by Eileen Eva

Created on: January 23, 2011   Last Updated: February 28, 2012

At times individuals who have their own WordPress blog may decide to reorganize or change it to make it more attractive to bloggers or search-engine friendly, thereby increasing traffic to their sites. The change can also be kicked off by the need to add or reflect on a new theme or focus of the blog. Although this is an inevitable task, many blog owners hesitate to move a WordPress blog to a new domain or location. They are scared they will lose traffic, come across unending complications and increase downtime.

How to move a WordPress blog to a new domain or location

The first step is to lock out all your users. Do this in an elegant manner to prevent losing traffic to your blog. Before commencing on the migration, backup all the data, database, files and customized themes. Moving a WordPress blog to a new domain or location is an easy task, for WordPress is flexible and adaptable to any changes. Moreover, you don’t need to reinstall the program when moving it. You must be careful to avoid breaking up the links. Also, remember that the migration may make your blog unreachable for a couple of hours.

It is also possible to create errors when using a temporary address to gain access to the blog. Therefore, the second vital step on how to move a WordPress blog to a new domain or location is to plan prior and designate enough time for the migration. Next, export all the WordPress posts using the export option in the manage tab. Download all the WordPress content folders, and sub-directories. Install the WordPress blog program manually to the new domain or location. This can also be done using Fantastico if the hosting company provides CPanel.

Using FTP access, upload the WordPress content folder, posts, and sub- directories. Make sure the themes and plugins are activated as in the previous domain. Simply press design and plugins option, then follow the instructions. The last step on how to move a WordPress blog to a new domain or location entails uploading and running the updated URL plugins. Do this by entering the previous URL and then the current URL. This helps in updating all the posts, files and folders and takes a few seconds.

After moving WordPress blog to a new domain or location, remember to inform Webmasters, or other blogs or sites that could be linking to you, so that they can update their URLs as well. Another option is setting up permanent (301) redirects from your old domain to your new domain.

Sources:

WordPress.com, Codex- Moving WordPress

My Digital Life- How to Move WordPress Blog to a New Domain or Location

WordPress Hacks- How To: Move Your WordPress Blog to a New Domain

 WP Engineer.com- Moving Your WordPress Blog to a New Domain

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