{"id":30571,"date":"2021-10-06T15:00:16","date_gmt":"2021-10-06T13:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/?p=30571"},"modified":"2021-10-06T11:07:37","modified_gmt":"2021-10-06T09:07:37","slug":"how-to-migrate-from-godaddy-website-builder-to-wordpress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/how-to-migrate-from-godaddy-website-builder-to-wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Migrate from GoDaddy Website Builder to WordPress"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]WordPress might be the most popular website builder in the world, but it sure doesn\u2019t have to be the first one you\u2019ll use when creating your website. There are so many different website builders to choose from. <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/how-to-migrate-from-blogger-to-wordpress\/\">Blogger<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/migrate-squarespace-to-wordpress\/\">Squarespace<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/migrate-wix-to-wordpress\/\">Wix<\/a>, or even <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/migrate-medium-to-wordpress\/\">Medium<\/a> are some of the popular solutions. <a href=\"https:\/\/ie.godaddy.com\/websites\/website-builder\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GoDaddy<\/a>, the registrar, and hosting company of some renown, has a website builder, too, and it might be just the perfect solution you need for creating your first website.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]It might also be a solution that\u2019s easy to outgrow. If you decide to migrate your website from the GoDaddy Website Builder to WordPress, you\u2019d be wise to do it sooner than later, and be ready for lots of work, because GoDaddy won\u2019t make it easy. In this article, we\u2019ll show you why and how you might want to migrate your website from the GoDaddy Website Builder to WordPress.<br \/>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]We\u2019ll cover topics that include:<br \/>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;22px&#8221;]<ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\"><a href=\"#reasons-to-move-from-godaddy-website-builder-to-wordpress\">Reasons to Move from GoDaddy Website Builder to WordPress<\/a><\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;5px&#8221;]<ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\"><a href=\"#prepare-for-migration\">How to Prepare for the Migration<\/a><\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;5px&#8221;]<ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\"><a href=\"#set-up-your-wordpress-website\">Set Up Your WordPress Website<\/a><\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;5px&#8221;]<ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\"><a href=\"#out-of-godaddy-into-wordpress\">Getting Your Content Out of GoDaddy and Into WordPress<\/a><\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;5px&#8221;]<ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\"><a href=\"#next-steps\">The Next Steps<\/a><\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;80px&#8221;][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=&#8221;new-top-picks-banner&#8221;][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;80px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\"><a id=\"reasons-to-move-from-godaddy-website-builder-to-wordpress\"><\/a>Why Move from GoDaddy Website Builder to WordPress?<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;21px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder    \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"969\" height=\"553\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Why-Move-from-GoDaddy-Website-Builder-to-WordPress.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Why Move from GoDaddy Website Builder to WordPress\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Why-Move-from-GoDaddy-Website-Builder-to-WordPress.jpg 969w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Why-Move-from-GoDaddy-Website-Builder-to-WordPress-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Why-Move-from-GoDaddy-Website-Builder-to-WordPress-768x438.jpg 768w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Why-Move-from-GoDaddy-Website-Builder-to-WordPress-620x354.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 969px) 100vw, 969px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]GoDaddy is a fantastically well-known company you must come across when looking into <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/how-to-choose-wordpress-hosting-provider\/\">website hosting<\/a> providers, or when trying to <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/what-is-a-domain-name\/\">register a domain name<\/a>. Besides hosting your WordPress website and letting you register a name for it, <strong>GoDaddy also offers you to use their very own Website Builder to quickly create a professionally-looking website.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]If you do that, you\u2019ll get a website that looks awesome and is very quick and easy to set up.<strong> You\u2019ll have the option to customize it by choosing different themes, fonts, and colors.<\/strong> You\u2019ll be able to add a blog, upload your images, decide what types of pages you want. With additional GoDaddy tools, you\u2019ll be able to take appointments or partake in some email or SEO marketing. You\u2019ll even be able to use the Website Builder to create your very own store.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<strong>The problem, and the reason why you\u2019ll eventually want to move, is that WordPress does all of this better, except maybe the part where you can have your website up and running in a couple of minutes.<\/strong> With WordPress, you\u2019ll spend more time on setting everything up because, for example, you\u2019ll have lots of <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/themes-list\/\">awesome premium themes<\/a> to choose from, and they\u2019ll let you customize your website to the finest of details. <strong>You have a very limited number of themes with GoDaddy, and lots of restrictions on what you can and cannot customize.