How to migrate your WordPress site all on your own

Moving to a WordPress website can be overwhelming, mainly because there are many things to consider and consider.

From preparing a website to transfer to successfully establishing it on the new platform for hosting, Many users are forced to resort to costly WordPress manually-managed migration.

They also look for new hosting providers offering WordPress website migration services in their packages to ensure the process is smooth and efficient.

However, moving an existing WordPress website can be inexpensive and easy if armed with the appropriate tools and information.

In this article, we’ll go over migrating an existing WordPress website without paying excessively or requiring advanced programming skills. This covers the process of moving a website by hand, as well as how a couple of WordPress plugins can assist you in simplifying the process.

Below is how you can prepare and complete a WordPress manual migration, regardless of your skill level.

The most efficient method to transfer to a WordPress website

Transferring a WordPress website WordPress migration is the process of moving the WordPress website’s content from one host to the next – and from one host provider to another, without altering the appearance, content, or function.

This applies to WordPress eCommerce stores, as well. All the information on the WordPress website (i.e., the site’s content, files, and databases) is transferred to a new server. In contrast, the content of the server that was previously used is unaffected.

There are a myriad of reasons that you may need to move your WordPress website. You may be driving your site to the new host or would like to transfer your site to a different domain. You may need to make backups of your site if something goes wrong.

WordPress migration can be a challenge. However, it’s essential to do it right. If you do not, you could lose information or damage your website. We’re here to help transfer a WordPress website to ensure a successful result.

There are many reasons that you could transfer your WordPress website.

Many people choose to move their WordPress site for a variety of reasons, such as:

• Switching hosting providers: Many users migrate their websites to change WordPress hosting providers. This can be due to problems with performance due to shared server resources or the absence of customer support hosting service support. Some people also switch hosting providers to accommodate the needs of growing businesses (e.g., changing to a more robust server or dedicated cloud) or to reduce server resources to reduce costs.
• Migration to and out of a WordPress Multisite Network: It is necessary to transfer an existing WordPress site to the Multisite Network or even remove a single WordPress website from an old Multisite network and move to a new WordPress installation. The process is more complex than moving just one site to a new host; however, it can be accomplished.
• Changes to a domain’s names: Domain Name changes can be occasionally required when businesses change (e.g., the need to shorten the domain name of a long one or rebrand a company or company, etc. ). Also, a WordPress site migration may be necessary to alter the domain name. It’s important to know that domain name changes need permanent redirects of 301 from the old name to the brand new to keep search engine rankings and to avoid the 404 error for those who follow any links on the site that are currently in use.

Move to a WordPress site manually using six steps.

Although many WordPress duplicating, cloning, and migration tools are designed to make the process easier, learning how to transfer an existing WordPress website manually is crucial.

If, for instance, you’ve got a massive website or are transferring between hosting providers, many of these tools may timeout or fail, making you start from scratch.

How do you manually move an existing WordPress site?

The steps involved in moving a WordPress website from one hosting provider to another could be broken up into six overall steps:

1. Backup/download your site data

2. Create a brand new WordPress installation using your new host

3. Transfer your database files to your account at the hosting company.

4. Upload your files to the account of your host

5. Make adjustments to Your “wp-config.php” file

6. Clean up after migratory events.

1. Backup/download your WordPress site data

The first step in manually moving your WordPress website is to back up and download every site’s data, regardless of how small or huge it is. The migration process can cause you to lose your website information, which could cause damage to your website.

Your data is considered a security best practice when backing up your website. It’s also an essential part of the process of data transfer.

You can use many plugins to protect your WordPress websites, for instance, Duplicator or UpdraftPlus, which allow users to use built-in settings that control what files are being backed up, schedules for backups, and where the data is kept.

Alternatively, you could back up your WordPress website by hand. The WordPress site transfer procedure can be accomplished in two methods:

1. Through your cPanel

2. Via a file transfer tool (FTP)

1. cPanel

Log in to your previous hosting provider and go through your control panel. From there, open “File Manager, “select the document root of your account, check “Show Hidden Files,” and then click “Go.”

In this case, you must find two files: “wp-content” and “wp-config.”

To compress the “wp-content” folder, you need to choose the zip format, and after the zip file is made, download it.

It is only necessary for downloading to download the “wp-config” file. You may also compress the wp-content into a tar-gzipped file smaller than an archive file.

If you’re comfortable using the command line, you can transfer the zip and tar.gz files straight from your previous host to the new host without downloading locally or uploading.

Log in to your old hosting service and go through your control panel. In there, open”Backup” from backup within the cPanel board; it is possible to download a complete backup, a partial backup, and backups of your website’s database.

Go back to the cPanel homepage. Look for”Backup” and click it. You can see all the databases you’ve installed in your account. Make sure you navigate to the correct database and click it.

After you have chosen the proper database backup for the website, it will permit you to download the “sql.gz” file.

At this moment, there should be three distinct downloads. These include:

1. “wp-content.zip” file

2. “wp-config.php” file

3. “sql.gz” file

It’s essential to keep in mind that this procedure is usually quicker than the use of any FTP tool.

Note: Nexcess customers use the customer portal instead of using cPanel.

1. FTP Tool

FTP software such as FileZilla (PC) and Transmit (Mac) can be viral tools for downloading WordPress database files and files.

After selecting the FTP application and installing it onto your PC, use the SFTP account (sourced from your web hosting account) to connect directly to the server hosting your website.

Here, you can choose and download all databases and files within Your WordPress website’s directory.

Don’t forget to add hidden files like “.htaccess,” as they could be obscured. Examine the help file of your FTP application’s manual to make sure you’re finding hidden files.

If you’re used to using the command line, you could create a MySQL backup of your database on the website and then compress it using gzip and zip the WordPress website. The command line method is significantly faster.