Website Migration: Everything You Need to Know

Website migration refers to the act of migrating a website from one domain to a different domain. It is a process during which a website undergoes fundamental changes in areas that significantly impact search engine visibility. Website migrations are delicate operations, as a site can lose performance if the transfer of products and data to a new server is poorly executed. In e-commerce, Shopify is the benchmark for website migration. Let's delve into the subject to understand its scope.

Shopify store migration: how does it work?

Once the e-merchant has identified the need to migrate their website, it's time to take action. However, this is a difficult process that should not be taken lightly. So, how to migrate a Shopify store? When migrating a Shopify store or any website, the main changes are:

• DNS (Domain Name System);
• URL;
• host;
• CMS;
• design.

Migrating a website to a new host can be very stressful. When transferring an e-commerce site from the old website to the new Shopify site, it is important to go through each step and proceed carefully. Here are the different steps for a successful CMS change.

1. Crawl the website, i.e., scan the store's architecture using a crawling tool.
2. Configure basic administrative settings from the old site.
3. Import data and content from the old website to Shopify.
4. Check that the products sold have migrated correctly.
5. Customize the appearance of the e-commerce site by choosing a theme.
6. Perform various configurations (domain name, shipping, taxes, payment services).
7. Place a test order to make necessary modifications.
8. Configure redirection URLs to redirect traffic to the new URLs.
9. Notify customers of the change and invite them to create an account on the new website.

Of course, calling on a Shopify expert allows you to benefit from the best technical skills and make the site migration a success.

Main reasons to migrate a store to Shopify

When an e-merchant starts out, they may not necessarily be aware of the needs, and may have difficulty knowing which platform to choose. After a few years of experience, they will have observed the user experience, what works, what works less well, and the errors and bugs they encounter regularly. It may then happen that the current platform is no longer suitable. In which cases should a Shopify store be migrated?

Technical constraints

There can be many reasons leading to a website migration and CMS change. These reasons may be related to the technical constraints of a platform. Indeed, platforms also evolve, and it may be that the one chosen at the beginning of the activity no longer meets the e-merchant's expectations. Shopify is one of the most reliable software in the industry and therefore has a large market share when it comes to hosting platforms. Here are some good reasons to migrate a website to Shopify.

1. Its wide offering in terms of applications and functionalities (more than 7,000).
2. The intuitive interface of the back-office.
3. The proactivity of the support team.
4. The presence of a dedicated team for platform maintenance.
5. Their help center's offerings (tutorials and resources).
6. Their strong SEO capability.
7. Absolute trust in terms of security (hosting and transactions).
8. Ease of scalability depending on the company's success.

Shopify offers a complete platform that facilitates the management of e-commerce activity.

New business and customer needs

At the beginning of an activity, it can be difficult to choose the right CMS, especially because there isn't much visibility on sales performance, or simply the necessary functionalities for a good user experience. Businesses evolve and so do their needs. After a few years of experience, it is appropriate to take stock of the activity and the website to identify new needs, a new strategy, and choose a new platform accordingly.

Indeed, it can happen that a CMS can meet the needs of a young company with few customers, but which does not allow much room for its evolution. By migrating their website to Shopify, an e-merchant can access the latest technologies to meet their needs more effectively, both nationally and internationally.

The store lacks visibility

Natural referencing is essential for website visibility. This is an aspect that must be carefully worked on to increase the SEO score (Search Engine Optimization) and obtain a good ranking of the website in search engines like Google or Bing and increase traffic. Shopify is particularly known for its strong SEO capabilities. Experts notably take care to:

• create the correct page redirects;
• use effective keywords in the titles and content of each page;
• reduce URL string length as much as possible;
• organize internal links in accordance with the SEO strategy;
• check if the website contains broken links;
• verify that the robots txt file is correctly configured;
• etc.

If the migration work is carried out correctly, the new website will not lose traffic and should even be ranked better in search engine results.

The current CMS is not secure enough

Many e-merchants decide to migrate to Shopify for security reasons. Indeed, cyberattacks are frequent in e-commerce, and it is important for owners to take the necessary measures. Regarding hosting and information security, Shopify is a trusted ally. The platform has made great investment efforts on this subject to protect its customers and gain their trust — it notably has a PCI level certification. The tool they use covers:

• the e-commerce store;
• hosting;
• shopping cart security.

Moreover, the Shopify source code is quite closed, which makes external attacks more complicated.

Why use a Shopify agency to migrate your e-commerce store?

After deciding to embark on a project to migrate an e-commerce store to a new web host, the question of "how" remains. This is a complicated operation, and there are therefore many reasons to use a Shopify agency to migrate your e-commerce store.

To begin with, not all CMSs work in the same way, particularly concerning data storage. Calling on a Shopify agency ensures that the transfer of data from the old website is handled correctly and that nothing is lost. Many elements must be migrated, such as orders, customers, products, and reviews. At the same time, seeking help from a Shopify agency can be an opportunity to carry out a graphic redesign. Thus, if the store's needs have changed, or if the brand or product has evolved, a graphic redesign ensures that the website's design serves the current vision, to better engage customers.

With the help of a Shopify agency, you ensure a certain quality of execution and a smooth migration, without loss of performance.

Shopify store migration: at what cost?

The price of migrating a Shopify store depends closely on the scope of the project and the amount of work. Indeed, a number of factors influence the cost of a migration project, including design, added functionalities - which do not all have the same price - and the catalog structure. In addition to this, the price of the Shopify subscription must be considered. The platform offers several at attractive prices:

• Shopify Basic for €27 per month;
• Shopify Standard for €79 per month;
• Shopify Advanced for €289 per month;
• Shopify Plus starts at $2,000 per month.

Drafting a statement of work is essential to define the scope of the project and get an idea of the cost of the website migration.