Migrating Content is like Moving House: How did we end up with all this stuff? And where does it all go now?

This was first presented at WordCamp London 2017. You can watch the talk here: https://wordpress.tv/2017/06/03/edd-hurst-migrating-content-is-like-moving-house/

Content is King, right? But alongside shiny new designs, new features and technical challenges, content barely gets a second glance. Much like when you move house, migrating your content seems easy enough until the deadline is looming and you’ve got no choice but to grab everything at random before it gets left behind.

Where do all the boxes go, and how do they get there? Do you even know what they all are? What order do they go back together in? And why do you still have that poster from the 90s? Moving house, and Migrating content, is all about planning, mapping and making a specific list and sticking to it. It’s also about knowing when to abandon everything and start afresh. Having migrated dozens of sites well, and dozens of sites badly, I’ll show you how to keep things on track, how to plan for success, and how to cope with failure.

Transcript

1. Migrating Content is like Moving House How did we end up with all this stuff? And where does it all go now? @ eddhurst #WCLDN
2. Moving House Sucks... No matter how many times you do it, or how many things you think you might be able to “do better next time”, it’s always a major faff. I’ve done it a lot. @ eddhurst #WCLDN
3. It’s ALWAYS different Like that time I moved 250 feet across the road Or that other time I moved (literally) around the corner Or last year when I moved 350 miles to Brighton @ eddhurst #WCLDN
4. Some things are the same though Okay - not everything is different. And as it turns out - migrating website content is a lot like moving house... @ eddhurst #WCLDN
5. What can we learn? ( And why do I care? ) @ eddhurst #WCLDN
6. Step One What have you got? @ eddhurst #WCLDN
7. It doesn’t need to be too specific - any information is a good start. ➔ General content Pages ➔ Core Blog functionality ➔ WooCommerce Shop ➔ PDF downloads 1. What have you got? @ eddhurst #WCLDN
8. @ eddhurst #WCLDN
9. 1. What have you got? @ eddhurst #WCLDN ➔ 50 Pages - with 4 templates ➔ 778 Blog posts, in 45 categories ➔ 70 users ➔ 5000 images uploaded over 5 years ➔ 3 PDF downloads
10. ➔ Why bother moving spam comments? ➔ “I never used the blog” ➔ “All those PDFs are being redone anyway” Source: Wikimedia @ eddhurst #WCLDN
11. 2. Set it on FIRE @ eddhurst #WCLDN ➔ Why bother moving spam comments? ➔ “I never used the blog” ➔ “All those PDFs are being redone with the new branding”
12. Step Three Where does it all go? @ eddhurst #WCLDN
13. 3. Where does it all go? ➔ Blog posts go in the blog. ➔ Images into the media library. ➔ Pages... ◆ Just keep them as pages ◆ Maybe a Custom Post Type? ◆ Do I need page templates? @ eddhurst #WCLDN
14. Step Four It won’t all fit! @ eddhurst #WCLDN
15. ➔ Why bother moving spam comments? ➔ “I never used the blog” ➔ “All those PDFs are being redone anyway” @ eddhurst #WCLDN Source: Wikimedia
16. (Side) Step Five What’s the best way? @ eddhurst #WCLDN
17. 5. What’s the best way? ➔ Spreadsheet ➔ Homemade chalk board ➔ Small, easily lost notepad. ➔ Draw on the windows like you’re a genius solving complex algorithms. ➔ Always use lots of arrows. ➔ Or Post Its @ eddhurst #WCLDN
18. - Itemise content - Get rid of dead wood - Map it to it’s new location - Get rid of leftovers - Fill in the gaps @ eddhurst #WCLDN
19. ➔ Why bother moving spam comments? ➔ “I never used the blog” ➔ “All those PDFs are being redone anyway” @ eddhurst #WCLDN Source: Wikimedia
20. Step Six Pack it up, move it out. @ eddhurst #WCLDN
21. 6. Moving Day @ eddhurst #WCLDN ➔ Clone everything ➔ DIY - Copy & Paste ➔ DIY - with Plugin ➔ Professional Migration
22. 6. Moving Day @ eddhurst #WCLDN ➔ Clone everything ➔ DIY - Copy & Paste ➔ DIY - with Plugin ➔ Professional Migration
23. 6. Moving Day @ eddhurst #WCLDN ➔ Clone everything ➔ DIY - Copy & Paste ➔ DIY - with Plugin ➔ Professional Migration
24. 6. Moving Day @ eddhurst #WCLDN ➔ Clone everything ➔ DIY - Copy & Paste ➔ DIY - with Plugin ➔ Professional Migration
25. 6. Moving Day @ eddhurst #WCLDN ➔ Clone everything ➔ DIY - Copy & Paste ➔ DIY - with Plugin ➔ Professional Migration
26. Step Seven Scalability @ eddhurst #WCLDN
27. 7. Scalability @ eddhurst #WCLDN Houses are pretty straightforward, but what about if you had to move something bigger? ➔ Office block ➔ Hotel ➔ Library ➔ Museum
28. Step Eight Important, order is. @ eddhurst #WCLDN
29. 8. Important, Order is. @ eddhurst #WCLDN ➔ Pack the kettle LAST ➔ Pour in the water, then add milk. ➔ Put your coat at the top of your bag in case it rains ➔ Spread the Jam, then add dollop(s) of cream.
30. What does Success look like? Sometimes success is just “not failing”. ( That’s ok. ) @ eddhurst #WCLDN
31. Gotcha: Importing Images @ eddhurst #WCLDN /uploads/2012/07/image1.jpg > /uploads/2017/03/image1.jpg /uploads/2013/04/image2.jpg > /uploads/2017/03/image2.jpg /uploads/2015/09/image3.jpg > /uploads/2017/03/image3.jpg
32. It’s not always clear what a plugin will do, so double check first - Cloning from A to B will overwrite your data - Importing posts fresh will just add to your existing data Gotcha: Clone or Migrate? @ eddhurst #WCLDN
33. Gotcha: Post ID changes WordPress uses Post IDs internally to understand how things relate. when you import new content old and new IDs are unlikely to be the same! @ eddhurst #WCLDN
34. Gotcha: 301 Redirects Make sure to keep a record of all the legacy URLs and post IDs It might be useful! @ eddhurst #WCLDN
35. Migrating Content is like Moving House How did we end up with all this stuff? And where does it all go now? @ eddhurst #WCLDN