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Wordpress Question - New Theme, moving within domain

by jbsmith
12 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
    • |
Likely going to hire someone to do this...but need to know the best approach first and would appreciate advice from any of you WP experts out there :-)

I currently have a site that has main domain and internal pages in html + a WP blog hanging off with legacy theme I now want to replace - so it looks like:

http://www.mymaindomain.com - HTML
http://www.mymaindomain.com/allotherpages - HTML
http://www.mymaindomain.com/blog - Wordpress with Legacy Blog Theme

I want to keep the same structure but change the entire site to be Wordpress back-end and update the blog theme to something like Divi from Elegant Themes while still maintaining the content in the blog

So it changes to:

http://www.mymaindomain.com - WP Divi (new content)
http://www.mymaindomain.com/allotherpages - WP Divi (new content)
http://www.mymaindomain.com/blog - WP Divi (existing DB content)

My question is really around the best way on back end to handle this...can I reinstall WP on www.mymaindomain.com (whereas today they are installed on www.mymaindomain.com/blog) and yet still run the blog off of the /blog location AND run it off my existing WP database so I don't lose any of the 1500+ posts I have in my DB?

Or, do I have to install a new WP + DB on www.mymaindomain.com and have the existing WP + existing DB on www.mymaindomain.com/blog somehow run on two databases, each with same Divi theme?

Sorry for making this so long-winded - but hoping someone out there knows the answer.

Jeff
#domain #moving #question #theme #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author Mehwish84
    well best thing is to make sure google rankings are not drop. You can do this easily with 301 redirect plugin so that all html pages will open on wordpress.
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    • Profile picture of the author savidge4
      The good news and the bad news.... is what you are asking possible? and the answer is yes.. so the bad news? you will have to load Divi 3 times. once in the main directory and once each in the "allotherpages" and the "blog" directories.

      I personally do this for SILO structure so its not all that uncommon. Once you get passed all the obvious navigation issues, its really not that complicated. In terms of the page look and feel you can do 1 of 2 things. you can get the main directory the way you like it and then simply replicate the site with all of it settings to the other directories or you can make all the changes and then copy the CSS etc over to each new load.
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      • Profile picture of the author jbsmith
        Appreciate the help - thanks.

        Would I be able to load Divi just twice? Once for main domain and then rebuild the "allofthe otherpages" from the main domain and replace the .html files that are there now? I'm not overly worried about SEO hit off of those pages. Then have another Divi off of the /blog directory as you mention?

        Finally - with these 2 or 3 instances of Divi, do they all connect to the same DB - the existing DB that I have for my /blog right now?

        Thanks again!

        J

        Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

        The good news and the bad news.... is what you are asking possible? and the answer is yes.. so the bad news? you will have to load Divi 3 times. once in the main directory and once each in the "allotherpages" and the "blog" directories.

        I personally do this for SILO structure so its not all that uncommon. Once you get passed all the obvious navigation issues, its really not that complicated. In terms of the page look and feel you can do 1 of 2 things. you can get the main directory the way you like it and then simply replicate the site with all of it settings to the other directories or you can make all the changes and then copy the CSS etc over to each new load.
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        • Profile picture of the author savidge4
          In your case I am thinking you really are only needing one load. I would replicate your current "Blog" load into your main directory, and then build from there. That is kind of the advantage to Wordpress is doing this in one load.

          A single load is without question easier. IF your intention is more of a SEO approach, that is when I would start looking at a multi load setup. BUT, this trickery is not for everyone. It needs to be well thought out and planned to have any amount of gain over loss.

          Originally Posted by jbsmith View Post

          Appreciate the help - thanks.

          Would I be able to load Divi just twice? Once for main domain and then rebuild the "allofthe otherpages" from the main domain and replace the .html files that are there now? I'm not overly worried about SEO hit off of those pages. Then have another Divi off of the /blog directory as you mention?

          Finally - with these 2 or 3 instances of Divi, do they all connect to the same DB - the existing DB that I have for my /blog right now?

          Thanks again!

          J
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  • Profile picture of the author rishi12
    Banned
    Have there are some good seo wordpress tools ?
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  • Profile picture of the author Yvon Boulianne
    Better try to keep a unique wordpress installation as it`s a lot less trouble (think debugging and plugins and load and ...)

    It`s very easy to install a simple wordpress installation on www.yourdomain.com and do redirection with a simple plugins from your old /blog url to the new one.

    You make me laugh when you wrote about connecting many instance to the same DB (that's the kind of hack we do for fun but not in a business)

    I'm hacking computers for 40 years and trust me better KISS "Keep it Super Simple"
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  • Profile picture of the author Nabaleka
    Let me give you the good news, you will have one WordPress installation that will maintain the current layout

    http://www.mymaindomain.com - HTML
    http://www.mymaindomain.com/allotherpages - HTML
    http://www.mymaindomain.com/blog

    Backup your HTML pages, then install WordPress on http://www.mymaindomain.com (This will be the only WordPress.

    backup the WordPress Database for the WordPress on http://www.mymaindomain.com/blog
    because we need your posts, you can use PhpMyadmin or any other way to backup database.

    Connect the database to the new WordPress on http://www.mymaindomain.com

    So you will have a full WordPress with all your posts intact. Now to achieve your old structure.

