Migrating Your WordPress Site: A Perplexing Journey

Moving your beloved WordPress site from its cozy home on your local development environment to the wild and unpredictable world of a live server can be a daunting task. However, with the right steps and a burst of determination, you can migrate your site without losing any data. In this guide, we’ll take you through the perplexing journey of migrating your WordPress site from your local development environment to a live server.

Step 1: Back Up Your WordPress Site

Before you begin your perplexing journey to a live server, take a moment to back up your WordPress site. This will ensure that you have a copy of your site in case anything goes awry during the migration process.

How to Back Up Your WordPress Site:

1. Login to your WordPress dashboard.
2. Click on the “Tools” menu.
3. Click on the “Export” option.
4. Choose what you want to export, either all your content or only specific content, and click on “Download Export File”.
5. Save the file to your computer.

Step 2: Create a Database and User on the Live Server

Now it’s time to create a new database and user on the live server. This will ensure that your WordPress site has a safe and comfortable new home.

How to Create a Database and User on the Live Server:

1. Login to your server’s cPanel.
2. Click on the “MySQL Databases” icon.
3. Enter the name of the new database you want to create, and click on “Create Database”.
4. Create a new user by entering a username and password, and clicking on “Create User”.
5. Add the new user to the new database under the “Add User to Database” section.
6. Select the new user and database, and click on “Add”.
7. Give the new user all the privileges by selecting “All Privileges” and clicking on “Make Changes”.

Step 3: Upload Your WordPress Files to the Live Server

With a new home awaiting, it’s time to pack up your WordPress files and move them to the live server.

How to Upload Your WordPress Files:

1. Login to your server’s File Manager.
2. Navigate to the public_html directory.
3. Upload all the WordPress files that you had previously downloaded to this directory.

Step 4: Connect Your WordPress Site to the New Database

Now that you’ve settled into your new home, it’s time to connect your WordPress site to the new database you created earlier.

How to Connect Your WordPress Site to the New Database:

1. Open your wp-config.php file, located in the root directory of your WordPress site files.
2. Find the following lines of code:

define('DB_NAME', 'database_name_here');
define('DB_USER', 'username_here');
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'password_here');

3. Replace the values in these lines with the name of the new database, user, and password you created earlier.
4. Save the wp-config.php file.

Step 5: Update URLs in the Database

Your WordPress site is now nestled into its new home, but it needs to know its new address. This step will update the URLs in your database to match your live server’s URL.

How to Update URLs in Your Database:

1. Login to your cPanel.
2. Click on the “phpMyAdmin” option.
3. Select the database you want to edit from the left-hand side panel.
4. Click on the “SQL” tab.
5. In the SQL query box, enter the following query and click on “Go”:

UPDATE wp_options SET option_value = replace(option_value, 'http://localhost/your-website', 'http://www.your-website.com');

Replace “your-website” with your actual website URL.

6. You should see a message that reads “# Rows matched: 5 Changed: 5.”

Step 6: Upload Media Files and Other Assets

To complete your WordPress site’s transition to its new home, you need to upload your media files and other assets to the live server.

How to Upload Your Media Files:

1. Login to your server’s File Manager.
2. Navigate to the wp-content directory.
3. Upload the entire uploads directory, which contains all your images and other media files.
4. If you have any custom themes or plugins that you developed locally, upload those as well.

Step 7: Test Your Site on the Live Server

Congratulations, you’ve successfully migrated your WordPress site from your local development environment to a live server. It’s time to ensure everything is working properly.

What to Test:

1. The front end of the site and its pages.
2. The WordPress dashboard and its functionalities.
3. All your media files have been transferred properly.
4. All your links, including internal links and external links.
5. Your contact forms, comments, and other functionalities of the site.

Wrapping Up

And voila, you have successfully embarked on a perplexing journey and led your WordPress site to a new home on a live server. Although the process can be daunting, by following the steps outlined in this guide you’ve achieved a seamless migration, ensuring your site runs smoothly and efficiently on the live server.