WordPress to Webflow: A Comprehensive Migration Guide

Migrating from WordPress to Webflow represents a pivotal shift in managing and presenting content online. For many, the move offers an opportunity to leverage Webflow's robust design capabilities, integrated CMS, and superior user experience. Check out how Webflow positions the value of a migration to their platform in their Wordpress to Webflow Migration article here.

This transition, while advantageous, requires careful planning and execution to ensure a seamless migration process. By doing so, website owners can maintain or even grow on-page SEO, ensure proper 301 redirects, transition dynamic data without compromising site performance or user engagement, while building a more modular, scalable design and development system that will be able to scale with your business. Whether you’re seeking more creative control, improved site speed, or a more intuitive content management system (CMS), understanding the why and how of moving from WordPress to Webflow is key.

In this article, we will walk you through the crucial steps any team must consider when migrating from WordPress to Webflow, as uncovered and refined by our team here at Zabal Media. From preparing your backup website and designing a detailed site plan to managing Webflow CMS and migrating your domain, we cover every essential aspect of the process in this “tell-all” Guide. Additionally, we'll delve into strategies for maintaining on-page SEO integrity and implementing 301 redirects to preserve your digital footprint. By the end, you'll be equipped with the knowledge to transition your online presence from WordPress to Webflow successfully, ensuring your data is dynamically integrated and your website's future is secure.

Understanding WordPress and Webflow

Overview of WordPress

WordPress, founded in 2003 by bloggers Mike Little and Matt Mullenweg, has evolved from a simple blogging platform to a comprehensive content management system (CMS) used by over 43% of websites globally. Its open-source nature allows users to modify and distribute its code freely, contributing to its massive growth and popularity. Initially designed for bloggers and small businesses, WordPress now caters to a wide range of users, from individual bloggers to large corporations. The platform is renowned for its user-friendly interface and extensive plugin directory, which enhances its functionality and customization options.

Overview of Webflow

Established in 2012, Webflow presents a modern approach to website development. Unlike WordPress, Webflow is a closed-source platform, meaning its source code is not available for public modification. It operates on a tiered subscription model, offering different levels of access and features. Webflow is acclaimed for its intuitive interface and design-first methodology, allowing users to create sophisticated websites quickly without extensive coding knowledge. The platform is particularly popular among designers, agencies, and enterprises who value creative freedom and efficient design processes.

Key Differences

The primary distinction between WordPress and Webflow lies in their foundational structures and target audiences. WordPress offers a vast array of plugins and themes, making it highly customizable but also requiring regular updates and maintenance. In contrast, Webflow provides a more contained environment with built-in tools for design, animations, and CMS capabilities, reducing the need for external plugins and frequent updates. Webflow's drag-and-drop interface appeals to users who prioritize design and ease of use over extensive customization. Additionally, Webflow's hosting solutions streamline the process of setting up and maintaining a website, whereas WordPress requires separate arrangements for hosting and domain registration.

Webflow focuses on targeting and serving primarily B2B brands with a vision and mission to grow. Zabal is lucky to have a long and very close relationship with the Webflow team and by being a Webflow Enterprise Partner, we can offer our clients unmitigated access to early feature releases, feedback and support from the Webflow Technical Architects, co-marketing and more. 

Reasons to Migrate from WordPress to Webflow

Hidden Costs of Wordpress

If we had to hone in on one of the largest reasons that Wordpress is unstable and risky is because it is an open-source publishing platform. Internet sites that run on open publishing software allow anyone with internet access to visit the site and upload content directly without having to crack the filters of traditional media - think Wikipedia. Any team or individual developer who’s had the responsibility (and burden) of managing and maintaining a Wordpress site knows all too well that unknown dread of an urgent text from the CEO or your boss with “the site is down” or finding x-rated content on the company website. Is open source worth the risk? The cost will not be measured or seen in marketing expenses or software, it’s in the overhead and operating expenses of your P&L. The countless hours, days, or even weeks that a developer or developers need to manage bugs, site outages, broken plugins, and more that you do not face with other platforms.

