Moving a Wordpress blog...

[ChristopherCoy]

We are in the process of moving from Portfoliositez to Creative Motion Designs.

I've gotten most of the information for the actual website transferred and set up, but now I need to move my blog from one host server to another. I've googled 'moving a wordpress blog', and read a few pages/articles, but when they start talking about MySQLdatabase programs and CPanels, I start to freak out - mostly because I've shut down my site before with one wrong click.

Have any of you moved your blogs before, and are there any 'idiot proof' ways to do it without loosing/corrupting all your information?

[Phisch]

It's a huge pain sometimes to do this.

One word of advice: back up, back up, back up. In the WP admin panel, there's a button that says "export"...use that. You can locate the upload folder for your images by logging on to the FTP server and looking in the wp-contents directory. Then you can back up your entire WP blog using MySQL database. Yes, it's redundant but you can never be too rich, too thin, have enough RAM or too many back ups!

Follow the instructions you have from WP word for word on how to do it.

The new host will need to tell you how to point your domain to the new server or explain to you how to do that. It's easy to "shut down" a site with a click but if you have a back up copy (or two or three) you can always recover it.

[shootme]

I can help you with that.

[ChristopherCoy]

Originally Posted by shootme

I can help you with that.

I need all the help I can get... LOL

[lyncca]

It isn't too bad if you have access to your hosting space. I can be backup help ;)

[ChristopherCoy]

Originally Posted by lyncca

It isn't too bad if you have access to your hosting space. I can be backup help ;)

I have access to the cpanel for the current site. I still have to click the 'go live' button on the new site, before everything is set up and fully operational.

[shootme]

Chris...I sent you a PM, but I'm getting the idea that's not so reliable....feel free to check it and get in contact if you want help.

[KenJulio]

If I'm not mistaken, if you do an export of your current wordpress blog, the 'media' files will not be exported. It will only export/import the text content, tags, and categories.

[ChristopherCoy]

Originally Posted by shootme

Chris...I sent you a PM, but I'm getting the idea that's not so reliable....feel free to check it and get in contact if you want help.

I got it James! I'll give you a shout when I'm back at the studio.

[GrfxGuru]

Originally Posted by ken74

If I'm not mistaken, if you do an export of your current wordpress blog, the 'media' files will not be exported. It will only export/import the text content, tags, and categories.

I think when you import to the new WordPress site it offers the option to go grab the referenced files, unless I used a plugin to do it for me, but I don't believe I did.

[thatsridiculous]

I moved a prophoto blog from one self-hosted wordpress domain to another. it. almost. killed me. I do know that exporting from wordpress is NOT all you have to do - you have to save pretty much the entire WP folder including all of your content off of your hosting provider admin - i use godaddy, so it was referred to as the Hosting Manager, and the File Manager under that. It was difficult and I wish I had paid someone smarter to do it for me, as I lost a lot of traffic and probably could have better SEO if I had asked for help. Just depends on if you have the resources. I didn't. One place Prophoto recommended for switching was Wordpress Help Live - Wordpress Help - Wordpress Support and the other was WordPress Blog Migration Services ? BlogCrafted

remember to fully stock all coffee supplies before self-attempting any site moves.

good luck.

[GrfxGuru]

Moving a wordpress blog is not for the feint of heart but it really is not too much trouble either assuming you have full access to your host server and are familiar with how it works. I would recommend looking at the Wordpress codex on moving a blog

Moving WordPress WordPress Codex

The most important part is updating the wp config file with your new mysql server information. Personally I prefer to do a mysql dump and use phpmyadmin to manage the moving of the data.

[ChristopherCoy]

I didn't find it that hard of a task, but I can see where it could definitely be easier.

I installed WP on my new host, and then exported all the files from my previous host. I then imported all the files to the new host. I use the Photo Press Pro (which coincidentally is made by a local Texas photographer) so I did have to reinstall that. What I ended up doing is keeping two windows open and moving from one to the other copying my style settings.

The one thing that I couldn't figure out was how to transfer all of my image files from one host to the other. That didn't happen, and now I'm going to have to go back and add all the images back to my individual blog posts. I hope to have that finished this week.

But I do agree, moving a blog isn't for the faint of heart at all!

[thatsridiculous]

to get the pics to come along with it, you have to copy the entire contents of your blog's directory in your hosting file manager, then upload to your new directory and use myphpadmin to update your sql database info, and change something in your wp-config file too i believe. but doing it that way worked for me. congrats on getting it moved!

[ChristopherCoy]

Originally Posted by thatsridiculous

to get the pics to come along with it, you have to copy the entire contents of your blog's directory in your hosting file manager, then upload to your new directory and use myphpadmin to update your sql database info, and change something in your wp-config file too i believe. but doing it that way worked for me. congrats on getting it moved!

Could you explain this to me again? Use BIG CRAYONS this time!