Hello fellow VA's,

I have a bit of a challenge. I have been hired to transition a clients website from another host platform template site to a WordPress template site. We will be rebuilding the entire site as well as importing the current Blogger blog to WordPress and installing on separate directory. The site is currently being hosted at another location and will be moved to GoDaddy, her site currently has a PR of 4 and has some high rankings for some of her keywords.

What is the best way to handle the transition from the other site to the WordPress site on a new host?

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much,
Kim

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Kim Beckers
Online Business Manager

Hi Kim I don't think PR is something I'd concern myself with, honestly. It's just not that big of a deal - if she owns the domain the site is on currently, you can set up a redirect from the old site to the new one once you've made the move. If she's just switching platforms [but not domains] then the page rank won't likely change.

As to the rest of your concerns, the long term benefits of being on a WP platform vs. Blogger are going to far outweigh any initial dip in SEO - which is to be expected... It should bounce back though,

I hope that helps!

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Thanks Tess,

The domain will remain the same, just switching platforms and the host. What do you suggest is the best way to handle the building of the site.

I was thinking that I could set up the hosting at the new host, install WordPress and build the site, once the site was approved and was ready to go, then change the name servers so that the site was live. Does that make sense? Is that something that I can do and still build the site and see it to show the client or does WordPress not allow that? I am thinking I would have to use an actual IP address instead of a domain name to accomplish this. Is that correct or am I totally off base?

Thanks for you suggestions. :-) Have an awesome day.
Kim

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Kim Beckers
Online Business Manager

I would build the new site on the backend of the actual domain - then change the files to switch them out when you're done. Unless you're holding the product until payment is completed in which case it would make sense to build it on your own domain in a folder that uses the name of the domain you're building for [so you don't end up with a mess of URLs].

You only need to change nameservers if the site is moving from one server to another.

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Sorry, I missed the part about switching hosts. So yes, you'll need to manage the moving of her site - if it's not a huge site I would probably move the whole thing now, update nameservers, and build the new site on the backend of the domain at the new host. Then you can send your client a URL like yoursite.com/build or similar.... so she can see the work as it progresses.

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Hmm, I am a bit confused. The domains are staying the same however, the site is currently hosted at another location, lets call it host xyz, she wants to change it to GoDaddy hoxyzsting because we are switching the entire site to WordPress and the other hosting company is charging her a much higher rate, something like $30/month to host the site. She cannot take her site with her once she changes hosts as they are providing a template as well that only works if she hosts the account with host xyz. I am being paid in advance so it is just a matter of not having the site down while we switch it over.

Hope that makes sense and thanks for your help.

Kim

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Kim Beckers
Online Business Manager

OK, I understand. Until you change the nameservers you won't be able to see anything at the new host. There is a way this can be managed at the server level though, so you might ask the new hosting company if they can help - I'll be amazed if GoDaddy offers that kind of help but it's worth asking.

So, you're looking at building on the backend of your own domain and uploading to the new domain/changing nameservers after it's done - or building somewhere else.

No matter what, the site will be down for a bit whenever you do switch nameservers.

Did I answer your question finally Or have I missed something?

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Thanks Tess, That is what I was afraid of, bummer. I wonder if I can install WordPress at the current host in a directory or perhaps install it on another domain and then copy the site over, is that doable? She does own a few domains and I could probably do an add on domain to her account that would not cost anything.

Thanks again,
Kim

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Kim Beckers
Online Business Manager

You can build the site on any domain - create the site in the directory of an existing domain. Let's say for example you're building the test site on VAFs domain then you'd create a folder within the public html folder - let's call it 'build'. Then you set up your WP files inside the build folder and work only within that folder - as if it was the main domain. No need to do a subdomain or an addon, etc.

So the new site you're creating would be found at www.virtualassistantforums.com/build - then you would move all of the files from inside build to the new host when you're done - taking care of links, etc. of course.

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Awesome, that is what I will do then, Thanks :-) Kim

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Kim Beckers
Online Business Manager