The No-Nonsense Guide to Moving Your Trade and Construction Website (Without Losing Your Mind).
So, you're thinking about moving your website to a new home. 🏡
Maybe your current hosting is about as reliable as a chocolate teapot, your Trade website is loading slower than Monday morning M25 traffic or perhaps you're just ready for a change.
But here's the thing.
Moving a website isn't quite as simple as changing your van insurance (though sometimes it feels just as painful).
Think of it like moving house.
Except instead of losing your favourite mug in the process, you might lose your entire online presence.
No pressure, then.
But in the right hands, it should be a breeze.
So let’s dive into some important factors to be aware of before you get started...
1. Your Trade and Construction Marketing Website's Vital Information.
First things first.
You need to gather all your website's important bits and bobs.
It's like trying to move house without knowing where your keys are. 🔑
Or your front door.
Or which house is actually yours.
🔑 The Login Legacy.
Firstly. (Incase you don’t know).
What is a domain?
A domain is your website’s online address.
It’s what people type in to find you.
Just like a shop needs a physical address, your website needs a domain (e.g. www.buildyourtrade.com).
It’s unique to you and helps customers find and trust your Trade business online.
Remember that domain login you set up three years ago with a password you were definitely going to remember?
We need that.
Your domain login is basically your website's deed to the house.
Without it, you're not moving anywhere.
You might have used a company like 123-Reg .com or Go Daddy when initially buying your domain name – so have a look for those login details in your inbox.
🔐 The Admin Access.
Then there's your website's admin login.
Your website admin login is the gateway to managing your website.
It’s where you log in to update content, add images, change details, or make edits.
Think of it like the back door to your shop. 🏬
Only you (or trusted team members/website team) should have the keys.
We need your website admin login too.
This lets us get into your current website and grab all your content, images, and that blog post you wrote in 2022 that you're particularly proud of.
Looking to convert more of your Trade website visitors into customers?
Then you need to take a look at this…
🍿 Clicks to Contracts: A Trades’ Guide to Website Conversion Magic
2. The Hosting History Marketing Challenge.
Your hosting account is like your website's current address.
And just like moving house, we need to know where we're moving from before we can start packing boxes.
🔍 Finding Your Hosting Details.
This is where things can get a bit... interesting.
Did you set up the hosting yourself?
Or was it that mate of your cousin's nephew who "knows about computers"?
Or a fellow website design company?
Either way, we need those login details.
They're usually hiding in an email from when you first set up your website (you know, the one you definitely archived somewhere safe).
3. Your Trade and Construction Website Content Stock Take.
Before we start moving anything, we need to take a look at (and know) what we're moving.
It's like doing a proper inventory before moving house, except instead of counting boxes, we're counting web pages.
📋 The Content Checklist.
This means knowing about every page on your website.
Every image you’ve ever uploaded.
Every contact form you’ve set up.
And yes, even that page about your company fish that you thought nobody would ever find.
🕵🏽♀️ The Hidden Stuff.
There's also all the things you might have forgotten about.
Like those email accounts connected to your website.
Or that newsletter signup form you added last year.
Or the automatic booking system that sends confirmation emails to your clients.
(Don’t panic about these… we can flag up anything we need to know about if you’re working with us).
If you’re thinking to build your own website (or have already), you might want to check this out…
🍿Honesty Hour: Why You Need To Avoid Building Your Own Construction Website.
4. The Technical Marketing Bits Nobody Tells You About.
Now we're getting into the nitty-gritty.
This is where having a professional web team really pays off.
SSL Certificates.
Your SSL certificate is like your website's ID card.
It's the thing that puts that little padlock in the browser bar and stops Google from telling everyone your site isn't secure. 🔒
Lots of companies will charge you extra for these - while we can set them up for free or part of our service - it’s not additional.
⭐️ Domain Name Settings.
Your domain settings are like your website's postal address.
Get these wrong, and your website ends up in the digital equivalent of the middle of nowhere.
They include things called DNS records, which are about as exciting as watching paint dry but twice as important.
5. Preparing Your Marketing Analytics for the Move.
Your website analytics are like your business's diary.
They tell you who's been visiting, what they've been looking at, and whether they actually found what they were looking for.
💻 Google Analytics Access.
If you've got Google Analytics set up (and if you haven't, we need to have words), we need access to that account.
This helps us make sure we don't lose any of your valuable tracking data during the move.
🎮 Search Console Credentials.
Google Search Console is like your website's report card.
It tells you how well you're doing in search results and if there are any problems Google's spotted.
We need access to this too.
For some extra Trade website pazazz, this one might be worth checking out…
🍿Checklist: 7 Tricks To Nail Your Trade And Construction Website Homepage Design.
6. The Trade and Construction Marketing Backup Plan.
Before we touch anything, we need backups.
Lots of backups.
🕸️ Website Backups.
Think of this like taking photos of how everything's arranged in your house before you start packing.
We need a complete copy of your current website, just in case something goes wrong.
(If you work with us, we do that from the get go just to make sure we’ve covered all our ground).
📊 Database Backups.
Your database is where all your website's dynamic content lives.
That includes things like your contact form submissions, blog comments, and any custom settings you've made.
All the cool stuff, of course.
Losing this would be like losing your customer database – not good.
No backup, you may lose them for good.
7. The Actual Marketing Migration Process.
Now comes the fun part – actually moving everything.
📈 The Timeline.
This isn't something that happens instantly.
It's more like a carefully choreographed dance, except instead of music, we're working with servers and databases.
🧪 The Testing Phase.
Before we go live, we test everything.
And then we test it again.
And then, just to be sure, we test it one more time.
Because launching a broken website is about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.
And just incase you had all things digital on your mind you might want to check this out…
🍿Websites Vs Social Media. Which One Should I Use For My Trade And Construction Company?
⬇️ The No-Nonsense Guide to Moving Your Trade and Construction Marketing Website (Without Losing Your Mind) Rundown.
1. Gather all your vital website information.
2. Locate your hosting history details.
3. Complete a content inventory.
4. Understand the technical requirements.
5. Prepare your analytics for transfer.
6. Create comprehensive backups.
7. Execute the migration process.
Need a little more help nailing your Trade and Construction marketing?
Course you do.
First. Let's work out where you are with your marketing.
Got 3 minutes?
Take our Trades Quiz to discover how you score with all things 'Off The Tools'.
We have heaps of tips, tricks and hacks for your Trade and Construction business in our cheat sheets, videos and ideas waiting for you on the other side... i.e., your results page.
So, you can improve your score. And NAIL your Trade and Construction business.
Nice.