Migrating from custom-made website to WordPress

  • Unknown's avatar
    bogdanwinfo · Member ·

    Hello,

    We would like to change our website and go from a custom-made website to a WordPress one, on wordpress.com with a Business plan.

    Currently, our website is hosted by a local provider and it was all built from scratch, without using any framework / CMS.

    We would like to develop a new website, on the same domain, using WordPress and we would like to know if it is possible to do this on WordPress.com, without having to set up a domain at first, since we would like our current website to be kept up and running while we develop the WordPress version.

    If this is not possible, could you please advise us on what would be the best course of action?

    Thank you

  • staff-zinnia · Staff ·

    Howdy –

    Yes :) This is a very common question. Go ahead and build your new site on WordPress.com free plan. Import your content, customize the theme, get it all ready to launch.

    This video will help you through the signup flow.

    Keeping the new site private will help prevent any SEO confusion since you’re going to have the same content on two different addresses.
    https://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/privacy-settings/

    Once ready, the domain can get connected with one of our plans. https://wordpress.com/pricing/

    There’s 2 ways to connect the domain. Either will work fine.

    1. Mapping: https://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/map-existing-domain/
    2. Transfer: https://en.support.wordpress.com/incoming-domain-transfer/

    Write back with more questions :)

  • Unknown's avatar
    bogdanwinfo · Member ·

    Hello,

    Thanks for your reply.
    In this case, it is possible for us to upload a theme from ThemeForest and to customize it (from within the theme and programmatically) using the free plan?

    Thanks

  • staff-zinnia · Staff ·

    That’s not possible on a free plan under WordPress.com’s managed hosting environment. You need the business plan to use a Theme Forest product. That is what changes the site infrastructure to allow for plugins and third party themes.

  • Unknown's avatar
    bogdanwinfo · Member ·

    Hi,

    We noticed that the Business plan includes a free domain for one year ( https://wordpress.com/pricing/ ).
    Is it possible to use this domain in order to create our website using a custom theme and then switch to our own domain, the one we are currently using?

    Also, as an alternative, is it possible to use a domain for one website and then switch to another domain?

    Thanks

  • staff-mckluskey · Staff ·

    Is it possible to use this domain in order to create our website using a custom theme and then switch to our own domain, the one we are currently using?

    Sure thing, however, if you’re going to use a domain just for testing purposes, I’d recommend using the free .wordpress.com subdomain. Whenever you’re ready you’ll be able to map your domain (it’s free for any paid plan) or transfer it (it will be free only if you haven’t used up the free domain credit).

    as an alternative, is it possible to use a domain for one website and then switch to another domain?

    It’s not really possible to change the domain name, you’ll need to cancel and register a new one. That’s why, if your goal is to use a different domain when you’re developing the site, I’d recommend using the free subdomain and then moving your custom domain to WordPress.com.

    I hope that makes sense :)

  • Unknown's avatar
    bogdanwinfo · Member ·

    That was our initial intention but as far as I understood, it is not possible to use a custom ThemeForest theme and plugins with a free plan.

    That’s not possible on a free plan under WordPress.com’s managed hosting environment. You need the business plan to use a Theme Forest product.

    And given the circumstances, we thought our whole development process would be somewhere between these lines:

    1. Register to a Business plan with our custom http://www.domain1.com
    2. Develop the site, install the theme, add plugins, etc.
    3. Switch the domain name from http://www.domain1.com to http://www.domain2.com

  • staff-blorbo · Staff ·

    You’ll be able to start the Business Plan with your intended final domain, and we’ll give you a staging URL to build and test the site.

    Then, you can direct the domain to the site, or transfer it to us, when you’re ready to launch. :)

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