Tips for Your Author Website Migration
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Are you thinking about migrating your author website from one provider to another? Congratulations! Not only can this be a perfect opportunity to get your site working much harder for you and your book(s), but it’s also a sign that you understand the importance of this business asset, and how it can support your author career.
Within the last week, I’ve been asked about two very different migration projects, and I have some general pointers to share.
For this article, I’m using website migration to mean that you’re moving from one tool to another.
You might also come across the term migration to mean:
Updating your website from one version to another (for example, Squarespace version 7.0 to version 7.1)
Changing your hosting or theme (usually, this only applies in the WordPress world)
… but that’s not the context of this piece.
Instead, I’m talking about projects where your intended move is, for example:
WordPress to Squarespace
Squarespace to Wix
Weebly to Squarespace
Wix to WordPress
Squarespace to Shopify …. and so on
Tips to plan for your author website migration
In my opinion, there is no such thing as an easy, effortless, stress-free migration between tools. You should definitely plan for your website migration process to take time: either yours, or someone you pay.
However, a migration presents a valuable opportunity to declutter, reorganize, get clear on your business goals, improve your SEO, add ways to engage your ideal readers, and to bring your design up to date. So although the project may not be a piece of cake, you have excellent potential for ending up with a website that’s dramatically stronger than the one you left behind.
Do yourself a big favor, and start thinking about your migration well ahead of time. This means not waiting until the last moment, if your current tool is retiring, and definitely not waiting until the month before your book comes out!
Often, a website migration project involves more work than starting from scratch. I’m afraid it’s a misconception that you’re asking your website designer for a fast, simple project! When you begin a conversation about this move, make sure you’re on the same page:
a) Do you simply want everything from your current site picked up and put down somewhere new?
b) Or, do you want to treat this as a strategic project that will result in a significantly improved and refreshed online business tool?
… If you’re thinking about working with me, I only accept projects where we’re aiming for outcome “b” !Starting over may make sense for you if:
a) Your current website is really old
b) You need to refresh, rethink, or reorganize almost all of your content
c) You would love a complete redesign, to bring a fresh new look to your main pages
d) You have fewer than 20-30 blog posts that need to move with youOn the other hand, if you have oodles of pages and dozens (or hundreds) of blog posts that must move, you should brace yourself for a migration exercise. And if this is your situation, the reason to change platforms needs to be compelling. Often, if you’re on WordPress, and you have a large number of blog posts there, it makes sense to stay with WordPress and update your theme, not migrate entirely.
… In other words, yes, I turn business away, if I don’t believe it’s in your best interests to migrate!Almost every tool (platform) will promise you that it is “easy” to migrate from your current tool to them. You should take that marketing message with a pinch of salt. Expect a lot of work (either for you or your website professional), and then you can be pleasantly surprised if things go smoothly.
The devil is usually in the details. For example, I just did a migration from WordPress to Squarespace. The blog posts came across fine, but the associated pictures did not. The comments came across fine, including hundreds of offensive spam comments, that I then had to delete manually. When I migrated my own site from WordPress to Squarespace, all kinds of clutter that I wish I’d dealt with before the move showed up on my new site. (The export - import process doesn’t know the difference between old and current pages.) And you should always anticipate work to resize pictures, update links, and finesse page layouts.
Most website designers specialize in one or two platforms, at most. They may not have much (or any) familiarity with the platform you’re moving from. And certainly you should ask them, what proportion of their projects are migrations, versus starting from scratch. Personally, I build mostly fresh sites, and I freely admit, migrations are not usually my favorite project type. I have learned the hard way that my migration pricing needs to include time for those devilish details discussed in #8.
Don’t be shy to test your website designer’s knowledge of the migration process by asking them about the extra steps for a migration, compared with starting from scratch. They should mention things like backups, URL redirects, dead link checks, uploading PDFs, and other quality controls. And in my opinion, if anyone promises you that everything will be easy and painless, I think they’re either fibbing to you, or themselves.
If you have exceptionally strong SEO performance with your current tool, again, know that you may take a (temporary or permanent) hit on your rankings. And again, each platform will be different in the promises they make about that, and the patience you’ll need to recover your search engine positions. Your keywords, and how competitive your niche is, will also play a part.
Watch out for perfectionism. Be willing to launch your new site with essential pages only, and/or just a few of your blog posts or articles live, and then take more time to finesse things behind the scenes. An author friend of mine recently invited her readers to help her check her migrated website, with the offer of a free ebook to anyone who found a snag. This way, you take some of the pressure off yourself to have everything look perfect immediately. Remember, your author website is a living, breathing tool.
Finally, be sure you understand the backup and security nuances of your new platform. It’s vital that you know who is responsible for updating and/or backing up your new site, especially if that’s you!
How to choose your destination platform
For your first round of research, you can follow the general advice on how to choose your author website platform.
For example, I have an article here on how to choose between WordPress and Squarespace.
You could also ask author friends what they like about their website platform, but keep in mind, everyone’s needs and preferences are different. I firmly believe there is no “best” tool that suits everyone.
In addition, you should also make a list of:
Specific functions on your author website that you can’t live without. For example, are you selling books directly to readers?
Any other tools that your website integrates with, for example, your email list provider.
If you have zaps set up with Zapier, what are they doing for you?
Any extra adjustments you’ve made, especially plugins you love, if you’re currently on WordPress. (WordPress fans usually don’t realize, there may be far fewer “add on” options, on other platforms. (There are good reasons for this, and you can read a few of my WordPress concerns here.)
And it’s a great idea for you or your website professional to sign up for a trial account with the new platform that you think looks most promising, and give it a try with a small / test migration. Usually, when the rubber hits the road, you’ll get a better sense of whether the migration as a whole will work out for you.
What about your domain name and website migration?
The registration associated with your author website domain name is a separate business asset from the tool that you choose to create (and possibly “host”) your website. Although it’s possible, even likely, that you purchased your domain name registration from your existing website provider, it’s almost always possible to leave your domain where it is, and simply point it to your new home. (Point it is a non-technical term; in fact, what happens is that you or your website designer will edit the DNS records associated with the domain.)
Equally, you might be interested in transferring the domain name to your new provider, so that everything lives in one account. I generally recommend doing this later, to minimize the time when your website may be unavailable. For Squarespace in particular, I have information here on whether you should connect or transfer your domain. And if you’ve got an email address set up that uses your domain name, be especially cautious.
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Prefer not to spend your time and energy navigating website migration issues like this? I live and breathe author website projects.
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After careful preparation together, I’ll design, build and launch your site in just 2 weeks. Learn more, and then schedule a complimentary consultation.
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