Webflow and Its Rising Popularity

Webflow has been gaining traction as a go-to platform for web design and development. Its user-friendly interface and powerful design capabilities make it an attractive choice for businesses of all sizes. This surge in popularity is driving a significant website migration service market, with Webflow migration becoming a sought-after service.

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Why Migrate to Webflow?

Choosing Webflow means accessing a platform that offers unparalleled design flexibility without the need for extensive coding knowledge. Though, it's not just only about a better-looking site; it's about creating a digital space that resonates with your brand and reaches your audience more effectively. Webflow’s SEO-friendly architecture and strong built-in SEO features empowers you to build a website that's both visually appealing and ranks well in search results, which ultimately will set your site up for success and give you a competitive edge.

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Regardless if you are looking to migrate from WordPress or any other CMS builder we believe Webflow should be your platform of choice. It’s easy, fast and convenient. It’s a no-brainer really. But as a Webflow Professional Partner we also might be a bit biased. 

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Webflow Migration Services

There are many agencies that provide and offer comprehensive Webflow migration services. These range from full-service migrations to more tailored solutions. Understanding the website migration service cost and selecting the agency that best aligns with your goals and budget is the key to a successful migration. 

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If you are looking to take the matter into your own hands. Down below you'll find a comprehensive step by step guide.

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Step-by-Step Migration Guide

Our guide below will outline the migration process in broader and more general terms. From initial planning to final execution, we will provide you with some tips that we hope will help you navigate the migration journey with confidence.

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1. Pre-Migration Planning

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Set Clear Objectives

Define clear objectives. What is the goal with your migration? Whether it's improving user experience, boosting SEO, enhancing the design or adding more functionality, knowing your goals will streamline the process.

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Assess Your Current Website 

Understand the structure, content, and functionalities of your existing site. Crawl your site using a spider like Screaming Frog’s SEO Spider to get a complete overview over your URLs. 

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Map out the new sitemap

When you have reviewed your URLs you can start to plan out your new sitemap. What can be migrated as it is? What can be improved? And what is outdated or redundant? Now is the perfect time to delete pages that no longer reflect your business. Make sure to note which URLs will stay the same and which ones will be changed. This will make the process of setting up 301 redirects much easier, but more on that later.

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Inventory Your Assets 

Make a list of all digital assets (images, videos, documents) and ensure they are organized and ready for transfer. Also, always make sure to take screenshots and save a copy of your current site if something were to go south down the road.

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2. Setting Up on Webflow

With a good plan and strategy in the books, it’s time to set up.

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Familiarize yourselves with Webflow

Start by creating a Webflow Account by signing up on Webflow. Spend some time exploring Webflow's interface. There are many Webflow tutorials available to help you get comfortable with the platform.

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Template or Custom Design

Decide whether to use a Webflow template or create a custom design. Of course this depends on your skills, the complexity of your site and your own goals with your site. As a digital agency we are advocates for custom design as it will elevate your brand and make you stand out from competition, but there are many good templates out there too.

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3. Design, Development and Content Migration

Now it’s time to buckle up and start doing the heavy lifting.

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Recreate Your Design 

Now comes the hardest part where you will have to rebuild your design in Webflow using the Webflow's visual editor to recreate your site's design or to build a new one from scratch. For the uninitiated this might feel like a tall order but like we mentioned Webflow has many great resources to get you started. Over at Webflow University you will find probably the greatest tutorials out there. They really are something other than your standard product teaching videos. Always to the point, funny and very educational.

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Responsive Design Check

As you’ll learn from your tutorials you also need to make sure your design looks good on all devices. Therefore you need to implement a responsive design using Webflow’s responsive design features. 

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Content Migration

If your site is small, manually copying and pasting content might be feasible. For larger sites with a lot of content, especially blog posts or product listings, use Webflow’s CSV import feature. You will probably need to restructure some of the CMS content, but importing it this way will save you a lot of time compared to manually copying and pasting the content. 

