Work, over 300 articles, and each section had unique layouts.
We were able to retain the exact look-and-feel of the site, whilst also formulating a strategy to improve the user experience, overall management of content and SEO going forward after the migration.
Migrating to Shopify
Shopify really has taken the eCommerce world by storm and for similar reasons to WordPress, they solely focussed on one aspect of the Web and made it incredibly easy to spin-up a new online store with little to no knowledge of websites.
Using a monthly subscription plan, you don’t have to worry about separate hosting, domain or merchant concerns, it’s all there from the get-go.
During and after the pandemic, the appeal to move to Shopify from other platforms has increased, boasting over 1 million businesses in 175 countries by 2021.
With their latest release of 2.0 this has enabled to Developer’s to create more flexible page layouts for store owners, as well as faster development process, which reduces the time/cost factor.
Like WordPress, the popularity of using “apps” to plug-in functionality is a huge selling point – allowing you to sync your products with Google Shopping, Amazon, eBay or perform drop-shopping or print-on-demand, point-of-sale integrations and more.
Their platform is scaleable, allowing you to grow without continuously switching platforms, and their hosting is fast, so you know when Black Friday comes along, you don’t have to worry about bandwidth!
A real-life example is the migration of Claire Giles Cards from Magento to Shopify. Although Magento is an enterprise platform for eCommerce they felt it was complicated for their needs and the ability to ingrate with other apps was a deal-breaker for them.
We retained the design with some enhancements, we were able to allow for easy language switching between English and Welsh. Having the integrations meant less spreadsheets to manage stock. We were also able to create a custom App for their printers to have on-demand data about orders.
Migrating to Hubspot CMS
Hubspot has clearly carved out a nice in the CRM world. Despite offering a wealth of free content and resources, certified training and more, they have grown exponentially since 2007.
Like the other platforms we work worth, the platform is support by thousands of developers, constantly updating and evolving the system, which means you continually benefit as a user, too.
Now that Hubspot have their own CMS we can expect to see more websites being developed on the platform, allowing a fuller integration with their powerful CRM, which utilises dynamic content, drag and drop editor and A/B testing out the box.
You can further optimise your marketing automation strategy thanks to tools such as Workflows and Lead Scoring.
HubSpot’s CMS will allow you to create personalised content i.e. innovative content. and you will have the possibility of making dynamic content with HubDB, i.e. content on your site that adapts to the behavior of visitors.
Website migration caveats
Each platform obviously has it’s quirks and they can vary in cost.
Whilst WordPress is considered free because of its open-source status, the additions costs invariable come from the hosting you have to source, and time for requiring a Developer or Agency to build the theme and necessary functionality.
Shopify has a staggered pricing range and the apps typically are billed on a subscription basis, thus 30 apps will come with a lot more ongoing cost, than say WooCommerce on WordPress as most plugins are one-off payments.
Hubspot is higher up in terms of cost, but from that the amount of resource, integration, on-demand support you are getting within that cost.
If you are already using Hubspot then this could be the main reason to have your website on their platform, instead of elsewhere and connecting the two software platforms.
Is it time to use a website migration service?
What your business needs, wants and would like and what your website currently has, can help you decide which platform to migrate to.
Some points to look into would be;
- Do you fully utilise all the key features of your existing platform? Perhaps they have what you need or have since released new features that you weren’t aware of
- Does your existing platform allow for the export of data, and if so, in what format? Being able to import a spreadsheet of thousands of products, is going to be much quicker than manual entry.
- Will you be changing your brand or web design, from how it looks now?
- Do you still have all your assets, such as images, videos, PDFs? Can they be easily extracted from your existing website, or will this be a manual task?
- Will you need to retain connections to any third party software? Such as Mailchimp for newsletters, CRM, in-house software for dispatching orders, data into an Analytics platform?
- Having a clear website structure (like a sitemap) can help both you and your Developer/Agency establish what needs to be moved and the correct structure retained for navigations, SEO, user journey.
- Will any content not be moved? Is some content online but not linked anywhere, such as landing page or funnels? Should any content now reside behind a login or paywall?
Our website migration service
Sometimes migrations are a great opportunity to have a good house clean; removing under-performing content, dead links, fuzzy photo’s or staff who have since left, or products that simply don’t sell.
If you’d like to discuss migrating your website to another platform, feel free to get in touch or schedule a call.
