As a website owner, there are several reasons why you might find yourself needing to change your content management system (CMS). As web developers, some of the reasons we hear most often include:
I just don’t like my current system. It’s hard to use.
I want to cut ties with my current webmaster and need somewhere to put my site.
I want my website to be responsive and mobile friendly, and my CMS can’t handle that.
I want advanced, custom functionality that my CMS can’t deliver.
My current CMS is going away (like LightCMS).
No matter the reason, switching your website’s CMS can go one of two ways. It can either be easy and painless, or it can turn into a frustrating, time-consuming mistake. If it’s not done properly, you can even damage your site’s reputation in the long-run or find yourself without a functional site. Here are the steps we take for our customers to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Switching your CMS is like buying a house - you don’t want to go through the trouble of moving into the wrong place! Think about what you need from your site. If you just want something simple that you can manage yourself, you might be OK with Wordpress or Wix. But if you’re looking for something more robust and custom, you’ll want to get expert opinions on the best platform for you. Although Wordpress is highly functional and can handle almost anything, there are situations where a custom hand-built site would be a better option.
Are there any features or functions you wish you had? Does the site need to be faster or more accessible? There is absolutely no better time than now to explore the possibilities! Pull your team together and brainstorm, or ask an expert to review the user experience of your site. You might be surprised that simple things, like a call-to-action or a contact form, can make a world of difference.
We make the move as quick and easy as possible, but it’s not just a matter of flipping a switch. Give yourself (or your web team) plenty of time to plan, migrate, and test. If you are working against a deadline, such as the deprecation of your current CMS, don’t drag your feet. Get your A-Team assembled and get to work on moving the site ASAP. This will allow you to keep your current site up and running while the new site is being built.
More often than not, we recommend keeping your current URL structure. But if you find yourself needing to change URLs in the move, redirects are crucial. Not setting up redirects is the biggest fumble of this game. If you change page URLs without redirects, Google will continue to send people to the old URL and your users will get 404/page-not-found errors.
We encourage our customers to take a look at their site before the move. What needs to stay? What can go? Old landing pages from 2008 can probably be left behind. This will make your site easier to manage in the long run. Your web team will be able to look at your current sitemap and make sure all of the important content is carried over while trimming any fat.
The Joyce, Inc. team will make the site migration process as simple and quick as possible. Contact us and we will give you a custom estimate for your site migration.