Help with Domain Change

Hello popcornnroses,

You do not have to delete anything, and on the contrary it is a bad idea as you will loose all of your data.

First, all changes should be made after you have migrated your database to the new website. You should also plan on hosting your old website for as long as possible as you will need to redirect your podcast feeds to the new site’s podcast feeds so you do not loose subscribers.

Episode Data
All meta data for episodes is stored with the field name “enclosure” in the post meta database table. The media URLs themselves are not serialized, but custom meta data for iTunes is. It is important not to modify these values unless you know what you are doing or use a tool designed to do so.

We provide a tool specifically for modifying the media URLs in bulk. Go to PowerPress menu on the left and select the sub menu option “Tools”. Select the tool labeled “Find and Replace for Episode URLs”. First, enter the portion of the URL you wish to replace then the 2nd field enter the URL you want to replace it with. As long as the filenames do not change, you should not have to re-enter them. The 2nd step in the process gives you a preview of what it found and what it will replace. Very important, please keep the checkbox “Verify URLs ” checked as it will verify the URLs are valid before changing them.

Program Data and PowerPress Settings
Program data and episode settings can be easily modified by going to PowerPress Settings and editing them. You can simply change the URLs as needed then click save once and you are done. Program information does not need to be repeated for every episode.

Recommended Domain name change procedure

1. backup the site wp-content folder and database
2. Import the site wp-content folder and database to new site
3. Edit PowerPress Settings to use the new URLs (for itunes images, etc..)
4. Use the Find and Replace for Episode URLs” tool in PowerPress (if your media is hosted on the same server)
5. Set a redirect from the old host name to the new for the podcast feed URL so you do not loose subscribers. Instructions found here: https://create.blubrry.com/manual/syndicating-your-podcast-rss-feeds/changing-your-podcast-rss-feed-address-url/

This may be a good opportunity to migrate your podcast media to a podcast hosting company such as Blubrry.com that way your media hosting does not impact the performance of your website. Large media files are not intended to be hosted on the same infrastructure as your website and usually is the cause of poor website performance for podcasters. Blubrry Podcast hosting has a media migration tool built into PowerPress so the switch is seamless. Plus if you need assistance, we provide free support by email or scheduled phone / video conference.

I’m sorry, I should have worded things better. My podcasts are stored on a central server service already, and I use PowerPress to publish only, so that’s not an issue. Nor are the feeds, which should still be correct, because they pull directly from where they’re stored. So if I’m understanding you correctly, if those aren’t changing then I shouldn’t have a problem at all, despite what my new ISP people are telling me, correct? Do I need to make any other changes?

popcornnroses,

It does not sound like you will have any issues. If the media URLs are not changing then there’s no need to change anything. Perhaps your ISP thoughtyou are switching from one domain to another, like example1.com to example2.com. If it is a site move (not a domain name change) then nothing really has to chaange in the database, just possibly a few tweaks in the wp-config.php for the database and file paths if those changed.

No, I DID change the domain – from subsite.subsite.domain.com to subsite.domain.com. And I changed ISP’s as well. So what am I looking for, and where do I change it, if it does indeed need changed? Can I use the PowerPress tools instructions you mentioned earlier?

Did the URLs of the media files change or are they still in the same place?

Still in the same place. I didn’t move any of the files, just the site; the files are hosted away from the site.

In that case, you shouldn’t need to worry about using the Find & Replace Tool to update your media file links. However, if you want to retain all of your subscribers, you will want to implement a 301 redirect at the URL of the old podcast feed. More information here:
https://create.blubrry.com/manual/syndicating-your-podcast-rss-feeds/changing-your-podcast-rss-feed-address-url/