The process in which a website undergoes in order to change its technology or setup is referred to site migration. However, simple upgrades cannot be considered as a migration. It includes all the serious changes, especially in the platform of a site, content, design, structure and location. It solves all the problems at once. There are several reasons to undertake the process, and some of them are given below.
Changes URLs and merge content:
We hear people say that they find log URLs difficult to put it into work. Therefore, several people prefer to make the URL shorter to make it readable. Even, when an URL is placed incorrectly or wrongly formed, migrating the site can be done to make the corrections. A year provided in an URL may be wrong, but migration allows you to remove the year from the slug of URL. The contents can be fixed by website migration too. Most of the people claim to have several pages on the same topic. This leads to cannibalization among the pages. In this case, you need to merge them together to make a permanent solution.
Redesigning website and updating its architecture:
A same look of the website over the years, can make you feel boring and cause in loss of interest. The more the appeal of the website, the more customers or visitors it will attract. Migration can prove to be an efficient opportunity for you by providing you enough time to redesign the website. You can make some partial change, or even change the entire look and interface of the website. To enhance the feel of the website, you can also try adding, removing or changing some of the inside contents. The architecture and the URL structure of the site can also be changed.
Transforming HTTP to HTTPS and switching hosting providers:
Updating the security will always remain as a vital part of upgrading. From the viewpoint of the security check, the HTTPS protocol must be incorporated into the website. If there is no existence of HTTPS in the site, it can downgrade the UX or User Experience. The main interruptions will be caused by the pop-ups of the warning, given by all the browsers if the pages are unsecured. As your website will be running over a secured connection, all the URLs will be changed. You can also avoid transforming the whole website to HTTPS right now, and focus on the pages that stores all the personal details of the users
Switching to new domains, new CMS and website merging:
An outdated or old platform can provide you with various limitations, and ultimately disrupts the reading process of your audience. This will further lead to loss of sales. Try to improve the set up to meet your desires. But, if still, it fails, then try moving on to a new CMS. It can also be done when the numbers of pages, visitors and the functionality, has increased massively; you require a potential CMS system. For rebranding or to get a better URL, you may take the decision to change the domain name. If you want to consolidate a business that you want to acquire, with the existing ones, you can merge the websites.
Conclusion:
Apart from the rectifications mentioned above, there are several other too- like you can move to a new server, can come up with a mobile version and multiple others. Before starting with the migration, inform all the users about it. Do not mix multiple types of migrations and avoid migrating the whole site at once. Thorough planning must be done along with several testing attempts. Though, the process is generally tricky but will ultimately be a pay-off.