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Add Interactions and Animations

To bring your site to life and enhance the user experience make sure to utilize Webflow's interaction tools.

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5. SEO and Redirects

The devil is in the details. With the site new in place we now need to make sure that we nail all the technical SEO details and set your site up for success.

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Preserving your SEO during migration: 

Ever since your site was launched the first time it has gained SEO value. You don’t want to start from scratch again, which is why it is crucial to carefully migrate your SEO settings to maintain search engine rankings. Also make sure to utilize all of the inbuilt features in Webflow. Confirm that you have your meta titles, meta descriptions, OG images, favicons, alt tags and headings set up correctly. 

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301 redirects

As far as possible try to keep your URLs from your old site the same. There is really no point changing them just for the sake of changing. However, with a new sitemap and site structure some changes are inevitable.

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When changing or switching URLs it is really important to set up 301 redirects from your old URL to your new changed one. The same goes for the URLs you delete. Here it’s common practice to set up redirects to the most relevant page on your new site, usually your landing page. If you don’t implement 301 redirects, people who use your old URL will find the link the be broken and not be able to access your site. We don’t want that.

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Luckily it’s very simple to add 301 redirects in Webflow. In the dashboard under “publishing” you’ll find a section called “301 redirects”. Here you simply type your old URL and point it to your new URL.

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404 page

No matter how well you set up and structure your redirects, some users always seem to find their way to a broken link. As assurance and to avoid confusion it’s always smart to create a custom 404-page that can point your users in the right way. 

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6. Live is life

Soon there. Just a few quality checks and then we’re live.

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Quality Assurance and Analytics

It’s soon time to go live. But before you press the button it’s good practice to thoroughly test your site for any bugs or issues one last time. Check all links, forms, and functionalities. 

Also, if you are using third party softwares like Google Analytics, Search Console, Tag Manager, Hotjar or any other tracking software now is the time to add them to your Webflow website and make sure they are working correctly. 

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Connect Your Domain

Now the time has come. You feel satisfied with your new site and everything works as it should. What’s left is just to connect your domain, press the button and off you go. Welcome to the Webflow family, you are now officially live. 

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7. Post-Migration

Great. Now we’re up and running. Just a few more important things to consider.

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Submit sitemap to Google

In order to make sure that Google understands that you have launched a new awesome Webflow site you need to submit your new sitemap over at Google Search Console. This will tell Google to recrawl your new site and look for any changes. 

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Monitor Site Performance: 

After launching, also make sure to monitor your site's performance closely using your analytics tools and make adjustments as needed. Keep in mind that it usually takes some time for everything to stabilize and that it’s completely normal to see a decrease in incoming traffic in the beginning. Also, the bigger changes you make to your design and copy the greater the fluctuation you’ll see after you migrate. 

However, we’re not migrating for lower organic traffic rates. Quite the opposite. And as long as you’ve done everything correctly and that the design, SEO and copy truly are an improvement compared to your old site, your traffic should come back and surpass your old numbers within a month or two.

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Conclusion

Migrating to Webflow can be a game-changer for your online presence. By following this step-by-step guide, we hope that your transition will go as smoothly as possible. 

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out and contact us.‍

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are the benefits of migrating to Webflow?

Migrating to Webflow offers several benefits: a more intuitive design interface, better customization capabilities, integrated CMS, strong built-in SEO architecture with no need for third-party extensions, and superior responsiveness across devices, making it ideal for modern web development needs.

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2. How long does it typically take to migrate a website to Webflow?

The duration of a Webflow migration depends on the complexity and size of your current site. Typically, a small to medium-sized website might take a few weeks, while larger sites with more intricate designs and functionalities could take several months.

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3. Can I maintain my SEO rankings when migrating to Webflow?

Yes, with proper planning and execution, you can maintain your SEO rankings. This involves carefully mapping old URLs to new ones, ensuring all meta tags and descriptions are transferred, and maintaining the structural integrity of your website.