Migrating our existing WP website to WP hosting

  • Unknown's avatar
    dlegeyda · Member ·

    Hi All,

    We are a small NFP organisation in Australia. We have a WP website which was built quite a few years ago and now still works, but the WP itself and many plugins require updates. However, when we try to update them it produces all sorts of error messages, probably because the previous management moved the site a few times between different hosting providers.

    We hope that moving the hosting to wordpress.com would give us not only a reliable hosting solution but also gives us access to technical support which we currently require to get all the updates.

    Can we really expect sufficient technical help from wordpress.com team with fixing all these update issues?

    Cheers,
    DL

  • staff-ozmodiar · Staff ·

    Hi!

    First things first, we have a great guide about moving from a WordPress site hosted elsewhere to WordPress.com:

    https://wordpress.com/support/moving-from-self-hosted-wordpress-to-wordpress-com/

    Secondly, one of the best things about WordPress.com paid plans is the access you get to our WordPress specific support team. Unlike a web host who only wants to help you with your account there, we both host AND will help sort out and WordPress or plugin issues with your site.

    Given that you use plugins, I suspect that the Business plan is the one you will be looking for on WordPress.com

    https://wordpress.com/pricing/

    Take a look and let us know if anything is unclear or you have any further questions.

  • Unknown's avatar
    dlegeyda · Member ·

    Thanks for your prompt reply!

    Given your answer, it looks like we’ve made a right decision deciding to consider migrating to WP hosting.

    Just a few more questions:

    1. Can we still expect WP help with plugins if we decide to choose the Premium plan, rather than the Business one?

    2. If we initially choose the Business plan, would we need to pay any fees to downgrade our plan to the Premium in a few months?

    3. Given our current mess with plugins (we cannot update them, and we don’t even know if we need all of them), which migrating option would you recommend (Option 1 – migrating the entire site, or Option2 – content only export)?

    4. If our current address is like ourname.biz, then after migration to WP would it stay the same, or would it have to become like ourname.wordpress.com?

    Cheers,
    DL

  • staff-mckluskey · Staff ·

    Hi,

    Let me answer your questions one by one :).

    Can we still expect WP help with plugins if we decide to choose the Premium plan, rather than the Business one?

    WordPress.com is a shared environment and we do not allow installing third-party themes or plugins for security reasons. Business sites undergo a series of structural changes to allow that so you would need Business plan to install any plugin.
    Bear in mind that, we wouldn’t be able to help you troubleshoot issues with third-party plugins (not developed by us) and you still may need to reach out to their developers.

    If we initially choose the Business plan, would we need to pay any fees to downgrade our plan to the Premium in a few months?

    No fees are required to downgrade your plan. If you do it in the first 30 days, you could even opt for a partial refund.
    As I mentioned abouve, however, it’s not possible to use plugins or custom themes on plans lower than Business so that’s something to keep in mind.

    Given our current mess with plugins (we cannot update them, and we don’t even know if we need all of them), which migrating option would you recommend (Option 1 – migrating the entire site, or Option2 – content only export)?

    If you want to keep the same setup – you’d go for option 1. If you only wish to keep the content and build the site from scratch, go for option 2.
    I personally would suggest option 2 – that way you will only add only the plugins you really need, give your site a fresh start design-wise.

    If our current address is like ourname.biz, then after migration to WP would it stay the same, or would it have to become like ourname.wordpress.com?

    All sites on WordPress.com have their .wordpress.com subdomain but with a paid plan, you can also have a custom domain. We do support the .biz TLD (extension) so you’ll be able to transfer the domain without any issues.

    Let me know if you have any more questions regarding that.

  • Unknown's avatar
    dlegeyda · Member ·

    Thanks for your comprehensive answers!

    Just a few more technical questions:

    1. At the moment, we have a number of emails like person'(email visible only to moderators and staff)
    Would we be able to keep them if we transfer both hosting and domain name to you?

    2. Given your advice on the Option 2, would it be possible for us to open a free WP account to start with, then to transfer our current site content to it, then to build the new version of our site – all these steps to be done while our old site is up and running at its current location? Once our new design at the free WP account is ready, we go for a paid plan changing our domain from ourname.wordpress.com to ourname.biz.
    Does it sound like a smart plan to make sure that our old site is working with no interruption up until the moment we can switch to the new one? Can you suggest a better cause of actions?

    3. If we do as described above, would we be able to pick Elementor as the editor?

    Regards,
    DL

  • kokkieh · Staff ·

    1. At the moment, we have a number of emails like person’(email visible only to moderators and staff)
    Would we be able to keep them if we transfer both hosting and domain name to you?

    As long as your email hosting is not directly tied to your domain registration or website hosting, yes. Once the domain is mapped to us (you can do this before starting a domain transfer), you can add the DNS records from your email provider that are required for the email to work.

    Add Email to Your Domain

    2. Given your advice on the Option 2, would it be possible for us to open a free WP account to start with, then to transfer our current site content to it, then to build the new version of our site – all these steps to be done while our old site is up and running at its current location?

    You can start off with a free site and just migrate your content for now if you prefer, yes. During the site creation process, select the free example.wordpress.com address and the free plan. Then you can start building your site, and even upgrade to a paid plan, while your existing site remains accessible at your domain. Then you switch the domain to us once you’re ready, as the final step.

    3. If we do as described above, would we be able to pick Elementor as the editor?

    Elementor is a plugin, so will require our Business Plan. But you can upgrade to Business and use Elementor to build your site using the free WordPress.com address we provide, i.e. before switching your domain over to us.

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