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]It\u2019s also fair to say that, while the additional tools offered by GoDaddy will surely come in handy when trying to build a store or market your website, they won\u2019t even come close to WordPress\u2019 plugins ecosystem. <strong>So the bottom line is that while GoDaddy website builder can get your website up and running quickly, WordPress will probably help it run further and for longer.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;68px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\"><a id=\"prepare-for-migration\"><\/a>How to Prepare for the Migration<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;21px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"969\" height=\"448\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/How-to-Prepare-for-the-Migration.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"How to Prepare for the Migration\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/How-to-Prepare-for-the-Migration.jpg 969w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/How-to-Prepare-for-the-Migration-300x139.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/How-to-Prepare-for-the-Migration-768x355.jpg 768w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/How-to-Prepare-for-the-Migration-620x287.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 969px) 100vw, 969px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]Before you start preparing for the migration, you should know that GoDaddy Website Builder doesn\u2019t have many features that will make the migration easier for you \u2013 <strong>apart from the fact that you can download the images you\u2019ve uploaded to your website.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<strong>The content on your website\u2019s pages, your blog posts, the products in your store \u2013 even the ones you\u2019ve imported using a .csv file \u2013 will not be available for export.<\/strong> It\u2019s important to make the switch as soon as possible because you\u2019ll have to do everything manually in an effort that can easily turn into a big project.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]Some tools could be helpful to you along the way, and you won\u2019t have to do everything one thing at a time.<strong> For instance, if you want to back up your GoDaddy website, you can use a tool to download it to your computer instead of downloading each page separately.<\/strong> You\u2019ll also be able to download all of the images you\u2019ve uploaded to GoDaddy practically all at once \u2013 <strong>although you won\u2019t be able to do the same with the stock photos from GoDaddy you\u2019ve used on your website.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<strong>So if you\u2019re wondering how to prepare for a migration from GoDaddy to WordPress, you might first prepare mentally.<\/strong> You\u2019ll next have to set aside a sizable chunk of time in your schedule for it, although this might depend on the size of your website. Then, you should move on to the first step.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;68px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\"><a id=\"set-up-your-wordpress-website\"><\/a>Set Up Your WordPress Website<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;21px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"969\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Set-Up-Your-WordPress-Website.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Set Up Your WordPress Website\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Set-Up-Your-WordPress-Website.jpg 969w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Set-Up-Your-WordPress-Website-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Set-Up-Your-WordPress-Website-768x428.jpg 768w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Set-Up-Your-WordPress-Website-620x346.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 969px) 100vw, 969px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]Before you start moving the website, i.e. copy-pasting the contents of your GoDaddy website to your new WordPress website, it would be a great idea to have that WordPress website all set up.<strong> Ideally, you should sort out the hosting and <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/how-to-setup-wordpress-staging-site\/\">use a staging site<\/a><strong> if you have to transfer the domain name from GoDaddy to your new website, or a site with a temporary address.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]To that website, you\u2019ll want to make all the changes you want to be there before you start copying the content. <strong>Take a good, long look at what your GoDaddy website looks like.<\/strong> Figure out what you like about it, and what you don\u2019t. Find which features you like, and which you\u2019d like to have.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<strong>Next, start looking through WordPress themes, with their demos and all, for a layout that resembles the one you used on GoDaddy.<\/strong> Or, you can go completely the other way \u2013 use this as an opportunity to give your WordPress website a facelift, and choose a completely different layout. Maybe give our free <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/qi-theme\/\">Qi theme<\/a> a try. Keep in mind, however, that you should stay consistent with the previous website\u2019s branding unless you\u2019re planning to use this opportunity to rebrand as well.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<strong>You should do the same with the plugins you want to use.<\/strong> For example, you should install WooCommerce and maybe look into its extensions if you plan to have an online store. At the very least, you should consider installing a caching and backup plugin, something for SEO, and something for security. There\u2019s a whole list of steps of <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/things-to-do-after-installing-wordpress\/\">things to do after installing WordPress<\/a> \u2013 go through it and apply the ones you\u2019ll think you need the most.