Welcome to part two of the “How to Disaster-Proof Your Site Migration” series, where we explore how to prepare a publisher’s website for a successful content migration. In the first part, we explored critical questions to help determine if a migration is right for your business. Now that you’ve (theoretically) decided to take the plunge, it’s time to prepare.
Part 2: Taking Your Website’s ‘Before’ Snapshot
A stable site migration requires ample work before a single image is moved. It’s vital to gather data to get a comprehensive “before” picture. Getting “before” data ensures it’s possible to properly:
- Benchmark: Provide a point of reference to assess the impact of your migration.
- Set goals: Determine realistic targets for improvement.
- Mitigate risk: Identify potential problem areas that need attention before the migration.
This helps ensure you’ll know exactly where the migration has impacted key metrics, and will make clear where product leaders should focus technical efforts in the crucial 30-day period after the relaunch.
For example, without noting performance data for your website on its current CMS, after migration you won’t know if page load speed has tanked, so you won’t know how crucial it is to make simple technical changes like lazy loading elements or removing redirect loops.
How to Gather ‘Before’ Data
This data serves as a benchmark to measure the success of your migration and helps identify areas that need improvement on the new website.
Email us with the subject line “Migration” to get our pre-migration snapshot template, based on our experience migrating clients like The Hustle and Stacked Marketer.
Engagement Metrics to Prioritize
- Views per Session: Indicates how much content users consume per visit.
- Engagement Rate: Measures the percentage of engaged sessions over total sessions.
- Average Engagement Time: Shows how long users interact with your content.
Traffic Metrics to Prioritize
- Sessions from Organic Search: Reflects your SEO performance.
- Sessions from Referrals: Shows traffic from backlinks and partnerships.
- Sessions from Social: Indicates the effectiveness of your social media efforts.
Conversion Metrics to Prioritize
- Total Subscribers: The size of your email or membership list.
- Average New Subscribers per Week: Growth rate of your subscriber base.
- Total Purchases: Overall sales generated through your site.
- Average New Purchases per Week: Sales velocity over time.
Performance Metrics to Prioritize
- Core Web Vitals: Includes Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).
- Lighthouse Scores: Provides insights into performance, accessibility, best practices, and SEO.
Need Expert Help?
Want an expert to handle this on your behalf? Refact loves preparing media sites for migration. Come say hi.
Create a Full Backup and Set Up a Staging Environment
Before making any changes, ensure you have a complete backup of your current site. This is your safety net in case anything goes awry.
Steps to Follow:
- Full Backup:
- Files and Databases: Use tools or plugins to back up all site files and databases.
- Version Control: If possible, use Git or another version control system to track changes.
- Set Up a Staging Environment:
- Mirror Your Live Site: Create an exact replica of your current site in a secure staging environment.
- Access Control: Limit access to essential personnel to prevent unauthorized changes.
- Testing Ground: Use this environment to test the migration process without affecting your live site.
Need Expert Help?
If setting up backups and staging environments sounds daunting, you’re not alone. At Refact, we’ve guided numerous media companies through seamless migrations. Reach out for personalized assistance.
Bonus task: Identify Stakeholders and Decision-Makers
Site migrations aren’t a one-person show. These projects involve dozens of decisions made by editors, developers, marketing teams, sales pros, and more. Identifying all stakeholders and making clear who makes final calls can save you from future headaches like what to do when there are conflicting priorities.
