Here’s a dirty secret: most businesses are unsatisfied with their website. Research shows that 34% of website owners are unsatisfied with the amount of business their website generates for them. Loudhouse data suggests that 62% of business owners believe a more effective website would increase their sales. And millions of business websites deal with slow load times, inconsistent customer experiences, and problematic UI/UX issues.
There’s a reason that 36% of small businesses STILL don’t have a website. Creating an amazing, design-driven, customer-centric website is challenging. So, what do you do when your website isn’t making the cut? You look towards the source — your Content Management System (CMS). Every year, thousands of private and public entities migrate their website to a new CMS.
But, unfortunately, thousands more don’t. Migration is scary. It’s easier to stay with your current CMS and focus on redesigns or new templates. Here’s the problem: new coats of paint don’t fix broken engines. If you’re thinking about migrating from WordPress or Joomla to Drupal, you’ve probably heard rumors and myths regarding migrations.
Let’s clear those up. Here are 4 myths about migration that need to be squashed.
Myth #1: I’m Going to Lose All My Content/Data
This is, by far, the most common excuse against migrating. You’re worried all of that precious content and data are going to fall off the ship if you switch ports. And, you’re right to worry. It could… if you don’t migrate correctly. But it’s not inevitable. You can prevent data and content loss. In fact, if you lose data or content, we would consider that a failed migration. In other words, successful migrations keep data and content intact by definition.
Here are some handy-dandy steps you can take to ensure that your precious data doesn’t go overboard during your migration:
- Crawl your site before migration and use the crawl data to check for URL issues. If you check each URL, you should be able to see any missing content (and fix it!)
- Keep your existing site stable until you’ve fully migrated.
- When you migrate, check for duplicate content; plenty of site owners run into the opposite of losing content.
Myth #2: I Have to Invest in a Redesign
You’re migrating; you might as well invest in a redesign, right? Sure! You could. But it’s tricky. When you do a redesign and a migration, you’re no longer just matching URL-to-URL and content-to-content, you’re simultaneously rebuilding your website. Don’t get us wrong; there are advantages. It’s a great time to redesign from an SEO perspective (you’re already going to take a small hit during the migration; more on this in the next section), but it also requires significantly more planning, budget, and time.
If you want to do a redesign-migration, we heavily recommend that you touch base with your design company. You want to work through the kinks and create a best-in-class action plan to tackle any issues that may (or may not) pop up. The entire migration will be structured around the redesign, so it’s important to carefully weigh your options.
Myth #3: Goodbye SEO!
From an SEO perspective, migration sounds like a nightmare. You’ve worked diligently to build up your SEO. What happens when you frolic to a new location? Let’s get this out of the way: your SEO will take a temporary hit. But, it shouldn’t last long. In fact, there’s a good chance you’re moving to another platform because it’s better at handling SEO. For example, Drupal has built-in SEO capabilities (e.g., title-based URL nodes, customizable meta tags, etc.) WordPress does not. Obviously, you can get SEO plugins for WordPress that help you build SEO functionalities, but most of those plugins are also available for Drupal — so Drupal gives you a net gain.
Here’s a secret: migration can help your page rank. After the first awkward week (Google has to recrawl your website, recognize that it’s you, and give you back your ranking), migration can help you build a more powerful SEO framework.
Want to migrate without dumping your SEO overboard? Here are some tips:
- Update your internal links
- Benchmark your Google Analytics profile and compare it with your analytics post-migration to look for gaps
- Keep any old domains and redirect your website
- Check for broken or duplicate content that could tank your SEO
- Manage your sitemaps
- Update any PPC campaigns and ad creatives
Myth #4: You Just Have to “Lift-and-Shift”
There are plenty of myths surrounding the difficulty of migration. But there are also a few myths making migration out to be super easy. And, without a doubt, the most prevalent “easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy” migration myth is the ever-coveted “lift-and-shift.” There is no one-size-fits-all strategy for migrating websites. Sometimes, it can be as easy as lifting content off of one website and putting it onto another website. But that’s seldom the case.
Generally, you need to set up test servers, check to see if website elements function correctly on the new platform, test out and utilize new CMS features, and a variety of other tasks before you can simply drop content from one place to another. In other words, lift-and-shift may work when you’re migrating a cloud environment, but it often doesn’t work with CMS migration.
Remember, just because everything worked perfectly in one environment doesn’t mean it will in another one. You may have to fix some website elements and carefully construct your new website ecosystem. At the same time, you’ll probably be playing around with the new features available to you on Drupal — so the “lift-and-shift” is usually more of a “lift-and-test-and-shift.”
Do You Need Help With Your Drupal Migration?
At Mobomo, we help private and public entities migrate to Drupal environments using proven migration strategies and best-in-class support. So, whether you’re looking to establish your website in a more secure, SEO-friendly environment or you’re looking to do a redesign-and-migrate, we can help you migrate pain-free. Are you ready to move to a brighter future?
Contact us. We’ve got your back.
