Existing HTML site, creating new WP site on new webhost. Best practices for URL?

  • Hi all,

    I searched and saw some threads similar to my question, but they were locked so couldn’t ask any specific questions within them. So here goes:

    I have an existing site that I created for my church. I want to move them to WordPress. The existing HTML site is on GoDaddy. I’m creating the WordPress site on a new host entirely.

    So, I want to keep the existing site live while creating the new WP site, then just point the existing domain name to the new server when all is ready.

    So what things do I need to think about before just installing the WP on the new server? I have a few existing parked domain names that I could use for the new server for now, and then change that when the new site is ready to launch. To launch, will I need to do anything besides:

    1. Changing the URL in the WP settings
    2. Having GoDaddy point the existing site’s domain to the new one

    Thanks for any help you can provide!

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

  • I have migrated several web sites from HTML to WordPress. My experience was good using the following approach:

    In your situation, I would (and have successfully done this) move the old site, including domain name, to your new hosting FIRST, before installing WordPress.

    Thread Starter mpoyner

    (@mpoyner)

    Just curious: what do I gain by moving the old site to the new server. Not having any experience, it seems to me to be unnecessary. It just seems like it would be so simple for me to not have to worry about having WP in a subdirectory, and not have to worry about moving the existing site to a new server.

    Is their a reason that i’m not thinking about that makes my initial idea for an approach not a wise way to do it?

    Thread Starter mpoyner

    (@mpoyner)

    Oh, and thanks for your help/response!

    Perhaps I’m just overly cautious, but I try to avoid, whenever possible, changing the URL of any WordPress “thing” that may have a (hard-coded) link to it somewhere within WordPress. It is just so easy to have a “Global Search/Replace” of links go awry when trying to change the domain name of a web site.

    The beauty of the subdirectory approach for all WordPress installs is that it makes a switch to a new install just so quick. A matter of seconds.

    In my own case, I switched from the Twenty Ten to the Twenty Eleven theme with a redesign of the site in a different subdirectory. That is not practical for active blogs, but for traditional web pages, you can freeze changes for a week while you redesign.

    Just to clarify, I’m talking about my perception of the advantage of NOT ever having to change the URL of your new WordPress site. Which is what you gain by the approach I suggested in my first post.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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