Questions on switching from static to Wordpress

[katied772]

I am finally getting the hang of Wordpress (kind of). I'd like to trnsfer tow of my static sites into WP. I realize I may have to copy/paste for a long time. Site #1 has no page rank and is about 3 years old. It is ranking for the main keyword at #6 and some of the other keywords are starting to come along. Makes no money though. High CPC on kws, but few clicks. Site looks good and I do know how to do on-page SEO but traffic is not good despite some backlinking (not enough.)

Site #2, also 3 years old, has page rank 2 and is ranking well for some of my keywords. CPC is not good; this was my first site and just something I'm passionate about. It could eventually be a good authority site though and may make some money.

Both sites have about 40 pages.

My concern is will I lose all rank and kw position if I transfer over to WP? If so, should it come back easily since it is there now? I'm just thinking that I probably could have so many more advantages on a WP platform, particularly in gaining traffic.

Also, site #1 is a domain with hyphens. I also have the non-hyphenated version that became available after the site was built. Right now I have domain forwarding from that domain to the hyphenated domain. Would there be an advantage/disadvantage to just doing the WP site on that domain, then forwarding from the hyphenated one once built? Of course, then both sites would have the same content.

Thanks for any advice on this. Took me a long time to be semi-comfortable with WP. Just don't want to mess things up.

[Khadaji]

I've already done this... the only major trick is to make sure that you don't change the URL's to your different pages... or if you do, make sure you have redirects to the new page.

My recommendation is to use a good redirection plugin, and change URL's to SEO friendly ones... you shouldn't lose any SERP's or traffic if you do this correctly. In fact, you might end up gaining.

Good luck!

[GeorgR.]

You need to make sure to keep all the links and URL structure intact. This will certainly be a lot of work, but should pay off.

[katied772]

I remember reading about a program from a fellow warrior that transfers the sites to WP. Anyone familiar and can recommend it? Can't remember her name, maybe LeAnn?

[digitalproductreporter]

there is always going to be a risk when you completely change the platform you are using.

odds are wordpress will addd tons of other junk to the source of your pages in the header, plus crap pages like archives, rss, etc and such that will alter the what google sees

will google like it? Probably, but I think it's a gamble if you are already doing well

my advice would be to split test what's working with other monetization methods to try and make more money instead of risking it all

[Canuckystan]

I'm in the middle of doing this - be sure to do 301 re-directs regardless.

I think it is worth the effort, WP is just so flexible and SEO friendly.

I've got 300 pages of blogs so I hired someone to do the 301's and test etc.

[q12321]

I did it two months ago.
I deleted old stuff, installed WP and started blogging.
Page rank before was 2 and remains 2.

[VegasGreg]

With only about 40 pages on each site, it should be pretty quick and painless to make the switch.

The biggest key factor, as mentioned earlier, is to maintain the same link structure from your current pages to your new pages/posts. (Easy to set up with the Permalink settings)

That way Google will see the same thing as before and none of your links will break and cause existing traffic to get lost.

Also, site #1 is a domain with hyphens. I also have the non-hyphenated version that became available after the site was built. Right now I have domain forwarding from that domain to the hyphenated domain. Would there be an advantage/disadvantage to just doing the WP site on that domain, then forwarding from the hyphenated one once built? Of course, then both sites would have the same content.

I would keep everything on the hyphenated domain at this point or else all your links will change. If you want to though, then you will need to do a more detailed work and set up redirects from all the hyphenated links to the non-hyphenated format.

That part is up to you, but I guess if you don't mind doing the additional steps and the sites aren't currently making a lot of money, any minor setbacks wouldn't hurt that much and you can easy rebuild to that that level.

[alxvallejo]

Originally Posted by digitalproductreporter

there is always going to be a risk when you completely change the platform you are using.

odds are wordpress will addd tons of other junk to the source of your pages in the header, plus crap pages like archives, rss, etc and such that will alter the what google sees

will google like it? Probably, but I think it's a gamble if you are already doing well

my advice would be to split test what's working with other monetization methods to try and make more money instead of risking it all

Old thread, but this is an interesting comment. What other monetization methods do you mean? For the business, for advertising, for general SEO? Those are three channels of monetization methods I can think of.