The Ultimate 10-Step Guide to CMS Migration

Over 790,000 of the top 1 million websites that receive the most traffic are powered by a CMS platform.

Simply put, if your business operations are centered around a website (like most of us), using a CMS should be one of your top priorities. A CMS platform can help you revolutionize your content delivery ecosystem, improve your organization's workflow and create powerful web experiences for your users.

So, when and how should you migrate your website to the best available Content Management System?

In this post, we’ll break down the process of CMS migration into 10 easy steps.

We’ll also tell you how custom CMS development can help you create a personalized, industry-specific CMS solution.

Let’s get started!

When to Migrate to a CMS?

Before we get to the “how” of CMS migration, let’s take a quick look at the scenarios under which you should consider migrating to a CMS:

1. Your current CMS is Lagging

If you’re one of the 76 million enterprises that currently use a CMS, consider migrating to a state-of-the-art CMS if you see your current system lagging.

After all, we operate in a market where customers are increasingly demanding ethical hyper-personalization and more choices.

So, ensure that your CMS is equipped with a cutting-edge microservice infrastructure and up-to-date UI/UX features.

2. Your CMS is Struggling with Scalability

Growth is inevitable for a business: either we expand and grow bigger, or we collapse and die. A scalable CMS is, therefore, extremely important in ensuring the survival of your business. Remember, it’s better to have something and not need it than to need something and not have it.

This applies squarely to your content management system: if your current system is not up to the task, we recommend you migrate to a scalable alternative.

3. Your CMS Doesn’t Have Robust Security

Security goes hand-in-hand with hyper-personalization that’s in demand right now.

It is important for your proprietary data, user confidence and regulatory compliance.

So, if you notice a lack of top-notch security features in your CMS, it’s a sign that you should seek greener pastures: a CMS with greater security.

4. Your CMS is Leading to Slower Load Times

Who among us likes waiting for our websites to load?

Certainly not our customers: statistics show that most users will leave a website that doesn’t load in under three seconds.

So, if your CMS is unable to deploy your website to different browsers within this timeframe, you should be looking for one that can.

After all, every second can bring you closer to a customer!

Migrating to a Headless CMS Can Help You

Moving on from the negatives, let’s look at the light at the end of the CMS migration tunnel. There are several benefits of migrating to a state-of-the-art CMS as soon as possible:

• Microservices Integration

Whether it’s chatbots, payment interfaces or translational features, microservice infrastructure is crucial in today’s marketplace.

And you don’t want to be the only website that lacks useful plugins that your competitors provide.

For instance, WPForms is a powerful plugin used by millions of users to create simple and effective WordPress forms for their users. These can be used to invite sign-ups, gather user queries or even book consultations!

So, microservice integration is a great incentive for CMS migration: if you see a CMS that provides seamless integration, it’s time to migrate.

• Introduction of the Latest Feature

When it comes to business, new is always better.

So, whether it’s chatbot integration for instant query solving or telematics deployment for advanced order tracking, the latest content management systems have them all.

Take stock of all the CMS platforms available to ensure you’re not missing out on any of them.

• Increase Efficiency and Enhance Coordination

And it’s not just the demand side of your business that stands to benefit.

The latest CMS platforms also offer more capabilities to the supply-side stakeholders: centralized control for executives, more options for content creators, and faster deployment for website developers.

10 Steps for a Smooth CMS Migration Experience

Let’s say you’ve decided to migrate to a new CMS for a better experience: how should you go about the migration process?

Here’s a step-by-step guide to aid your CMS migration experience:

(1) Assess the Strengths and Weaknesses of Your Current CMS

First, assess the strengths and weaknesses of your current content management system.

Since these strengths and weaknesses will be based on your expectations from your CMS platform, they’ll help you understand exactly what you need from your new CMS.

(2) Establish CMS Migration Objectives

Based on your strengths and weaknesses assessment, establish a list of the objectives you want to accomplish with your CMS migration.

