The time for a website migration is now

Each migration type has its level of risk but with proper planning, it is manageable and will set your site up for future growth.

Back in March I wrote about reconsidering your decision to pull back on digital marketing budgets due to COVID-19. In a time of uncertainty, it’s natural for businesses to be questioning their spending. As revenue is declining many companies are becoming rich in people-hours and poor with cash-in-hand. This is why I emphatically suggest that NOW is the time your company doubles down on their website. Now is the time to push forward on that migration project the team has been putting off for so long.

Why migrate now?

In my 10+ years helping businesses execute migrations, I commonly hear two reasons why they’ve put them off for so long. The first is that it requires a lot of work and that too many other projects take precedence. The second reason is that they are terrified in executing the migration incorrectly and the impact it can have against meeting quarterly/annual goals.

Let’s face it. Unless you’re in the essential needs space, you’ve already started having conversations about adjusting your quarterly and or annual goals. You might have also had to have tough discussions about forced PTO, reduced hours or even furloughs for your team due to a reduction in billable work. The website migration you’ve been putting off is the perfect investment to make during times like this.

What kind of migration are talking about?

I’ll cover four different types of migrations that your company should be considering right now. These include:

• Domain Migration
• CMS/Back End Migration
• Website Consolidation
• HTTPS (SSL) Migration

Domain migration

Has your company been sitting on the .com or shortened version of your brands URL forever? Now is the time to complete a domain migration. Organic search performance may take a slight hit as search engines re-crawl and index the new domain. However, since performance is already uncharacteristically low, this is a perfect opportunity to invest in the future of your online web presence.

CMS/back end migration

Is your CMS or back end clunky and wildly inefficient? Are you unable to launch new components or expand your website without excessive workarounds or band-aid fixes? Now is the time to consider a CMS/back-end migration.

Most CMS and back-end migrations require updated site architecture and URL changes. Similar to domain migrations, now is the time to go through the updates and allow search engines to crawl/index your new site. CMS/back-end updates can have a positive impact on SEO but if it allows your team to be more efficient in the near future then the ROI, in my opinion, is justified from that alone. Why wait?

Website consolidation migration

Does your company manage two, three or even more websites? You’ve likely heard from an SEO consultant about all the value in consolidating into a single domain. Assuming no (valid) business reason exists to justify the multiple websites, now is the time to consolidate into one large and more authoritative website.

Website consolidation migrations are not only a positive move for SEO but it often helps increase efficiency as the team no longer has to maintain several websites. Not sure what content from each site should be migrated? I wrote an article last year on how you can do a content migration audit.

HTTPS/SSL migrations

When you type in your website’s URL does it include HTTPS in the very beginning? Back in 2014, Google started pushing for the internet to become more secure. HTTPS is even now considered a ranking factor. More importantly, SSL or making your website HTTPS is about security. It allows for a secure experience for your users and further keeps your website at bay against online threats.

Now is the time to invest in your company’s website

The migrations listed above are the ones that I most commonly see sidelined. With so much up in the air with COVID-19 and resources being underutilized, now is the time to act on these types of internal projects. Yes, each migration type has its level of risk but with proper planning, it is very manageable and will set your site up for future growth. No more excuses now is the time to prioritize your migration.