How To Migrate Your Website To Cloudways? A Step-by-Step Guide

Wanting to switch to CloudWays? Good choice! See! Here, in CloudWays, you get managed turbo-charged web servers that are fast, secure and auto-scalable. It also offers built-in CloudFlare CDN and powerful cache mechanism ensuring peak website performance. Plus, CloudWays offer 99.99% guaranteed uptime, giving your website 100% accessibility over the internet.

If you’re worried about security, then let’s tell you that your server gets a solid-level firewall, Imunify360, regular malware scanning, alerts, free SSL certificate on every webpage for encryption and Fail2Ban mechanism for monitoring login attempts.

Knowing all that, anyone with a website would like to switch to CloudWays! It’s really a intelligent choice to make as your website is never gonna go down, plus it’ll scale on its own as your website needs increases (you do not have to pay attention to its scaling, CloudWays server automatically does scaling for you) and secure your website content and sensitive information from hackers.

Here, in this article, we’re gonna tell you step-by-step from preparing a backup to DNS update on how you can easily migrate your website from your current web hosting provider to CloudWays.

So, without any further delay, let’s get started 👍

Step 1: Prepare for Migration

Before making the move, let’s get everything in order to ensure a hassle-free migration.

First off, create a complete backup of your website files and database in the cPanel. You never know when you might need it!

Now check the server requirements in CloudWays. Ensure your website is fully compatible with Cloudways. Let’s tell you that Cloudways supports PHP, MySQL and other modern web technologies.
After checking the server requirements, choose a hosting plan. Cloudways provides various cloud hosting options including DigitalOcean, AWS and Google Cloud. Pick the one that fits your needs.

After checking the server requirements, choose a hosting plan

Step 2: Use Cloudways WordPress Migrator Plugin (For WordPress Sites)

See! If you’re running a WordPress site, Cloudways makes migration very easy with its WordPress Migrator Plugin. This CloudWays migrator plugin automates wordpress migration. All your widgets, customizations, ad codes, referral codes and media files like YouTube videos and X links integrated into your posts are transferred without any issue.

Here’s how:

Firstly, install & activate the WordPress migrator plugin. Go to your WordPress dashboard >> Search for “Cloudways WordPress Migrator” in the plugin section >> Install and activate it.

Firstly, install & activate the WordPress migrator plugin

After that, log in to Cloudways >> Navigate to the API section >> Generate your API credentials.
Now, start the Migration! First, enter the credentials in the migrator plugin >> Follow the on-screen instructions >> Initiate the migration.

Sit back and relax! And let the magic happen!

Step 3: Manual Migration (For Non-WordPress Websites)

Let’s say you’re not having a wordpress website. If you’re using a CMS other than WordPress or have a custom-built website, then how will you migrate the website? Here’s how you’re gonna do manual migration of the non-wordpress websites:

First, download your website files via FTP >> Use an FTP client, like FileZilla, to download all your website files from your existing hosting.
Then, export your database! Log into your database management tool, such as phpMyAdmin >> export your database as an SQL file.
Now upload the database to Cloudways Server! For that, you need to use SFTP to upload your website files to your server.
After that, access your Cloudways database via phpMyAdmin >> Import the SQL file.
Lastly, just update configuration files. Modify your configuration files to reflect the new database credentials.

Step 4: Test Your Website on Cloudways

Now that your files and database are in place, it’s time to test your website before making it live.

Cloudways provides a temporary staging URL so you can test your site without affecting your live domain.
Click through pages, posts and ensure everything works as expected.
If in case you notice any broken links or missing files >> Fix them before proceeding.

Step 5: Update DNS and Go Live

Now comes the final step! Pointing your domain nameservers to Cloudways!

Update DNS Settings – Go to your domain registrar (from where you got your domain) >> Update the DNS settings with Cloudways’ details.
DNS changes may take a few minutes to 48 hours to propagate worldwide.
Once your website is live on Cloudways >> Run a speed and performance check to ensure smooth operation.

Step 6: Optimize Performance with Cloudways Features

By this time your site is live! So, Let’s enhance its performance with Cloudways’ powerful optimization tools.

First, enable Cloudflare enterprise CDN. It’ll improve load times and security.
Use the CloudWays’ built-in caching Breeze Plugin that speeds up your WordPress site.
Leverage Object Cache Pro! It optimizes database queries for faster page loading speed.
Now, set Up SafeUpdates. This setting ensures automatic WordPress updates without breaking your website.

Step 7: Monitor and Maintain Your Website

See! Your migration is completed, but you should know that the website maintenance is a continuous process. Now, here’s how to keep things running smoothly:

In order to monitor website performance >> Use Cloudways’ built-in performance monitoring tools to help you track site speed and server uptime.
Next, enable the security features! Cloudways provides a Web Application Firewall (WAF) and other security measures like Imunify360, alerts, free SSL certificates and Fail2Ban to protect your website from malicious cyber threats.
Lastly, make sure to always keep your CMS, plugins, themes and PHP versions up to date.

Conclusion

Wow! You’ve successfully migrated your website to Cloudways. As you’ve already seen the steps right from building a website’s backup, installing cloudways’ wordpress plugin, website testing after migrating to cloudways to DNS updates and website optimization process with CloudWays’ features, all steps are very easy to follow.

Now, sit and enjoy the benefits of a high-performance, secure and scalable hosting platform.

Let’s say you happen to run into any issues, Cloudways’ 24/7 LiveChat and Ticket support is always there to help you out. You can also check out their detailed documentation for further guidance.

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