Current site at HostGator, migrating to WordPress

  • Unknown's avatar
    missions99 · Member ·

    My current site was built in 2005, and it’s too old and clunky to maintain. I want to migrate to WordPress, but have many questions.

    1. How do you ‘subscribe’ to WordPress (premium or business) without choosing migrate domain? I just want to build the site offline, while keeping my current site active until this one is ready to go. Is it possible to build and test/preview before you set it to go live?

    2. We have an SSL through Comodo good thru April 2020. Can we use this with our WordPress site?

    3. Emails: it looks like the only way to keep our 5 domain email addresses is via G Suite for $5 ea. Will this be easy to transition? Right now we have these accounts via Hostgator, so I’m guessing there’s no way to keep old messages stored on their servers.

    4. Our current site is only about 204MB, and we’ll need a shopping cart for donations. Is the Premium Plan good enough? I also wanted to use a KeonThemes theme. Is this possible with Premium or do I need a Business Plan?

    Thanks for your help!

    Susanne.

  • Unknown's avatar
    gemmacevans · Member ·

    Hi Susanne,

    How do you ‘subscribe’ to WordPress (premium or business) without choosing migrate domain?

    You can start by creating a free site with “.wordpress.com” in the address? The other option is, you can purchase a paid plan without adding a custom domain for now — the domain credit will be ready when you are ready to use the existing domain on WordPress.com. It can be mapped or transferred here.

    We have an SSL through Comodo good thru April 2020. Can we use this with our WordPress site?

    It won’t be possible use your existing SSL certificate on WordPress.com but we offer https:// by default on all plans, including Free.

    Emails: it looks like the only way to keep our 5 domain email addresses is via G Suite for $5 ea.

    There is some information about purchasing G Suite for existing domains here:

    https://en.support.wordpress.com/adding-g-suite-to-your-site/#purchasing-g-suite-for-an-existing-domain

    This would be an additional cost to the plan.

    Our current site is only about 204MB, and we’ll need a shopping cart for donations. Is the Premium Plan good enough?

    Custom themes can only be installed on WordPress.com sites with the Business plan. While eCommerce is supported on the Premium plan, they don’t include integrated shopping carts. Therefore, you would likely need to use WooCommerce on the Business plan — that also supports donations.

    I’ll be happy to answer any other questions you have.

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