These may include faster loading speeds, greater control over permissions, enhanced performance or microservice integration.

For instance, if you operate in the eCommerce sector, you may want better payment integration or inventory management capabilities.

Similarly, if you operate in the travel industry, you might want AI-driven itinerary development.

(3) Choose the CMS

Next, choose the right CMS that suits your business and industry.

For instance, if you want to simplify content management, build an SEO-friendly website and retain granular control, Strapi CMS development might be the right option.

Alternatively, if you’re looking for the best eCommerce CMS platforms, platforms like Sanity, Shopify or Salesforce are great choices.

Similarly, if you want an AI-powered CMS for a Learning Management System or internal collaboration, Kontent.AI is the CMS you want.

So, take a survey of the best CMS that is appropriate for your growth journey and industry standards.

You May Also Like: Headless CMS vs Traditional CMS

(4) Establish a Migration Roadmap

Once you’ve chosen the right CMS to migrate to, it’s time to establish a migration roadmap.

Typically, it takes from a few days to several weeks to complete a CMS migration successfully.

A good migration strategy provides for an adequate preparatory period to ensure minimal downtime for existing operations.

(5) Choose the right CMS Development Partner

Often, the greatest challenge in CMS migration is a lack of the right skills required to complete the migration.

This is because every CMS has its own features, UI and functionality: not every developer will be familiar with every CMS platform.

Further, you only get one shot at successful migration: all subsequent attempts make the process suboptimal and unnecessarily costly.

So, we recommend you retain an enterprise content management consultant partner for your migration process.

It will give you an added layer of security and expertise in ensuring that the transition is as smooth as possible.

(6) Prepare Data for Migration

Next, it’s time to prepare your existing data for migration.

This step may be simple or slightly complicated, depending on your current database.

For instance, Strapi supports databases such as SQLite, MongoDB, MySQL and Postgres. So, if you’re using any one of these, migration to Strapi will be a breeze.

However, if you’re migrating to a CMS that doesn’t support your current database, allow some time for the preparation of a new, compatible database.

It will help you ensure that you retain all the necessary legacy data that has helped you achieve your historical success!

(7) Implement the Migration Strategy

Once the data is prepared, it’s time to implement the migration strategy.

This will require several technical steps involving structural reconfiguration, URL evaluation, metadata migration, media file transmission and more!

Make sure that you have properly vetted your migration partners and DevOps team: this will allow you to rest assured in the knowledge and skills of your personnel.

(8) Integrate CMS with New Features

Once the migration is complete, it’s time to break out the new features for which you’ve made the migration journey!

Make a list of all the features that you want to include by consulting the objectives you have established for CMS migration.

Ensure two things: first, that you do not miss out on vital features and second, that you integrate the features gradually to develop a smooth-running website.

(9) Test and Validate

After the integration period, test and validate your new website or app.

Make sure that it and its features are working per your expectations.

Go a step further and test the website or app on multiple browsers, platforms and devices to ensure compatibility with all your current customers and potential users.

(10) Post-Migration Maintenance and Optimization

And that’s it: you’ve reached the end of your CMS migration journey.

But the process doesn’t stop there: it’s only the beginning of a new and more exciting period for your business!

This involves performing routine maintenance and routinely optimizing the performance of your website.

After all, you don’t want to migrate to a new CMS only to increase your technical debt with time!

Best-in-Class CMS Migration Assistance, Guaranteed

If you’ve decided to depart to greener pastures of a more comprehensive CMS, we at Green Apex are here to help you through your migration journey!

We understand the challenges and anxieties that come with the task of CMS migration.

Our experienced experts are here to help you turn the challenge of CMS migration into an opportunity to harness the power of innovative content management solutions.

We follow an agile development process that rests on periodic communication to ensure that you have the smoothest migration experience possible.

Reach out to our CMS veterans and find out how you can get started with your CMS migration today!