    Create a page and name it Home which will be equivalent to http://www.mymaindomain.com - HTML

    Create another one which will be equal to http://www.mymaindomain.com/allotherpages - HTML

    Create a third which should be blank, name it blog and this will be equal to http://www.mymaindomain.com/blog

    Now navigate to WordPress Settings, Readings and set Static Pages, for the home select the Home Page,

    on the Blog section, Select Blog page

    You will have this structure:

    http://www.mymaindomain.com - WordPress
    http://www.mymaindomain.com/allotherpages - WordPress
    http://www.mymaindomain.com/blog

    Simple Huh!

    of course you will have to redirect your posts from http://www.mymaindomain.com/blog/post thttp://www.mymaindomain.com/post
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    • Profile picture of the author jbsmith
      Hi Nabaleka - progressing through the steps as per below...think I may have to do more around your step "connect the database to the new Wordpress in the root directory...

      When I installed the new WP in root directory it setup a default (new) DB.

      What I thought you meant by your statement "connect the database to the new Wordpress) is to change the wp-config.php file to the old WP DB, unsername and password? But when I do that, it seems to always just connect me over to the former WP install over on /blog directory?

      Jeff

      Originally Posted by Nabaleka View Post

      Let me give you the good news, you will have one WordPress installation that will maintain the current layout

      http://www.mymaindomain.com - HTML
      http://www.mymaindomain.com/allotherpages - HTML
      http://www.mymaindomain.com/blog

      Backup your HTML pages, then install WordPress on http://www.mymaindomain.com (This will be the only WordPress.

      backup the WordPress Database for the WordPress on http://www.mymaindomain.com/blog
      because we need your posts, you can use PhpMyadmin or any other way to backup database.

      Connect the database to the new WordPress on http://www.mymaindomain.com

      So you will have a full WordPress with all your posts intact. Now to achieve your old structure.

      Create a page and name it Home which will be equivalent to http://www.mymaindomain.com - HTML

      Create another one which will be equal to http://www.mymaindomain.com/allotherpages - HTML

      Create a third which should be blank, name it blog and this will be equal to http://www.mymaindomain.com/blog

      Now navigate to WordPress Settings, Readings and set Static Pages, for the home select the Home Page,

      on the Blog section, Select Blog page

      You will have this structure:

      http://www.mymaindomain.com - WordPress
      http://www.mymaindomain.com/allotherpages - WordPress
      http://www.mymaindomain.com/blog

      Simple Huh!

      of course you will have to redirect your posts from http://www.mymaindomain.com/blog/post thttp://www.mymaindomain.com/post
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      • Profile picture of the author colorado1850
        Jeff,

        Maybe it's too late already. Anyway, here is what I suggest:

        Update http://www.mymaindomain.com/blog to your new theme. Get it all looking like you want it to. Update all the plugins and all that stuff and just make sure nothing's wrong with you blog stuff. I don't expect there would be any problems, but I'm not familiar with that particular theme.

        Then start creating Pages on http://www.mymaindomain.com/blog that replicate the content from your static HTML pages on http://www.mymaindomain.com and http://www.mymaindomain.com/allotherpages. Name one of them Home (I'm using that name for this example) and another page Blog (you'll use the Blog page later on). The new page Home should replicate the look of the index.html file that is the HTML home page you have now.

        Keep in mind, you don't even have to publish the pages if you don't want to. Name the new pages exactly as they are named on your HTML (or use redirects later after you finish what I show you below) to make sure everything is seamless.

        Once you have replicated everything that is presently HTML into pages on the http://www.mymaindomain.com/blog site, then work out your menus. Make sure that is all set.

        Then install a free plugin called Duplicator. Activate it. Run it. This will create a .zip file and .php file that you need to download to your computer. The .zip file will include the existing database from your blog plus all the new pages you just created.

        Now make a backup of all your HTML site stuff and then delete all your HTML web files from the main directory on your host where http://www.mymaindomain.com is located. Now upload the .zip and .php files from Duplicator to that directory. Then follow the Duplicator directions for creating the new site.

        This will basically just move your entire site to http://www.mymaindomain.com gracefully without breaking any links etc.

        Now log in (it will be the same login as you used for your blog) and go to settings > Reading and then change the Front Page Displays. Remember those pages you created before to replicate your site - Home and Blog? Okay, just set Home as the static front page then set Blog as the posts page.

        Automatically, all the posts on http://www.mymaindomain.com/blog will now be showing up as posts on this new page called Blog.

        You don't need to string together 2 WordPress db's or install it twice.

        Finally, if you didn't publish all those pages I had you create before, go ahead and publish them so they are visible.

        Let me know if you have any questions or if I'm misunderstanding what you want to do.
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  • Profile picture of the author jbsmith
    Thanks guys - gives me good info on my options. Most likely will try Nabaleka's approach - in line with what I thought was possible, won't know until I give it a try :-)

    Jeff
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    • Profile picture of the author savidge4
      So your not banging your head trying to figure all of this out... the quiet unspoken step...

      Go into your 'Dashboard' 'Settings' 'Permalinks' and then select "Custom Structure" and insert " /%category%/%postname%/ " in the space provided.

      Should save you a headache or 2
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  • Profile picture of the author abbe77
    Hi Jeff

    I can help you in this regard if you PM your site link.

    As you know in wordpress you can create Pages and Posts. Isn't it possible to copy your HTML pages contents into wordpress Pages?
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