Performance Improvements

Migrating to Webflow can significantly enhance your website's performance. Unlike WordPress, where page load times can increase after updates even on fast connections, Webflow's hosting on Amazon Web Services (AWS) ensures high-speed, reliable performance. This robust infrastructure minimizes downtime and speeds up content delivery, making your site faster and more responsive.

Better Design Flexibility

Webflow excels in design flexibility, allowing you to create visually stunning websites without deep coding knowledge. The platform's drag-and-drop visual builder and extensive design options surpass WordPress' basic block editor. You can easily make design changes using style classes, which are not readily available in WordPress without additional plugins through a rich component library. This level of customization is particularly beneficial for designers who wish to implement specific visual elements without relying on a developer.

Enhanced User Experience

Webflow offers an intuitive and user-friendly interface that simplifies the website building process. Its all-in-one SaaS platform integrates necessary features for SEO, security, and eCommerce, which are built-in and do not require additional installations. This streamlined approach not only reduces the learning curve but also enhances the overall user experience by eliminating the need for frequent updates and plugin management. Moreover, Webflow's commitment to security, with strong encryption and built-in measures, ensures that your site remains safe from potential cyber threats, providing peace of mind and a secure environment for your visitors.

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Migration Considerations for Founders, Executives and Marketing or Creative Leaders

Most brands who turn to Zabal aren’t generally looking for one-to-one migration - simply exporting all content and creative and moving it from one platform to another. There is always an increased investment in this change - you’re dedicating time, people, and money into this project and in order to get an ROI on this investment, something has to improve.

Our clients (Founders, CEOs, CMOs, or Directors of Marketing) turn to Zabal for insight, input, and recommendations on how to: 

1. Up-level their current brand look and feel
2. Better position themselves versus competitors
3. Increase conversion
4. Improve user experience and the journey throughout the site
5. Rank higher in search via technical and on-page optimizations

It’s the combination of all of these “levers” that ultimately drive site performance and later impact down-stream revenue. This is where Zabal’s unique value lies. We’re not just a design and development team of “task takers,” we’re strategists and SMEs that will take your brand to the next level of performance, think with you and for you, make recommendations and drive step-function change for your company. I know this is a lofty promise, but we’ve delivered on this dozens, if not hundreds of times for our clients over the past 5 years.

Our process for successful migrations includes 6 steps: 

Step 1: Discovery - Understanding your business, market, customer and product

Step 2: Scoping - Align on a sitemap that best positions yourself in the market, but is balanced against your timeline and budget

Step 3: Design - Begin with UX/ wireframing steps to explore how you should really tell the story of your company, product, and solutions, and then shift into Design Concepting (our “Brand lite” exploration) and then into full High Fidelity design and UI.

Step 4: Development - The hand-off from design to development is where our team members really start to shine as your new site takes shape. The designers will envision the end state with lotties, micro animations, etc and annotate and partner with our development team to build the user experience that will help make your site feel so much more than a static PDF.

Step 5: QA - A key step in the process, we will review site performance, user experience, missing content, audit against ADA compliance standards and more so that when we hand over “they keys” to your website, it’s fully functional across device types and browsers and fit for traffic.

Step 6: Beyond - We will recap where your new site is and discuss if any “Phase 2” work would be beneficial to your business or sales and marketing teams. 

To have a more in-depth conversation about our process, feel free to reach out and we can schedule time to have our Director of Operations, Dagmawi, discuss our process and how it applies to your project.

Migration How-to for Designers and Developers

Step 1: Preparing for the Migration

Backing Up Your Current Website

Before initiating the migration, it's crucial that you back up your entire WordPress site. This includes all files, images, and databases. Utilizing tools like UpdraftPlus or VaultPress, accessible through your WordPress admin dashboard, ensures you have a reliable fallback. This step is vital to avoid data loss, especially if unforeseen issues arise during the migration process. Remember, a complete backup not only secures your data but also provides a quick recovery option, allowing you to restore your site to its former state if needed.

