HTML to Wordpress - a good idea?

[Stuttering]

I have an HTML site that is 12 yrs. old and ranks well in Google. I want the more user friendly Wordpress format to update content myself. Should I, and how do I make the transition. Thanks.

[evolvingSEO]

Hey Mark

Good idea? Yep!

Basic process;

1. Plan out the structure of your new site.
2. Map the old pages to the new pages.
3. Create the new site on a development or local server (some folks will build it right on the main domain, but just keep it hidden - I don't recommend that). If using a dev server, use your privacy settings and "discourage search engines from indexing the site" - you don't want the dev site indexed!!
4. Prepare your 301 redirects (as Kade suggested, I actually don't think you should keep your URLs the same at all - now's a good time for improvement).
5. Move WordPress from the dev environment to the new server.
6. You basically "pull the plug" on the old site by removing index.hrml and letting index.php (which is part of wordpress) take over.
7. Put in your 301 redirects ASAP.
8. Crawl the new site for 404s
9. Monitor WMT like crazy for a few weeks looking for any missed redirects.

I definitely recommend getting a dev to assist you if you don't feel comfortable!

Hope that helps.

-Dan

[Francisco_Meza]

I just moved 2 sites from HTML to WP. I will be moving 1 more next week.

ADVICE: Don't forget to have your 301s already prepared! My urls used to end like the example.com/whatever.html. On WP they end like this example.com/whatever/

So make a list of all your URLs and have it prepared ahead of time so you don't get ht with duplicate content.

BTW, I suffered ZERO loss of rankings going from HTML to WP.

[NakulGoyal]

I think you have the perfect responses from Kade, Takeshi and Christopher. I agree with each one of them. In my opinion, the crux is that if done correctly it can be very very beneficial in terms of functionality, features and how visitors like your website and interact with it. I totally understand the concerns, they are very legit concerns. I would suggest to build your new stie using Wordpress on a staging server, test it to make sure all images, file paths etc are consistent and the code is clean. If you like it all, do the switch. You'd be fine.

[ChristopherGlaeser]

I am finishing up a project to move a site that is two years old from HTML to WordPress and from an old domain to a new domain.  Although the URLs are not identical, there is pretty much a 1 to 1 mapping using 301 redirects in the .htaccess file.  I also informed GWT of the move.  It's a bit early, but so far, I have not noticed any drop in traffic.

But here's the best part.  The site looks much much better and it is also responsive (about 25% of our viewers are mobile and growing).  As a result, people are viewing more pages and spending more time on the site.  I expect Google will notice that.

If the rankings hold, I plan to update several sites that are 20 years old from HTML to WP.

Best
Christopher

[kadesmith]

Be very careful to make sure that when you move your old site to Wordpress that your URL's stay EXACTLY the same and the content does not have a major overhaul.  Also, if images on your website rank well in image search, make sure that the URL structure and location of those images doesn't change.  12 years and ranking well is not something you want to lose.

The question of should you is completely up to you.  Are you going to save money doing this?  Is it enough money to warrant the time spent making the transition?  How often do you need to be changing data?  Do you have the technical know how to make the transition?  Can you hire someone to do it for you?  Will the end result be a better experience for your site's visitors?

These are just some questions to really get you thinking about whether or not it is worth it.

[TakeshiYoung]

Wordpress is great because it's much easier to update than a plain HTML site, and you can quickly add a lot of features to your site through plugins. You also get built-in RSS feeds.

The main thing to keep in mind during the move, is to preserve your URL structure so that links pointing to your old content don't get lost. If you have to change the URL structure during the move, make sure to include the appropriate 301 redirects ("Redirection" is a great plugin that can do this for you).