Godaddy Website Builder to WordPress: How to Make the Move

If you’re looking to build a website but don’t want to run the risk of creating something that looks sloppy or is difficult to maintain, then perhaps it’s time for you to consider moving to WordPress. Not only is it one of the most popular blogging platforms in existence, but it’s also completely free to use.

But whether you’re a fan of blog platforms or not, moving your website to WordPress can be a hassle. After all, you’ll have to rebuild the whole thing from scratch. Luckily for you, we’re going to walk you through the entire process of moving your WordPress-powered website to Godaddy.

Find A Domain Name That Works For Your Website And Blog

One of the first things you should do before you start moving your website is to find a.com domain name that works for both your website and blog. Once you’ve got that, all you need to do is register the domain name with your online host (in this case, GoDaddy).

If you’ve been planning on creating a blog, this is the best time to do it. Not only do you have a ready made platform to work with, but you can also start writing your posts for free. Once you’ve got some content posted, you can use the tool in your host’s control panel to find the posts and bring them to the top of the blog.

Set Up The WordPress Blog On Your New Domain

With your chosen domain name and online hosting service in hand, it’s time to set up your WordPress blog. The first thing you need to do is to install the WordPress software from your host’s control panel. To do this, click the Connect button at the top of your GoDaddy dashboard and then select the Install WordPress option from the resulting menu. After clicking the Install button, you’ll be brought to a confirmation page where you can click the Activate button to continue the installation process. When complete, you’ll see a success message from WordPress.

Once WordPress is installed, navigate to the Dashboard section of your GoDaddy dashboard and you’ll see a blank slate with the WordPress logo. Next, click on the Settings link in the navigation bar at the top of the page to bring up the WordPress settings panel. Here, you can choose your blog’s name, admin email address, site description, and set the overall theme (including header and footer). Once you’ve finished configuring your WordPress blog, click the Save changes button at the top right to continue to the next step.

Set Up The Web Site (Structure)

Once your blog is set up and running, it’s time to move on to the next step of the process and set up your web site (aka the “structure”). This is where all your online content will be published, so it’s important to choose a template that’s clean and simple yet still functional. The two most popular choices for this are the SquareSpace and the Foundry templates.

GoDaddy offers a one-click install for both of these templates, so all you need to do is click the Connect button at the top of your GoDaddy dashboard and follow the on-screen instructions. Once their installations are complete, you can access your web site’s directory by clicking the Dashboard button and then selecting Sites from the resulting menu. The web site directory is where all your web content will be placed, so make sure this includes images of your site. You can use the built-in SEO tools in WordPress to get your site indexed by Google and other search engines as quickly as possible.

Get The HTML Code

Now that you’ve got your web site set up, it’s time to get the code that makes it all work. To do this, click on the Files tab on the menu bar at the top of your WordPress dashboard. You’ll see a list of all the files associated with your WordPress blog. Clicking on any of these files will take you to a page where you can download the source code for that file. In most cases, you’ll also see a small button below the file’s content that, when clicked, will give you the option to upload the file to your Google Drive or another public folder.

Create Your Website’s Header And Footer

The header and footer are the two top menus at the top of your web browser window. While the header usually includes your blog’s name and contact information, the footer will include copyright information and links to social media platforms such as Twitter and Google Plus.

To create your website’s header and footer, first, right-click anywhere inside the Files section of your WordPress dashboard, and then select the view page source option from the dropdown menu. This will open up the HTML code for the page in a new tab in your web browser. Now that you have the source code for the page, you can navigate to the WordPress header.php file and begin editing. You can use any text editor to make changes to this file, but the easiest way is to use the built-in WordPress editor. Simply click the Edit button on the toolbar, and you’ll be brought to the header’s live preview screen. If you make any changes to the header’s source code, those changes will automatically be reflected in the live preview area.

Next, head over to the WordPress footer.php file and do the same thing. Using the source code for these two files allows you to easily edit the headers and footers on your individual blog posts via the post editor.

Find The Right Hosting For Your Website

If you’re looking to host your website with a professional-looking platform, then you might want to consider paying for a premium hosting plan from a reputable company. These hosts provide you with a secure, dedicated server that can handle the traffic your website is likely to generate.

There are many benefits to having your own website, but one of the biggest is hosting all your content on your own terms. With a premium plan, you get access to a suite of tools that make managing your site much easier. These tools range from simple content-management systems to SEO tools that can get your site ranked highly in search results.

Move Your Website To The Cloud

If you’re worried about the security of your personal information, then you might want to consider moving your website to the cloud. While there are many hosting providers that offer this service, you can also use a virtual private network (VPN) to create a secure connection over the internet between your computer and the cloud.

This connection will encrypt all the data you send and receive, keeping your information secure wherever it is transmitted. When you use a VPN, your internet traffic is routed through a secure connection that prevents hackers from eavesdropping or tampering with your data. You can also set up your site to use only https:// traffic, ensuring your visitors’ personal information is always protected.

Make Sure Your Website Is Functioning Correctly

Once you’ve got all your web content transferred over to your site, it’s time to test it out and make sure everything is functioning correctly. Start by heading over to your site’s homepage and checking out the overall layout and design. Is it easy to navigate with only one page visible at a time or do you get stuck on an endless loop of the same content?

Next, test out your site’s search functionality by searching for a word or phrase and seeing if all the relevant results come up. Does the order in which the results appear online match what you were expecting?

Last but not least, test the posts themselves. Do they load quickly and are there any errors in the code that could be causing problems?

Make Adjustments & Tweak As Needed

Now that you’re comfortable that your site is functioning correctly, it’s time to make some small adjustments and tweaks to make it look and behave more like a professional product.

For example, if you’re using a free blog platform, you might not want to spend a great deal of time on the design end, as you can adjust the appearance of your site at any time through the dashboard.

If you need to make further adjustments after testing out your site, you can always use a different browser to do so. As long as you have the source code for the page, you can always go back and modify it as needed.

While there’s no replacement for good old-fashioned onsite testing, these practices ensure you’re making the right decisions about your site’s content and appearance.