As your business grows and evolves, it may be necessary for your website to change too. You might need scalability for your growth, or perhaps you want certain integrations your current domain doesn’t offer. These scenarios are when you should consider migrating your website. We’re going to tell you what website migration is and why you might need to do it.
What is Website Migration?
Website migration is the act of making changes to your website through technology, structure, design, or location.
Migrating a website indicates a serious change, and there are actually several kinds of migrations.
Types of Migrations
When most people talk about website migration, they are referring to changing networks or CMS. For example, this would be moving your website from WIX to Shopify.
Another type of migration is moving from HTTP to HTTPS. It makes your website more secure, therefore more credible when it comes to SEO and users.
Moving to a different server also falls under the migration umbrella. Your website speed could improve significantly by changing servers.
If you rebrand and change your domain, you would be conducting a migration.
Why a Business Needs Website Migration
Some of the most common reasons why a business would consider migrating their website are structure, design, platform, UX, and location. It truly depends on what your goals are.
If you want to increase data protection for your business and customers, you may want to move your site from HTTP to HTTPS. Adding this extension to your website also benefits organic traffic since search engines rank secured websites higher on result pages.
When you decide to do a rebrand of your business, you may need to update your domain. You may also not have seen unfortunate character pairings, or perhaps you want to reach more people by getting a domain that ends in .com.
You may need to change web hosting platforms because the one you’re currently using doesn’t offer a feature you want to implement. Perhaps your business has outgrown the host you’re on, and you need to move to another. Moving platforms could also make it easier to improve site design.
As we previously mentioned, you may be focusing on SEO, and find out that your site speed needs improvement. Website migration could enhance site speed, which could positively affect your SEO efforts.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Migrations
Like any major change, there are upsides and downsides to performing a website migration.
When done correctly, people will still be able to reach your website through old links, search engines, etc. You won’t lose traffic or business. The authority you built with your website is carried over, which means search engines will continue to see the history of the site. You won’t be starting over from an SEO standpoint.
The major disadvantages of migration for websites are the fact that they are complicated, things can go wrong when they aren’t done properly, and it is time consuming.
We believe the benefits of website migration heavily outweigh the disadvantages that could come with it. You may still be hesitant due to the time investment or complicated nature to take it on yourself, but you don’t have to do it alone. Learn more about our Shopify migration services, and reach out to us for more information!
