Perplexing Guide on Migrating Your WordPress Site from Localhost to GoDaddy

Have you been developing a WordPress site on your local machine? Are you now looking to migrate it to a webhost like GoDaddy? Fear not, for it may seem daunting, but it’s actually a straightforward process with the right tools and guidance.

Step 1: Secure a Backup of Your Local Site

Before you proceed with the migration process, it is crucial to make a backup of your local WordPress site to ensure you do not lose data. Luckily, in WordPress, there are several methods to back up your site, but the easiest choice is by using a plugin called UpdraftPlus. Here’s how to do it:

1. Install and activate the UpdraftPlus plugin.
2. Click on “Settings” and then “UpdraftPlus Backups”.
3. Click the “Backup Now” button.
4. Select a location to save your backup files.
5. Wait for UpdraftPlus to complete the backup process.

Step 2: Export Your WordPress Database

The following move in moving your website from localhost to GoDaddy is to export your WordPress database. This is done using the phpMyAdmin tool in cPanel. Here’s how to do it:

1. Enter your cPanel username and password to access the cPanel dashboard.
2. Click on “phpMyAdmin” under the Databases section.
3. Select the database you want to export from the left-hand side menu.
4. Click on the “Export” tab at the top.
5. Leave the default settings and select “Go” to start the export process.
6. Save the .sql file on your local machine.

Step 3: Create a New Database

Once you have exported your WordPress database, create a new database on GoDaddy to import the database. Here’s how:

1. Log in to your GoDaddy account.
2. Go to your control panel and select “MySQL Databases.”
3. Create a new database and assign a user to it.
4. Take note of the database name, username, password, and host name. You’ll need them in the next step.

Step 4: Upload WordPress Files to GoDaddy

The subsequent step in moving your WordPress site from localhost to GoDaddy is to upload the WordPress files to your GoDaddy account. Here’s how:

1. Log in to your GoDaddy account.
2. Go to your control panel and select “File Manager.”
3. Create a new folder for your WordPress files and upload them to the folder.

Step 5: Import the WordPress Database

Now that you’ve created a new database on GoDaddy and uploaded the WordPress files, you need to import the WordPress database. Here’s how to do it:

1. Log in to your GoDaddy account.
2. Go to your control panel and select “phpMyAdmin.”
3. Select the database you created in Step 3.
4. Click on the “Import” tab at the top.
5. Select the .sql file you exported in Step 2.
6. Leave the default settings and select “Go” to start the import process.

Step 6: Edit the wp-config.php file

Once you’ve imported the WordPress database, you need to tell WordPress to connect to the new database. Here’s how:

1. Log in to your GoDaddy account.
2. Go to your control panel and select “File Manager.”
3. Find the wp-config.php file in the WordPress folder and right-click on it.
4. Select “Edit” to open the file in the code editor.
5. Look for the lines that start with define(‘DB_NAME’), define(‘DB_USER’), define(‘DB_PASSWORD’), and define(‘DB_HOST’).
6. Replace the old database name, username, password, and host with the new database name, username, password, and host from Step 3.

Step 7: Update URLs

The final step is to update the URLs in your WordPress site to reflect the new domain name. Here’s how:

1. Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard.
2. Go to “Settings” and select “General.”
3. Update the “WordPress Address (URL)” and “Site Address (URL)” fields with your new domain name.
4. Save your changes.

Conclusion

So, there you have it! You might have thought moving a WordPress site from localhost to GoDaddy was an arduous process, but with the right tools, step-by-step guide, and double-checking every step, you can now migrate your WordPress site to GoDaddy without losing any data.