How to keep your domain intact when renewing your WordPress homepage & points to note

When consulting about website renewal, one of the most common questions we are asked is about domains.

• Is it better to get a new domain?
• I want to change my domain, but how do I do it?
• Should I get a new server contract?
• I want to change the server, but how do I do it?

Website renewal is a completely case-by-case matter. There is no one right answer, so we listen to your situation and give you the best advice.

We are often asked, "I want to renew my website but keep the same domain," but in most cases it is possible to renew the domain without any problems.

Here we introduce some of the cases we have consulted on so far.

Renewal to WordPress site

We will introduce what to do if you want to move or renew your site from a static HTML site or other tools such as WIX, Jimdo, or Peraichi to WordPress.

When changing servers due to website renewal

• If your server is managed by a management company and you want to change to in-house management in the future
• If you are building a website with a server and homepage as a set, such as WIX
• If you simply want to move management to a different server

In the above cases, the domain management is often transferred to the server that manages it.

1. Domain transfer (moving)
2. Build a WordPress site on a test domain
3. Server Migration

By following these steps to renew your WordPress site, you can build a WordPress site on the same domain. You will need to build a test site on a test domain in advance.

It is said that it can take up to 24 hours to switch servers. Even if you think you have switched to the new server, after a while the previous site will be displayed and the situation will remain unstable. Also, at the time of the switchover, the site may not be displayed temporarily.
You will need to consider the timing of future work, such as migrating servers on weekends when there is less access, or performing work at night.

If you want to continue your server contract as is

If you are not dissatisfied with the server and use many email addresses, it is best not to change the server easily. If you change the server, the email port will also change, which will require you to change the settings of your email address.

1. Build a WordPress site on a test domain
2. Migrate WordPress data to the production domain

By following these steps to renew your domain to a WordPress site, you can renew your domain to a WordPress site as is.

Things to be aware of when renewing your WordPress site

The structure of the URL may change. For example, if the URL for your company profile page was previously [https://hanami-web.tokyo.jp/about.html], it will become [https://hanami-web.tokyo.jp/about] on your WordPress site, and the URL string may change slightly. Such URL changes can cause broken links in search engines, so additional measures such as setting up redirects will be required.

When renewing from a WordPress site to a WordPress site

This is the case when you are already running a website on a WordPress site and want to renew your WordPress site in order to completely revamp the design and content.

1. Build a WordPress site on a test domain
2. If you want to transfer your blog information, please move the current blog data to the new site.
3. After the new site is completed, data will be transferred to the production site.

By temporarily building a WordPress site on a domain that is not your production domain, and then transferring the data after the renewed site is complete, you can renew your WordPress site on the same domain.

If you need to move your WordPress data, your server may offer a WordPress Easy Migration program, which makes things much easier.
Even if you don't use a server program, you can use a plugin called All in one WP Migration to transfer data without any problems.

If you want to change your domain for renewal

There may be cases where a website renewal involves a change of domain, such as when the business name of a domain acquired several years ago has changed, or when the company has been established and the domain needs to be changed to co.jp.

1. New domain acquisition
2. Build a WordPress site on the domain acquired in step 1
3. Redirect settings to inherit SEO from the old domain

The key point is the redirect setting in 3. The redirection process must be performed so that the information of the old domain indexed by search engines is transferred to the new domain. For example, if you change the URL from [https://test1.com] to [https://new1.co.jp], this function will force new1.co.jp to be displayed to those who access test1.com.

Even if you don't change the domain, you need to be careful not to change the URL on a page-by-page basis when renewing your site. If you change the URL on an individual page, you can set up redirects individually, so be careful not to break links.

Should I change the domain when renewing my website?

If you have a website that receives almost no traffic and you are not very happy with the domain string you have acquired, we recommend that you consider changing the domain when you renew your site.

It is very difficult to change your domain when your traffic is increasing and you have a long history of operation, so if you are thinking of changing it, now is the time!

Do I need to change the server when renewing my website?

Moving a server is also a big job. You have to move all the data from the current server to the new server. Here are some examples of server moves we have done in the past.

• If your property is currently managed by a management company and you would like to manage it yourself in the future
• The server is old and the monthly fee is high
• The contracted server is not compatible with WordPress sites
• I've heard that the specs of my contracted server are low, so I want to switch to a more popular server.

In the above case, we have carried out a WordPress site renewal that involved changing the server.

Points to be aware of when renewing your website

How to ensure your website renewal doesn't fail

• If you change the URL, set up a redirect.
• When migrating servers, keep in mind that there may be periods when content is not displayed, and be careful about the timing of the migration.
• If you change the server, you need to change the email settings.

Please be careful of the following:

Website renewal is quite difficult

Renewing a website is quite a difficult task, as it involves things like changing domains and moving server data.

We went through a lot of trouble to renew the site,

• The conversion on my newly created website is bad, but I don't know how to change it.
• The cost of updating each page is a bottleneck, and it is difficult to update the site.

We don't want you to have to worry about these things, that's why we create WordPress sites. Why not join us in running a maintainable site using a combination of WordPress and no-code? We're proud of our support system that's tailored to each individual!

How to renew your website is very difficult to decide because it depends on the situation. We would like to propose a solution while talking with you in a free online consultation!