Benchmarking Your Current Website

To gauge the success of your migration, start by benchmarking your current website's performance. Tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, and WebPageTest will help you analyze crucial metrics like page load times, user engagement, and functionality. Record key performance indicators such as active user numbers, keyword rankings, conversion rates, and average time spent on the site. These benchmarks will serve as a valuable reference to compare against post-migration, helping you understand the impact of the transition to Webflow.

Planning Your Webflow Build

Once you have backed up your WordPress site and benchmarked its performance, the next step is to plan your Webflow build. Begin by selecting a suitable Webflow plan that meets your needs, ranging from basic to enterprise levels depending on your project size and requirements. Consider the number of pages, storage space, and whether you need eCommerce functionality. Start with a basic plan and upgrade as necessary. As you plan, aim to duplicate the essential layout of your WordPress site in Webflow and then gradually introduce enhancements and utilize Webflow’s rich design tools to optimize visuals and improve responsiveness across devices.

Step 2: Export and Migrate your Data and Content

Exporting Content from WordPress

1. Install and Activate the Export Plugin: Begin by heading to your WordPress dashboard. Navigate to the Plugins section, click "Add New," and search for the "Export any WordPress data to XML/CSV" plugin. Install and activate it to proceed.
2. Configure Export Settings: Once activated, go to the All Export settings. Here, you can specify the content types you want to export, such as posts or pages. Choose to export your data in CSV format for easier import into Webflow.
3. Run the Export: After configuring your settings, click on "Migrate Posts" or the equivalent option for your content type. Confirm and run the export. Download the resulting CSV file once the process completes.

Importing Content into Webflow

1. Create a New Webflow Project: If you don't already have a Webflow account, create one and start a new project. Navigate to the Collections panel within your project.
2. Import the CSV File: Upload the CSV file you exported from WordPress. Webflow will prompt you to map the CSV fields to the existing or new collection fields.
3. Adjust Import Settings: If necessary, adjust your site plan on Webflow to accommodate the new content, especially if you're importing a large number of items that might exceed the default collection item limits.

Mapping Fields Correctly

1. Field Matching: Carefully map the fields from your CSV to the corresponding fields in your Webflow collection. This includes matching titles, post bodies, and categories. For any custom fields such as SEO metadata or specialized content, ensure these are also accurately mapped.
2. Manual Adjustments: After the initial mapping, you might need to manually update fields that weren't automatically mapped. This includes complex fields like multi-reference fields or any custom integrations.
3. Final Checks and Adjustments: Review the imported content to ensure everything is correctly placed and appears as expected. Make any necessary adjustments to optimize the layout, responsiveness, and SEO settings within Webflow.

By following these steps, you can effectively migrate your website content from WordPress to Webflow, ensuring a smooth transition and maintaining the integrity of your digital presence.

Zabal’s Wordpress to Webflow Migration Success

At Zabal, we specialize in seamless migrations from WordPress to Webflow, ensuring that your site not only transitions smoothly but also benefits from enhanced design and performance. Our expertise in handling complex migrations has enabled us to deliver successful projects that elevate our clients' online presence.

Our fixed projects are ideal for clients looking to migrate or up-level their brand. We collaborate closely with you to discuss the number of pages, complexity (static or CMS pages), content provision, and any special requirements like motion graphics or deep integrations. This comprehensive approach determines the scope and budget of your project, ensuring clarity and alignment from the start.

When you choose Zabal you get an entire team of highly talented Webflow SME’s, that have migrated company sites dozens of times over. Your team will consist of a Project Manager, Senior UX Design lead, Creative Director and UI team, Senior Webflow Developer (sometimes more than 1 of each of these people depending on the complexity and scope of your project), a QA team and even a Content and Growth strategist, if needed. You’re truly in great hands.

