Migrating from GoDaddy Web site Builder to WooCommerce

Constructing a web based retailer with GoDaddy Web site Builder is a good place to begin for a brand new enterprise. 

However generally, good issues should come to an finish — particularly when what you are promoting is pushing on the seams of your software program’s capabilities.

Understanding when it’s time for an improve will be difficult, but it surely’s higher to behave sooner somewhat than later. When an ecommerce enterprise does outgrow its means, the shopper expertise suffers — together with gross sales. 

Fortunately, WooCommerce makes upgrading easy. You’ll be able to even preserve your web site hosted with GoDaddy if you happen to’d like! 

Let’s break down find out how to know when migration is important, discover the variations between GoDaddy Web site Builder and WooCommerce, and present you find out how to migrate.

There are a selection of causes you may want to maneuver your web site. Just a few indicators embody:

• Your site visitors, product catalog, or month-to-month order quantity begin to decelerate your web site. When this happens, you’ll need to migrate to a platform like WooCommerce, which positions you for progress.
• You run into performance obstacles along with your software program. You may suppose, “I’d actually like so as to add this instrument to my website,” however discover out that the platform you’re utilizing doesn’t enable for that. Or maybe you need to supply extra fee strategies or transport choices. With WooCommerce, there’s all the time a method.
• You need extra design flexibility. Maybe you need to up the creativity and professionalism of your website or model as a complete. A platform with extra flexibility and intuitive website builder capabilities makes the choices limitless.
• You need to attain a world viewers. As you scale, it’s your decision a platform that higher permits for worldwide progress — suppose superior transport strategies, native fee strategies, the power to simply accept a variety of currencies, content material translations, and extra.
• You need to improve your advertising efforts. Your advertising efforts will change over time. Maybe you want an ecommerce platform that higher integrates with the instruments you need to use, like ERPs, CRMs, and different promoting channels.
• You need extra management and possession over your retailer. The extra content material, merchandise, and gross sales you will have, the extra you worth possession. The very last thing you need is to have your website taken down unexpectedly since you violated phrases and situations you won’t have recognized about. And web site homeowners utilizing platforms like GoDaddy Web site Builder typically discover themselves locked in. They want extra performance or options, however run into partitions time and again, unable to develop their retailer the way in which they’d like.  

In the long run, there are many totally different causes emigrate. And the time is true when your present platform isn’t assembly expectations or doesn’t supply what it’s worthwhile to develop.

WooCommerce is an ecommerce instrument constructed particularly for WordPress. Briefly, WordPress is the software program that may energy your new website, whereas WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin that provides ecommerce performance.

WordPress is an open supply web site platform, which implies that it makes its supply code publicly obtainable to view or modify nonetheless you want. This not solely gives a ton of transparency, it additionally means that you’ve got full management and may create any type of design or performance. 

It additionally consists of the highly effective block editor that you should utilize to create customized pages and posts with out having to work with code. All you need to do is drag and drop components — like pictures, paragraphs, movies, and galleries — into place, then modify settings to customise each.

But it surely’s extra than simply a normal web page builder. You should use blocks to edit all the pieces from headers and footers to templates, together with layouts for weblog posts, product pages, and archives. This opens up a complete world of potentialities! 

With out having to muddle by means of sophisticated settings, rent a developer, and even edit a single line of code, you may customise the looks of your whole website. Edit checkout fields. Set a name to motion to mechanically seem in the midst of every weblog submit. Add an e mail seize into your footer. It’s all potential with WordPress.

It’s no marvel WordPress powers greater than 43% of the online.

Once you add the free WooCommerce plugin, you get all the pieces it’s worthwhile to run a web based retailer — checkout and cart pages, product listings, tax calculations, transport capabilities, and extra. 

On high of that, you achieve entry to tons of free and premium extensions that you should utilize to reinforce your retailer. With these instruments, you may:

• Promote new sorts of merchandise like memberships, subscriptions, bookings, wholesale gadgets, and extra.
• Improve the checkout expertise with add-ons, reward playing cards, product bundles, and extra.
• Settle for an enormous number of fee sorts, from debit and bank cards to digital wallets, in particular person funds, and fee plans.
• Create customized transport guidelines primarily based on all the pieces from weight and dimension to cart whole and placement.
• Combine with third-party instruments, together with e mail advertising suppliers, CRMs, social media platforms, social promoting platforms, ERPs, stock administration instruments, accounting software program, and transport instruments.

That’s a really condensed record. There’s an enormous number of extensions you may select from. And if you happen to don’t see one thing that meets your actual wants, you make the most of the open supply nature of WooCommerce and rent a developer to create one thing customized for you.

The brief reply: Each enterprise!

The lengthy reply: It will depend on what the shop wants. If it should profit from issues like full-scale customization, limitless flexibility, full management over prices, and an enthusiastic, worldwide group of useful builders, then a swap to WooCommerce shall be an excellent transfer.

We explored among the advantages of WooCommerce earlier, and in contrast options within the desk above. However the phrase that retains developing time and again is flexibility.

Not like with GoDaddy Web site Builder, you gained’t be held again as you develop. Retailer homeowners who switch to WooCommerce typically achieve this as a result of they need to add a selected characteristic to their website, however can’t discover a method to take action with GoDaddy.

