Taking the Migraine out of Website Content Migration

 

When embarking on a website content migration, you may feel a little lost or overwhelmed.

Website migrations are most common when moving from one web content management system (CMS) to another or when redesigning a website, including transitioning to responsive design. Whatever the reason, migration involves targeting your website’s metadata and content and then programmatically or systematically moving it into a new data structure. This can be done in various ways. Every situation is unique, so you need to pick the migration strategy that’s best for your institution. And when you have the right web CMS in place, you can be a lot more organized and efficient.

Who’s Doing What

Imagine for a moment that your current site is a 2-bedroom townhouse and you plan to upgrade to a larger 4- bedroom home (your newly redesigned, responsive site). The content on your current site is all the furniture and belongings that you will be moving into your new home. How will you go about relocating all of these items? When it comes to migrating content, you have a few options.

Option 1: You can move all the content yourself.

A manual migration involves laboriously cutting and pasting content from your old system to your new system, page by page. You have total control over where everything goes and how it
looks. Your small IKEA® chairs (300 x 300 pixel home page images) may not look right in your new home’s spacious living room, so you may have to do some adjusting or replace the chairs with a large couch (hero slider). The downfall with this option is that it typically requires an army of content editors and a well-thought-out plan of attack, which could take up a lot of time and resources you may not be able to afford. While it does provide flexibility and a great opportunity to refresh old, stale content, it may be too difficult to tackle alone. This is the simplest, but potentially most  agonizing approach.

Option 2: You can do an automated migration.

During an automated migration, a hired moving company (a CMS provider like OmniUpdate) moves all your boxes (content in an open standards format like HTML or XML) and arranges them for you in your new home. The movers take care of all the work, but they also have control over where your belongings go and what your new home looks like in the end. An automated migration requires a written program to read, convert, and tag the exported content. For this to work properly, there are a couple requirements:

• Your new site architecture must be nearly identical to your old site or you will have too many variances and complexities.
• Your existing HTML or XML must be clean and consistent so a one-to-one shift can occur.

In this scenario, moving to the larger 4-bedroom home probably isn’t feasible. Because of the one-to-one shift requirement, you’re really looking at moving to the same exact home with maybe a different exterior stucco color—not the dream home you were hoping for. Plus, you may not get the results you expect and will need to make adjustments once the movers are gone.

Option 3: You can do a partially automated migration.

During a partially automated migration, the hired moving company (your new CMS provider) does the heavy lifting of moving your boxes (content) to the new home, but then you organize it how you see fit. 

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A partially automated website migration is the best of both worlds: you get help and retain control.

Even if your old site is poor in quality and structure, some sections will most likely have targetable content, including metadata, pages titles, headings, and main content. The more involved you are and the better instructions you give the movers in this scenario, the better the end result

Making the Move

Once you've outlined your specific needs and decided who's doing what, it’s important to set a timeline and understand what you can expect post-move.

No migration is flawless, so you’ll want to review pages and correct or change styling to work within your new templates. You may also need to correct or change links within the content to match the new site, and possibly adjust the navigation of your site’s pages. And remember, don’t just migrate your current site content as is. Plan wisely, because choosing the right option could save a lot of time and effort in the end.

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Prior to a website migration, do a cleanup and seek “ out ROT (Redundant, Outdated, or Trivial content).

You Don't Have to Go It Alone

While a website content migration has the potential to be overwhelming, working with a CMS provider like Modern Campus who understands the needs of higher education can make for a smooth, pain-free transition. Check out how we helped others just like you in the case studies below.