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;68px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\"><a id=\"out-of-godaddy-into-wordpress\"><\/a>Getting Your Content Out of GoDaddy and Into WordPress<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;21px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder   qodef-has-border \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"969\" height=\"585\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Getting-Your-Content-Out-of-GoDaddy-and-Into-WordPress.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Getting Your Content Out of GoDaddy and Into WordPress\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Getting-Your-Content-Out-of-GoDaddy-and-Into-WordPress.jpg 969w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Getting-Your-Content-Out-of-GoDaddy-and-Into-WordPress-300x181.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Getting-Your-Content-Out-of-GoDaddy-and-Into-WordPress-768x464.jpg 768w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Getting-Your-Content-Out-of-GoDaddy-and-Into-WordPress-620x374.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 969px) 100vw, 969px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<strong>Now that your WordPress website is ready to take on the content, it\u2019s time that you copy and paste it.<\/strong> Before you do that, you might find it worth your while to make a copy of your whole website using the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.httrack.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HTTrack Website Copier<\/a>, an application that will make a copy of your website available for offline browsing. So basically, it will download your whole website to your computer, or at least most of it, as some images might not make it through.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<strong>As for the images, the ones you\u2019ve uploaded to your GoDaddy website can be downloaded in bulk from the image gallery.<\/strong> The stock images you\u2019ve used that were provided by GoDaddy won\u2019t be downloadable the same way. If the HTTrack didn\u2019t grab them, navigating them, right-clicking on them, and saving them locally is the only other option you have.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]There are two ways you can then populate your new website with the content from your GoDaddy website. <strong>One is to simply copy the content and paste it, building one page and one post at a time. It\u2019s tedious work, and the more pages and posts you have the worse it will get.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<strong>The other option you could try would be to copy the HTML code from your GoDaddy pages and posts and paste it into your new WordPress pages and posts.<\/strong> Again, you\u2019d have to create all those new pages and posts, and you\u2019d have your hands full of removing the stray elements you won\u2019t need on your new website, but that\u2019s just how it is.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<strong>As far as images go, you\u2019ll have to upload them manually, one by one, on each page or post.<\/strong> Again, it\u2019s tedious work, which is why you should do it before your website becomes big.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;68px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\"><a id=\"next-steps\"><\/a>The Next Steps<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]After you\u2019ve successfully migrated all the content from your old website to your new one, you\u2019ve done the bulk of the work \u2013 but you\u2019re not finished yet. <strong>The next steps you\u2019ll have to do involve:<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;22px&#8221;]<ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\">Setting up the permalink structure so that it mimics what you had on GoDaddy<\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul><ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\">Pointing the domain name to your new website \u2013 something your new host might help you with<\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul><ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\">Deleting your old GoDaddy website<\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul><ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\">Fine-tuning your new website to the fullest extent of your plugins and WordPress theme<\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]With that, you can finally say that you\u2019ve migrated your GoDaddy Website Builder website to a WordPress website. You better enjoy it because it must have been a ride.<br \/>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;68px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\">Let\u2019s Wrap It Up!<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]For all the good a GoDaddy Website Builder website can do for you, you\u2019ll soon find that moving away from it and towards a most customizable solution such as WordPress can be an arduous task. However, if you arm yourself with patience and attention to detail, you can make the switch without losing any quality or performance in the process. You might even have fun shopping around for the right WordPress themes.<br \/>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Need to move your website from the GoDaddy Website Builder to WordPress? We&#8217;ll show you what you&#8217;ll need to do, but be warned &#8211; it can be quite a task.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9295,"featured_media":30643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[14,4,13],"class_list":["post-30571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tutorials","tag-core","tag-tips","tag-wordpress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9295"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}