Once you use WooCommerce, you’ll by no means run into limitations — they merely don’t exist. You’ll be able to customise your retailer in any method you’d like because of the WordPress website editor, extension library, and open supply code. And also you’ll by no means lose entry to, or management over, what you are promoting or knowledge, as a result of you personal it. 

Plus, you may take your web site to any host you’d like, all whereas maintaining the shopper expertise constant. You’re not locked in in any respect. 

And if you happen to began utilizing GoDaddy Web site Builder for its ease of use, don’t fear! The WordPress block editor simplifies the web site creation course of, permitting you to edit completely each facet of your design and format with out having to work with code. It’s extra highly effective and versatile than GoDaddy’s, however continues to be extraordinarily accessible for non-technical website homeowners.

Once you use WooCommerce, you’ll by no means run into limitations. You’ll by no means lose entry to, or management over, what you are promoting or knowledge, as a result of you personal it. You’ll be able to customise your retailer in any method you’d like because of the WordPress website editor, extension library, and open supply code.

And you may take your web site to any host you’d like, all whereas maintaining the shopper expertise constant.

All of this on high of highly effective performance, a platform constructed to scale, top-notch safety integrations, and an unimaginable, widespread group able to help you alongside your journey. Plus, in comparison with GoDaddy, WordPress and WooCommerce provide you with all of the necessities you want without charge!

There are three main methods emigrate:

1. Do it your self
2. Rent a developer
3. Rent a WooExpert (really useful)

Irrespective of which choice you select, you’ll solely be capable to migrate over primary order data. You’ll must rebuild your web site design and performance utilizing WordPress and WooCommerce. So, preserve this in thoughts when selecting the route you’d prefer to take.

1. Do it your self

Select a number

The simplest choice right here is to make use of GoDaddy for internet hosting, however migrate your retailer to WooCommerce. You’ll be able to merely attain out to GoDaddy help and request to maneuver from GoDaddy Web site Builder to their managed WooCommerce internet hosting plan. 

For those who’d like to alter each your internet hosting and your ecommerce platform, we’re right here to assist. WooCommerce works with many alternative hosts, however listed here are a number of really useful choices.  

For those who’d prefer to preserve web site administration easy, however nonetheless get all the flexibleness WooCommerce has to supply, the Entrepreneur plan on WordPress.com is ideal for you.

Obtain your website knowledge

Now’s the time to obtain and save data out of your present retailer. Whereas the info you may obtain is proscribed, it can save you orders utilizing this tutorial.

You’ll additionally need to save any extra data, like weblog posts, pictures, and web page content material. You are able to do this by copying textual content and downloading pictures to your laptop.

Rebuild your web site

Now you’ll must construct your web site on WordPress and WooCommerce. To get rid of downtime, it’s finest to start out constructing your ecommerce website on a short lived URL (which your host can present) and preserve your unique web site in the course of the growth course of. 

Then, you may comply with our 5 step getting began information, which walks you thru putting in WordPress and WooCommerce, selecting a theme, including merchandise, putting in any extensions you want, and extra.

Just remember to add any content material that you just need to preserve out of your previous website to your new retailer (utilizing the identical URL construction). That is significantly vital for sustaining your search engine rankings after your migration.

As soon as your website is prepared, merely level your area identify to your new host (if relevant) and luxuriate in your new, extra versatile and highly effective retailer.

2. Rent a developer

For those who don’t have the expertise, want, or time to finish your website migration by yourself, you may all the time rent a developer to deal with issues for you. Since WooCommerce is an open supply ecommerce platform, there are a wealth of skilled builders and businesses you may select from. And so they can deal with saving your retailer knowledge and constructing your new website multi function fell swoop. 

Simply take the time to decide on a vetted developer with glorious critiques, a strong portfolio, and expertise in migrating from GoDaddy Web site Builder to WooCommerce. There are a selection of platforms you should utilize to discover a developer, together with Upwork, Fiverr, and Codeable. 

And if you happen to select to go together with WordPress.com, you may make the most of their website growth capabilities, which begin at $499 for a WooCommerce website.

3. Rent a Woo Accomplice Company (really useful)

For probably the most seamless migration, hiring a Woo Accomplice Company is the way in which to go. Woo Accomplice Companies are thoroughly-vetted businesses specializing in WooCommerce. There’s a complete listing that you may look by means of to seek out the proper match for what you are promoting.

Have particular necessities? Filter by means of the record primarily based on time zone, language, trade, companies supplied, charges, and funds. You’ll be able to examine every company, look by means of their work, evaluate testimonials, and navigate to their web site for much more data. 

And since each WooExpert is, properly, an skilled, you may belief that the migration and website construct course of shall be top-notch and environment friendly.  

Whether or not you’re able to migrate to WooCommerce from GoDaddy Web site Builder or simply need to study extra, don’t wait. Attain out to our help group to study extra about migration and the way we may help you obtain what you are promoting objectives. 

Niall has centered on WordPress due its open nature and customizability for over 16 years and WooCommerce for nearly 5 years. He is a Woo Buyer Progress Happiness Engineer serving to Woo retailers and businesses get probably the most out of WooCommerce by consulting on finest practices, website optimization, checkout movement enhancements, and extra. In his free time, Niall tinkers with {hardware} and software program from Linux distros to gaming units and stays an avid lifetime gamer and member of the PCMR.