Why people leave WordPress
WordPress is not a bad thing. A huge share of the world's sites run on it, and there is a reason.
People leave for other reasons, and the reasons are almost always the same few:
The trouble of updates. Core update, theme update, updates for twelve plugins. When you do one, another breaks.
Getting hacked. Someone gets in through one old plugin, and one day you open the site and see ads you do not know.
The hosting bill. Renewal year after year, and if you forget, the site goes down.
Depending on someone else for a small change. Even to change a price you have to phone the developer.
What changes
| How it works on WordPress | How it works here |
| Search for a plugin and install it | Say it in plain words and it is built |
| Buy a theme and install it | Say it and the look changes |
| Buy hosting separately, renew every year | Pay once, for life |
| Core and plugin updates | Nothing to do |
| Call a developer for a small change | Do it yourself from the site manager page |
The biggest difference is in the mind. On WordPress you run a system, and looking after that system is on you. Here the running part is ours, and your job is only to keep the text and prices right.
What you will lose, the honest answer
We need to be honest here, because a wrong migration decision troubles you for about a month.
The world of a thousand plugins is not here. On WordPress, for any odd thing, someone has made a plugin. Here, what does not exist you have to ask to have built, and not everything can be built.
Old writing does not come by itself. There is no button to pull all the posts from WordPress in one click. The ones you need, you copy yourself and put into new pages.
If it is a very big shop, think. With thousands of products, complex variants and many languages, WooCommerce is still more complete.
What each kind of shop needs is set out point by point in the post on the shop web app.
The domain is not lost
This is what people fear most, and the fear is unfounded.
Your domain, say aiinbangla.com, is something you bought yourself, and it stays where you bought it. In the address book, that is DNS, you only change one entry so that the name points to the new site.
That means customers type the same address, and the new site opens. The address printed on your business card does not have to change.
How to do it is step by step in the post on adding a domain.
How to move with the least trouble
Build the new one first. Keep the old site running and build the new one. Both can exist together, because until you change the domain, the new one sits at a separate address.
Bring only what you really need. Out of two hundred posts over five years, in practice ten get read. Open Google Analytics and see which ones people come to, bring those, and do not worry about the rest.
Download the photos. From the old site's media library, download the ones you will need, then put them on the new site.
Change the domain last. Change the DNS entry after the new site is completely right. It spreads everywhere within a day.
Keep the old hosting for a month. Do not shut it down before you are sure everything is fine. A month's rent is cheap as the price of safety.
The addresses that will break
If on the old site the address of the posts is like aiinbangla.com/2023/05/post-name, and on the new one it is different, then going in through an old link will find nothing.
For a small shop this is usually not a problem, because people do not arrive through the links of inner pages, they arrive by typing the shop's name.
But if some post gets regular visitors from Google, try to keep its address as close as possible to the same on the new site. If you keep the title the same, the address also comes out close.
The cost
What goes out each year on WordPress: hosting, domain, sometimes a theme, sometimes a plugin licence, and the developer's bill.
Here the domain stays your own cost, and the hosting is a one-time payment. The full figures are in the post on website costs, because when the numbers are in one place, it is easy to compare.
Questions and answers
Will the writing from my old WordPress site come over by itself? No. The ones you need, you copy yourself and put into new pages. In practice this is little work, because most old posts are no longer read by anyone; bring only the ones people come to, as analytics shows.
Will I lose my domain? No. The domain is one you bought yourself, and it stays where you bought it. You only change one DNS entry so it points to the new site, so the address stays the same.
Is there a cart and checkout like WooCommerce? There is an order form and a site inbox, and you can put your own bKash Merchant or SSLCommerz payment link on a button. But if you need complex variants for a thousand products and stock management, WooCommerce is still more complete.
Can I install plugins? No, and that is the main difference. What you need, you say in plain words and have it built. This removes the trouble of updates and security, and in exchange the world of a thousand ready plugins is not here either.
Will the site be down for a while during the move? It should not be, if you build the new one completely and then change the domain. You can build the new one while the old site keeps running, because until you change the domain the new one sits at a separate address.
When do I shut down the old hosting? At least a month after you are sure everything is fine. A month's rent is cheap as the price of safety, because if something goes wrong the way back is still open.
Will the Google ranking I had go away? When the address changes there are some ups and downs, and that is normal. If you keep the titles and addresses of the posts that really bring people as close to the same as possible, the shock is smaller.
Will the fear of being hacked stay? On WordPress the fear comes from old plugins and themes, which you have to keep updated. Here the running part is on our side, so keeping things updated is not your job.
In short
- No trouble with plugins, themes and updates, and in exchange the world of plugins is not here either
- You have to move the old writing yourself, it does not come by itself
- The domain stays the same, only one DNS entry changes
- Build the new one first, change the domain last
- Keep the old hosting for a month
- For a complex shop with a thousand products, WooCommerce is still more complete