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How To Migrate A WordPress Site [Working Method]

Bearing in mind that there could be a need to change host, it is therefore important to understand how to migrate a WordPress site easily.

So, if for any reason you don’t know how to migrate a WordPress site, this article is for you.

Having tried so many popular methods that didn’t work for me, I felt it was time to tell people about a method that really worked for me.

First, I should explain why I needed to change host. From my experience with my other (bigger) website that I monetize with Ezoic, it is not compatible with Namecheap Shared Hosting plan.

So, bearing in mind that I plan to monetize Digital Acce with Ezoic, I needed to change host.

While making research I found out that Ezoic actually offers Free WordPress Hosting for approved publishers. Then I made my mind up to change my host from Namecheap to Ezoic.

In migrating Digital Acce to Ezoic, I tried using the very popular plugins – All in one Migration and Duplicator. Both did not work for me after so many attempts.

All in One Wp Migration always got timed out and got stuck at a certain percentage when importing website files.

For Duplicator, I could not even export the original files from the “one-click download button”. Long story short, both plugins never worked for me.

So, while making further research, I found out how to migrate my WordPress site super easily. Before going into detail, it is important to mention that this method only works for WordPress to WordPress migration.

So, if you are using another CMS like Wix, Joomla, etc. this method is not for you.

Without further ado, let’s get to the real deal – how to migrate a WordPress site in an easy way.

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Create a WPVivid Account and Download Plugin Installer

First things first, head over to WPVivid and create an account. WpVivid Backup and Migration is a WordPress plugin that can be used for migrating from one WordPress website to another.

Although they have many other plugins for CDN integration, image optimization, etc. what you need for this purpose is the backup and migration plugin.

It must be mentioned that the plugins are not expressly free. Ideally, you should purchase their plan before using the plugin. However, you can use the plugin for free. How?

They offer a free 14-day trial where you can have access to all the paid plugins.

So, if you’re just interested in migrating one WordPress site, you should be fine with the 14-day trial. Moreover, migrating from one host to another is not what you should be doing every day.

After creating an account and starting the free trial, you should be able to download the WpVivid Installer Zip file. If you could not, you can download it here.

Next, go to your login dashboard and click licenses. You should see something like this:

Wpvivid License

Copy the “father license” and then move to the next step.

Note: Read step-by-step carefully to fully understand how to migrate a WordPress site properly.

Upload, Install and Activate The Plugins

After downloading the WPInstaller zip file, head over to the “Add plugin” section from your WordPress admin dashboard. Simply upload the downloaded zip file, install, and activate the plugin.

To completely set up the plugin and start using it, you’ll need to complete the next step.

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Activate Your License Key

After activating the plugin and setting it up, you’ll get to a point where you’re required to input your license. Simply paste the father license key you copied (as mentioned in the first step) and paste it into the license box.

After doing this, you should now be able to access and use all the plugins.

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Create Manual Backup

On your WordPress Admin dashboard, you’ll see WpVivid Plugin, right underneath it, click “manual backup”. You should see something like this:

backup a website with Wpvivid plugin

Click “Backup now” and you should be able to download your website files in a compressed Zip format. Ideally, it should not take too long to download depending on how large your website is.

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Import Backup and Migrate on New Host

Importing backup is a crucial step to migrate a WordPress site.

Assuming you’ve created a blank WordPress site on a new host, now head over to your newly hosted WordPress site. First, upload, install, and activate the WpVivid plugin on your new site.

You’ll need to activate the license as well just as explained in the above steps.

After activating the license, find “WpVivid Plugin” on the left pane of your admin dashboard. Then click “backups and restoration”. You’ll see something like this:

How to Migrate a WordPress Site

Next, click “upload” and select the downloaded zip file of your WordPress site.

After uploading the file, click the “Scan uploaded backup or received backup” button. You’ll then see the uploaded file.

Next, click “restore” to start the migration of your existing WordPress site to your newly-hosted WordPress site. The process should not take too much time depending on how large the file is.

Note: During this process, your session may expire and you may need to re-login on your new WordPress site. When this happens, don’t panic. It is possible that your migration is complete. You’re possibly logged out because your login details on your newly hosted WordPress site are different from your existing site.

Make sure the DNS record on your newly hosted site is pointing correctly to your host’s DNS record. You can check this yourself but if you are not sure, you can contact your host.

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Double-check Before Finalizing

Before canceling the WordPress hosting plan on your old site, make sure everything is working fine, on your newly hosted WordPress site.

It’s also a good idea to double-check your permalink structure if they are ok. If not, you can do a simple redirect using this very simple redirect plugin.

UPDATE: The Updraft WordPress plugin seem to be a better option for migration than WPvivid plugin.

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Conclusion

Before now, when I didn’t know how to migrate a WordPress site, I thought doing it manually was better. But I was wrong. Using a simple plugin like WPVivid Backup and restoration is way easier.

With the steps above, you should now know how to migrate a WordPress site. The steps are pretty straightforward compared to other methods I’ve tried.

However, if for any reason you’re not getting any step right, you can drop a few lines in the comment box or schedule a one-on-one session to get the needed help. Either way, I’d like to hear from you.

Happy migration.

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