Siteglide Spotlight

Are you planning to move your website from one platform to another?

Or, perhaps you may be with Adobe Business Catalyst (BC) and the clock is ticking as BC's ‘End of Life’ nears.

It might seem like a rather daunting project that lies ahead, and there's also the question of which platform is the right fit for you and, of course, your client.

While migrating websites may seem like a burdensome task, the truth is that if you choose the right platform, it doesn't need to be. What's more, is that migrating sites allows you the opportunity to rebuild - you can both streamline or add new features that might improve your client's business.

If you are planning on migrating sites, then perhaps now is also the time to think about the value of a static brochure website, compared to a Digital Experience Platform (DXP) that puts the User-First.

What is migration?

A website migration will redirect all of your old pages to new pages.

A site is made of many elements and components, and each one needs to be migrated to ensure the new site is functional and retains all pre-existing features.

A big concern for a business - and of course, you as a Digital Marketer, may be the risk of losing your ranking on search engines, losing website content or experiencing site downtime.

Choosing a new partner is an important decision and the functionality, features and security offered by your new provider should surpass those provided by your existing platform.

With the above in mind, here’s a look at what we think is important to consider when planning a site migration.

1. Does the platform offer you all the features you need?

An important consideration when migrating sites is to determine whether the features are aligned with your current platform, e.g eCommerce, CRM, forms and WebApps - and looking at whether you can improve them with additional features.

2. Is the platform future proof?

Understand your client’s business and projections: will they grow in the future and require more features, or will they be streamlining their business and perhaps want to cut down on select features.

Look for a platform that is flexible, and one that will future-proof your clients business. Features offered by your new web hosting provider must surpass those provided by BC if you want to see continued growth within your industry.

3. Does the platform require technical expertise?

Not all agencies have in-house development teams, and you might want to consider whether the platform will require a lot of coding time.

As a Digital Marketer you want to spend time focusing on the needs of your clients - and taking on more clients - rather than having to learn advanced liquid for business results, or rely on an in-house IT team to make basic updates.

Look for an easy-to-use platform where you can edit, update, modify or delete without any technical experience.

4. How secure is this platform?

A security hack for a business can mean both a reputational and financial loss and many companies are unable to recover from a high-profile security breach.

If a business, or a customer’s, personal information or financial information is leaked, it could make it difficult to operate in the long-term. It is therefore crucial that you go with an alternative which offers enhanced security.

5. How reliable are its servers

Reliable servers offer minimal page loading times and should be a non-negotiable when looking to migrate sites - and you’ll want your website to respond quickly.

6. What support is available?

Migrating sites can be a daunting task, and to ensure a good experience, and a happy end-customer, a good, responsive Support Team can make - or break - a site migration experience.

A platform should always be looking at adding to features and prioritising community feedback. Updating releases timeously will ensure a pleasant experience and partnership.

7. What is the best for SEO?

SEO is the backbone of a business - and to stay ahead of the competition, a company will want to be at the top of the page ranking and be exposed to as many customers, and potential customers as possible.

When migrating sites, make sure that your new platform is a platform married to the latest SEO tools, and one that ensures a company's SEO strategies returns the desired results.

Where does Siteglide come in?

At Siteglide, we can promise you peace of mind when migrating sites and guarantee that not only will you keep SEO ranking, content and won’t experience any downtime, but you can rebuild and offer your clients a better, more evolved Digital Experience Platform.

• With Siteglide you can build Enterprise level DXPs, whether it’s forms to capture data, eCommerce stores, Membership Areas, or Community Sites, you will be able to set your clients apart from their competitors.
• There is no need to modify code to make changes to your website.
• Siteglide is built on Amazon Web Services (AWS), which means you can rely on us to keep your site online at all times. With an average uptime of 99.9%, AWS ensures that your site is running on secure, reliable and fast servers.
• Built on top of PlatformOS you can rely on reliable infrastructure under your sites and have the flexibility to build custom solutions.  
• Your client will never be pigeonholed or constrained by what a Software as a Service (SaaS), Content Management System (CMS), has to offer.
• Siteglide has built all the necessary SEO tools into the core of Siteglide, which means that you can import sites to Siteglide with immediate SEO benefits.

At Siteglide, we focus on continually growing and incorporating the latest technologies and best practices so that you have a platform that you can partner with and grow alongside. Migrating sites doesn't need to be a daunting task - rather, look at it as a rebuilding job with an opportunity to build new and improved Digital Experiences for your clients.

You can find out more about migrating with Siteglide by watching our webinar here.