How do you start building a WordPress site for an already existing website?
by mitz on Friday, May 21st, 2010 | 4 Comments
I have a website that has been up and running for some time now, and for numerous reasons I want to replace it with a WordPress site.
So, how do I start building the WordPress site – in a seperate folder from the “public_html” folder? Then when you are ready to move it into the public_html folder, do you have to correct whatever file-paths and link errors?
I am addicted to internet marketing and making money online. Who wouldn't want to live that life? I started out with one website as a hobby and now have over 20.
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Interesting and difficult subject. I am actually moving a website into WordPress and I have to change the permalinks to html which is fine…then I have to create the exact categories…and also do redirects… this is to keep the flow of traffic coming when I do change over….
I am so angry with myself for not using WordPress in the first place.
Build it in a subdirectory below public_html, and then tell WordPress (in Dashboard/Settings/General) that you have different addresses for the site and the WP install. It will look something like this when you’re through:
WordPress address (URL): [yourdomain]/wpsubdirectory
Blog address (URL): [yourdomain]
WordPress will take care of the rest.
Hello I am a professional WordPress website designer and developer – AITpro.com so you can verify that I know what I’m talking about.
The website development method you are planning to do is a standard website development method that I use and probably most professional developers use so you are right on the money there. 
I’m assuming you already know the basics, but I’ll add this info for someone else who may not know that info.
Best basic website development practices and planning
1). Create the folder first that you want to install WordPress to either with FTP or with your CP File Manager
2). Very Important! Add an entry in your Robots.txt file to block indexing of the new folder you just created – you don’t want your new folder indexed until you are ready to launch your new website. And in your case you don’t want the folder indexed at all since you will be migrating your WordPress site to the root of your domain. If you don’t have a robots.txt file then create one. Trust me if you don’t do this it will cost you a lot of headaches.
3). Do the WordPress installation at this point – Pretty much all hosts offer the WordPress Application for free with anywhere from 10 to 25 free SQL DB’s.
4). After you have completed all your WordPress design work, customization, plugin installations and configurations then you are just about ready to do the WordPress migration – SEE the Source link I have provided below for complete WP migration instructions – WP migration is very easy and simple, but be careful to follow the instructions EXACTLY.
5). DEACTIVATE ALL OF YOUR PLUGINS BEFORE DOING THE ACTUAL MIGRATION!!!
6). Since you have installed WP in another directory / folder you have a backup of all your work.
7). Make a backup of your existing website files in the root of your domain.
8). Copy (NOT MOVE) all your WordPress files and folders to the your domain root
9). Reactivate all your plugins and start testing them and reconfiguring them if necessary. (you can reactivate all of them at once or do them one by one – doesn’t matter).
To answer your question about post migration corrections to file paths. Yes, you will have to modify several paths. Since I’m very familiar with this whole process and especially the WP plugin configurations, I don’t install certain plugins until after the WordPress migration is done. And I don’t do certain WordPress configurations until I’ve after I’ve done the migration. If you are not very familiar with WP plugin configurations then i recommend you install and configure everything in your “development” folder and then make the file path changes after you have done the migration. Anytime you are doing a migration you should do it during “off business hours” meaning in the middle of the night.
If you have a totally new website it doesn’t really matter when you do the migration, but if you have an existing website that is getting visitors and making money you obviously don’t want to interrupt the flow of $$$. 
So to give you some specifics on the WordPress files that will need to be modified / corrected after the migration:
If you configure WordPress with Pretty Permalinks you will need to update this first thing right after the migration is done. Personally I recommend that you don’t configure Pretty Permalinks until your WordPress site is migrated. Pretty Permalinks generates your .htaccess file so by updating PP from the WP Dashboard Admin panel at any point you are updating your .htaccess file.
Common WP plugins that will need path corrections:
WP-DBManager – change DB Options > path to backup. Will need to logout and maybe clear cache too to see the new changes.
Theme My Login – Theme my login Redirection URL and Theme my login Links need to be corrected
Cforms – check abspath.php and /cforms/js/cforms.js for correct file paths
Common WP files that will need to be corrected
Theme templates and specifically your header.php file.
The rest of the information you will need is contained in the WordPress migration instructions below and all over the Internet. WordPress answers are everywhere.
If you follow the links in this page, http://www.createthebestwebsite.com/details.htm you will find everything you need. You can set up a wordpress site and also host it for free, if you refer two other websites to them for hosting. Click on “Learn More” and you will find they have lots of tutorials that will help you.