Curious about our success stories? Here are two recent migration stories: 

Blueink drives 200% increase in traffic and 180% increase in trial sign-ups

Blueink who migrated from Wordpress to Webflow. The project included a rebrand, content strategy and development, UX/ UI, development and QA of a whole new site. We expanded on their sitemap adding Industry and persona page templates, Competitor CMS pages, deeper product and feature pages, as well a new Resource hub. The results on their pipeline and SaaS sign-ups were outstanding and we’re grateful to the co-founders for entrusting us to help them achieve this milestone for their brand and company.

Hubilo turns to Zabal for a 3-month, 450 page migration that drove an 89% increase in Organic Search traffic 

Hubilo, a Series C event-tech company turned to Zabal after just having selected Webflow Enterprise after a rigorous RFP with numerous requirements ranging from security to a platform that allows non-developers access to publish and a more scalable design and development system. They had lofty goals to do a full wordpress to Webflow migration in exactly 3 months, migrating 45 core marketing pages and a 400+ page blog from a subdirectory to a subdomain… PLUS a rebrand to boot! 

The internal Hubilo team, lead by their Head of Growth, a single internal developer and designer, and marketing ops lead grabbed hold of the project, completely reimagining the sitemap, user experience and design with a very close, hands-on partnership with both the Zabal and Webflow teams. 

This successful, on-time, on-budget migration ended up driving an 85% increase in speed-to-market (i.e. more site pages launched faster and easier as measured through Asana ticket management), an 89% increase in organic traffic (fyi: Hubilo was not ranking for any of their non-brand keywords on page 1 before the migration and post-migration had over 2 dozen on page one in just 6 months). To read more about this case study you can read Zabal’s own case study or even Webflow’s full case study on Hubilo - highlighted in the 2022 WebflowConf keynote.

Conclusion

Throughout this article, we guided you through the necessitous journey of migrating your website from WordPress to Webflow. This encompassed backing up your WordPress site, planning your Webflow design, and intricately moving content without sacrificing SEO or user experience. The progression aimed not just at a simple platform change but at enhancing website performance, design flexibility, and overall user engagement. The careful steps outlined ensure that you can confidently migrate to Webflow, leveraging its superior design tools and integrated CMS for a more robust online presence.

As we conclude, it's evident that the shift to Webflow stands as a strategic decision to capitalize on superior design capabilities, user experience, and site performance. Websites transitioning to Webflow can expect not only an improvement in aesthetics but also in functional efficiency and security. This process, while intricate, presents a clear pathway to elevate your digital footprint. As you move forward, remember the importance of monitoring site performance and continuously optimizing for the best user experience. The migration from WordPress to Webflow, as detailed, paves the way for a more dynamic and engaging online platform.

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FAQs

1. Is it possible to switch from WordPress to Webflow?
Yes, you can switch from WordPress to Webflow, but it's important to note that you cannot directly transfer your site's design. You'll need to rebuild your website within Webflow. This transition offers a great chance to not only recreate your existing site but also to enhance it, taking advantage of new design possibilities that Webflow provides.

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2. Can Webflow be integrated with WordPress?
Absolutely! If you prefer to design your site using Webflow but need to operate it on WordPress, you can utilize Webflow's WordPress plugin. This plugin allows you to visually build your site in Webflow and then publish one or more of those pages directly on your WordPress site, giving you full design control without needing to code.

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3. How do I migrate a website using the All-in-One WP Migration plugin?
Migrating a website with the All-in-One WP Migration plugin is straightforward and can be done in three simple steps:

• First, install the All-in-One WP Migration plugin.
• Next, click the export button to bundle your database, media files, plugins, and themes into a single file.
• Finally, use the “drag and drop” feature in the WordPress dashboard of your new website to unpack the file.

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4. What is the process to export a site migration from WordPress?
To export your site for migration from WordPress, follow these steps:

• Go to your site's dashboard and navigate to All-in-One WP Migration → Export.
• If you are using the same domain name on the new site, there is no need to use the find and replace feature during the export process.