Congratulations, if you’re reading this article, it means that you finally made the brave decision to upgrade your website. Making this decision is a significant step in committing to the process, which to some, it feels like a big scary task! So let CMS2CMS help and make this transition easier for you.
We put this step-by-step, easy-to-follow guide of everything you need to know about how to successfully migrate your website data to a new CMS or Forum platform!
Before we start, it is important to go through our Pre Migration Checklist and make sure you’re prepared:
- If you haven’t already, research and select the CMS, you want to use for your new website.
- Check what can be migrated from your current website to the new CMS platform of your choice.
- Make sure both the Souce site and Target site are live and publicly accessible.
What do Source and Target sites mean?
The Souce website is your current live website you wish to move away from.
During the automated data migration process, your source website must be live and available for the public.
The Target website is the new CMS platform you want to migrate your website data to. This site will also need to be set live and publicly accessible online during the automated data migration process. You can use a temporary staging URL until you are ready to point your domain to the new hosting server. For more information on setting that up, we recommend contacting your hosting provider.
You can check out the latest trends and see the most popular CMSs users are migrating to.
Create an account
Once you decide which CMS platform you want to migrate your website to, you will need to create an account in our Automated Migration Wizard App – app.cms2cms.com.
Migrating our website data with CMS2CMS wizard
To get started, simply follow our easy 4 step wizard to assist you with your website data migration.
Step 1 – Specify Websites Details
Select your current CSM/Forum type AKA – Source Website. Simply click to open the dropbox and search for your CMS/Forum name. Enter your existing website URL and click to Verify.
IMPORTANT NOTE! There are different methods required to verify your source website. Some CMS platforms require uploading a plugin or extension to be verified. In addition, some sites require API authorization, and some require providing FTP details. If you are having trouble verifying your site, please check our FAQs or contact our support team for assistance.
Now it is time to select your New CMS/Forum platform AKA – Target site. Select one of our supported Website platforms. Then, follow the Connection Bridge installation instructions and click to verify your site.
You can choose to migrate your website to our test sites, WordPress, Joomla, bbPress, Drupal, or wpForo, first and see the demo results before running a full website migration onto your final destination site.
Step 2 – Set Up Migration
Now that you verified your sites, we move on the setting up the data mapping of the available entities that can be migrated across. The options in this step are based on what’s supported for your migration type.
IMPORTANT NOTE! Some migrations are limited with their options. As advised, make sure to check what can be migrated from my CMS.
Additional Options
We offer additional optional options to add to your migration based on your needs and the chosen Content Management Systems you are migrating between.
Make sure to follow the instructions as some require specific installations.
IMPORTANT NOTE! CMS2CMS does not support custom plugin/Apps migrations. If you are unsure, please consult with our Support Team for assistance.
All that is left now is to click the ‘Start Free Demo Migration’ button.
Step 3 – Start Migration
Now it’s time to sit back and let our Automated Website Migration Wizard do its job. You can choose to stay and wait for the demo to finish or return when you get a notification in your email.
Now that the demo is ready for review, click on the links provided to access your Free demo site.
You can click on the Content page/post links to compare before and after.
REMEMBER: Only the data content is migrated and not design or templates.
IMPORTANT NOTES!
- If you are running a demo migration on our test site, please note that the demo will only be available for 10 days. Therefore, you will need to run a new demo migration past the 10 days.
- The demo is a limited example of your data migration results. Our system selects the migrated entities randomly.
- Our CMS2CMS Automated Website Migration Wizard audits your website during the Demo Migration. It calculates the amount of content data available to migrate, including any Addition Options selected in Step 2.
You can see the full migration quote with your additional option below this page (Step 3) and add Migration Insurance if you need to rerun the migration during your new website project.
IMPORTANT NOTE! The total price does not include the tax (VAT, GST) amount. That is added based on our country tax rules when you make payment.
Start full migration
Still, on Step 3, ✓ we checked the free demo migration. ✓ We selected our Additional Options. ✓ We added Migration Insurance.
We are now ready to run the Full Site Migration Process.
Click the ‘Start Full Migration button – a payment gateway lightbox will open.
Select your preferred payment method.
IMPORTANT NOTE! The payment methods and tax/VAT/GST change based on your global location.
Once payment is complete and processed, our Wizard will automatically start running the full website migration. The migration process may take any time between 15 minutes and a few hours, depending on the site of your website. You will receive an email notification when the migration is complete.
Step 4 – Complete Migration
Hooray! Your Full Migration is complete. You now need to review the results of your new website. Make sure to download the Result Dump file.
For any further assistance, please check CMS2CMS Knowledge Base Help & Documentation.