Website Migration Advice

[anewcreation]

Hi Everyone,

I was wondering if anyone has some insight in regards to what exactly happens when you migrate a site with a migration plug-in. I know you export a file that contains all the info of the site you are copying, then you upload that same file to the new site server/domain. I have a few questions about

But first, a little background about what I am trying to do. I made a few sample sites with the Executive Pro theme. The client picks what layout they want out of the three samples and I would customize that layout for them. My plan was to migrate the sample site to the clients server/domain, and just change things to customize it to what they want. This would enable me to not have to start from scratch every time.

For my first client, I migrated the sample site to their domain/server, but when I did, it changed the login and it mentioned the database being copied over. I'm not sure if it changed the login to the original demo site, but in any case, it worked, I was now seeing the sample site on his domain, but I deleted it so I could start over because I felt I just didn't know enough about what was going on. The thought occurred to me that it's possible that even if I do customize it, and change anything that talks about the sample site on the front end, there might be tons of references (urls or other things) in the code in the files that are on the server that I normally don't open, or know much about.

Is it safe to migrate my sample site so I can just customize it instead of starting from scratch every time. Or would there be too much going on with references to the sample site in the files of the client's new site?

Thank you for your time.

Jeanne

[Brad Dalton]

Why not just copy the theme?

You can also use the export tool if you want to make a XML copy of the content however its best to use a plugin like WP Migrate DB to export the DB to a new server and/or domain.

But i don't see why you need to copy the entire installation unless you have content included in the theme.

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Tutorials for StudioPress Themes.

[anewcreation]

Hi Brad,

Thanks for your post.

I'd like to copy the Sample site (the Diane Martin) site to someone's server and then just change and customize it to their images and colors. http://demo3.inlpcenter.org/

I first tried a (copy plugin) that created an XML file that I uploaded. It didn't copy the styles or layout, just pages and posts and a few other things. The site looked the same, like how the executive pro them looks when you first upload it.. But when I did the WP Migrate DB, it copied everything, which was what I was looking for. But, I just don't know enough about what's going on in the backend to know if this is ok to do it this way. I don't know if it's placing tons of references to the old site in files on the server. If I was just migrating to one of my own personal sites it wouldn't matter, but I want to be careful since it's for other people.

My goal is to be able to make a site based on the sample layout without spending way too many hours, so I thought starting with the site I already designed, and just customizing some things, would save a lot of time instead of starting from scratch each time.

Thanks for reading my post : )

Jeanne

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