Transferring a website from a shared cPanel account to Plesk control panel, including WordPress.

How to transfer from Shared cPanel to Plesk.

Recently we have taken on the task of transferring all of our websites from A Small Orange (who, disappointingly, took a nosedive in their customer service) to Netsonic, a local hosting company right in our back yard! Well, maybe Pulaski is Green Bay's backyard but you get the point.

With Netsonic we took on the added responsibility of managing each of our clients hosting accounts. Rather than having them all on one, now each client has their own account. It doesn't mean much for the client, but its a better, more organized way of managing the 70+ websites that we now currently have.

Herein lies the challenge, how to transfer a WordPress website, with all of its files and databases, from a Shared Hosting Account to Plesk.

Upgrade to VPS Hosting

First, with your typical shared hosting account you won't have WHM (Web Host Manager) access, and you need this access to tap into your account using the migration tool in Plesk.

Once you upgrade or purchase a VPS hosting plan, have your current host migrate all of your data from shared to VPS. This won't make the websites run off of the VPS server, you actually will have to go in and point your DNS (and if you're transferring to Plesk then its not necessary to point the DNS until you point it TO your Plesk server), but regardless it will migrate the files and databases.

WHM

Next, once the your data has been migrated to WHM, all of your websites will still show up under the ONE account (if you had your websites set up as addon domains under the one, main URL) You will need to extract the websites from here.

You do this by selecting "Transfer" from the WHM menu and then clicking on the box that is labeled "Convert Addon Domain to Account" Inside this menu you will find all of the possible domains to convert.

The result is each website listed as its own account.

Plesk Migration and Transfer Manager

In your Plesk dashboard, open the Migration and Transfer Manager under "Tools & Settings"

Then select "Start New Migration" 

Fill out all of the information necessary to transfer: IP address, username, password, etc. *It may ask you to enter a temporary password that Plesk provides you. In that case copy the temporary password go back to your VPS WHM, click the plus arrow to expand the domain you are migrating and enter the temporary password where it says "Change Password" and back in Plesk continue with the migration.

Congratulations

There will be a few other steps to making your website secure on the new server, but beyond checking the security and making a few minor adjustments, the only other thing you need to do is point the DNS to your new server, wait a few days for propagation, and BAM! You did it!

I'm feeling super accomplished! :D 
If anyone out there has experience doing this, or has done this before and has some tips or suggestions to go along with these steps please comment below! 

Creating Custom Images for your Blog & Website, Makes More Effective and Engaging Social Media Sharing

Custom Images for your Blog

Including images on your blog post and your website is great way to supplement the content. In terms of SEO, the content is, without a doubt, the most important aspect of your blog but what would it be like for the user without pictures? Boring? You bet!

Its great to share photos that relate to the topic, or graphics that illustrate what you're talking about.  I use a lot of screen shots so users can visualize what I am saying.

But let's talk about social media. When you are sharing your website or blog to your favorite social media, almost every network will automatically pull an image from that page as a preview to that post. This is fine, but it's not great.  Let me show you why...

Example: How to Separate Scams From Legitimate Opportunities

The Image

I found this post in my Pinterest account and I'm using it because it has a custom image created for Pinterest. Its a great example because the custom image shows us WHAT the blog/page is all about. What can the user learn or gain by clicking on the link?

TIP: It also includes their logo on it so someone else can't use it and try to pass it off as their own.

The Problem

The problem isn't with this example specifically, but what would this post look like if there wasn't a custom image created to describe what the article/blog was all about? I'll tell you. Here is the Facebook preview:

The image is taken from the heading, and while on the blog it is paired with the title, this image may in some way represent "scams" but it doesn't say that by just looking at the picture. In addition, the supplemental photos work within the blog, but separately would you know either of the following images was an article about 'scams vs. opportunities' ? 

Pinterest

Custom images are most important when using Pinterest, a visual bookmarking tool. Keyword: VISUAL. Pinterest is all about sharing images and users may read the description if an image peaks their interest, but a majority of users scroll through reading and looking at the pictures. If you aren't telling the users what the post is all about, they are passing you by, and they are certainly not "pinning" your post to their boards.

This is the norm, and everyone is doing it because it works!

You can do it!

Start creating custom images for your blog and website today. There are many tools that anyone can use to create these. Picfont is an online tool that doesn't require a download. You can upload your image and simply save the new image when you are done.  

I've also included this really nice blog post from The Next Web, below, that outlines some great apps that will do the same. 

• 9 Outstanding Apps for Adding Text to Your Pictures

Using an htaccess file

What I learned this week...

I had a basic understanding of what this was used for before, but it wasn't until Google came out with its new "Hostname Redundancy Warning" on Google Analytics, and I looked into it a little more that I really found out how many cool things we can do with the .htaccess file.

Definition

The definition below is shared from here at godaddy.com. Because, why try to improve upon something that is already so well defined. 

What is .htaccess?

Using .htaccess files lets you control the behavior of your site or a specific directory on your site. For example, if you place an .htaccess file in your root directory, it will affect your entire site (www.coolexample.com). If you place it in a /content directory, it will only affect that directory (www.coolexample.com/content).
.htaccess works on our Linux servers.

Using an .htaccess file, you can:

• Customize the Error pages for your site.

• Protect your site with a password.

• Enable server-side includes.

• Deny access to your site based on IP.

• Change your default directory page (index.html).

• Redirect visitors to another page.

• Prevent directory listing.

• Add MIME types.

For specifics on how to  resolve the new "Hostname Redundancy Warning" mentioned above - check out this great post : How To Solve the "Redundant Hostname" Warning in Google Analytics

.htaccess Generator

My favorite thing about all of this, is the very simple (new-to-me) .htaccess Generator found at http://www.htaccessredirect.net/  To be fair, most or all of this can be done within the cPanel but I like how this breaks down. 

This is where  you would go to redirect your www.yourdomain.com to yourdomain.com. This solves the double hostname issue, I mentioned before, several times.

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Custom Error Pages, in my opinion, make your site look a million times more professional. Now when your site/page won't display - for whatever reason - you can explain to your visitors exactly what is happening and reassure them that they are on the correct website.

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We include blocking bots in all of our Google Analytics accounts, but this is a great way to stop them at the source.

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Easily change your default directory page. If you want your products or pricing page to be the first page your visitors are directed to - this is where you would specify that.

There are several other options from blocking IP addresses, to creating password protection to the site or files. For more information visit htaccessredirect.net and click on the blue links for more information. Of course, once you generate the file you need to save it into your root folder.


I'm excited to use this new tool! What is one way that you can use this tool to make your website better?