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The 12-Step Higher Education Website Migration Guide E-BOOK Website Redesign
The 12-Step Higher Education Website Migration Guide
E-BOOK
Website Redesign
Table of Contents
1. Start early
2. Set goals
3. Audit your content
4. Create a new site map
5. Fill the content gaps
6. Assemble a migration team
7. Ensure you have the content
8. Decide on manual or automated migration
9. Be flexible and iterate
10. Anticipate common procedural practices
11. Track your progress
12. Prepare for launch
The 12 Steps
Whether you’re redesigning your website, or moving to a new content management system (CMS) or digital experience platform (DXP), content migration in higher ed can be challenging. For institutions large and small, getting content ready to move requires time, attention to detail, and strong communication among key players. But with the right team and a solid plan, you can save time and avoid a number of common pitfalls.
Phase #1
Planning
Start early Step #1
• If you want new or refreshed content — even if you’re months away from migrating —
it’s best to figure out what you need sooner rather than later.
• Successful migration depends on timely content review and content production.
• Putting aside time to plan early in the process will help you stay on track. •
While you don’t need every migration detail in place on day one of a website redesign, the earlier you start planning, the better off you’ll be.
Set goalsStep #2
Examples of broad goals: • A leaner website that’s easier to manage.
• Engaging marketing content that better reflects your
institution’s brand.
• More centralized or decentralized governance.
Examples of specific goals: • Up-to-date faculty profiles.
• More engaging academic program pages.
• Centralized news and events listings.
• More useful office and department content.
Start by documenting goals for your content. How should your new site differ from your current site? Everyone wants better content and a better web experience for site visitors, but what else?
Audit your contentStep #3
• What content do you have?
• Does each piece of content have an audience and a
purpose?
• Is your content accurate?
• Does this content reflect your institution well?
• Does this content need to be optimized for the web?
A content audit is a review of all web pages and assets. Use a spreadsheet to track page names, URLs, and an assessment of each page. Depending on the size of your site and how long it’s been since the last audit, plan to set aside anywhere from two to six weeks for your audit.
A basic audit answers the following questions:
D O W N L O A D A F R E E C O N T E N T A U D I T T E M P L A T E
Create a new site mapStep #4
• Slickplan: mStoner’s tool of choice because it’s easy to use and offers a number of features that make it simple to track
changes and track source content for pages
• Dynomapper: a visual tool for developing interactive sitemaps where you can choose from 3 sitemap styles (default,
circle, and tree) and can customize them with your logo and color scheme.
• Writemaps: this tool offers a simple interface and customization with colors and allows you to map and collect page
content.
A visual representation of your information architecture is invaluable.
XML Sitemap Generator Tools:
Pro Tip: Upload your new site map to Google Search Console to improve indexing for your .edu!
Fill the content gaps Step #5
• Unrealistic timelines for content production and editing.
• Too few resources dedicated to content creation.
• Photography or videography schedules don’t align with
subjects’ availability.
• Too little or too much time planned to review key content.
• Matching “as is” content to new design, navigation
approach, or information architecture.
• Cumbersome, outdated collaboration tools
Complete any critical writing, videography, and photography assignments before migration begins. Include a little extra cushion in your content production schedule to accommodate for unexpected requests and changes.
Common reasons for missed migration deadlines:
D O W N L O A D O U R C O N T E N T P L A N N I N G G U I D E
Assemble a migration teamStep #6
A critical step toward success is getting the right people in place. You want a migration team that:
• Has experience or training with your CMS or DXP.
• Is familiar with your new site map.
• Can devote uninterrupted blocks of time to migration.
Migration teams tend to include web writers, content managers, marketing specialists, developers, UX experts, project managers, or people with a similar role. The number of people you need to migrate a website depends on:
• How much time you have.
• How much content you need to move.
• How you are moving content (manual versus scripted migration).
Migrating content for a website relaunch is one of the largest and most important steps on the path to success. Completing migration in a timely and effective fashion is critical, regardless of the size of the site.
Phase #2
Execution
Ensure you have the contentStep #7
Nothing complicates migration like realizing you’re missing content. Suddenly, you’re scrambling to produce content as well as migrate it. Extra communication, approval processes, creative writing, image selection, and deadlines now bog down your migration project.
Our recommendations for “essential content” include: • Information architecture: this includes knowing which page templates to use and identifying URLs for the new pages.
• New content: all new pages should have their content written in advance.
• Existing content: this content may need touching up to match the style of the new redesign.
• Images: photo selection, sizing, and optimization should be part of each pages content plan.
• Links: don’t forget to add a second iteration for new content pages.
Manual or automated migrationStep #8
Our starting position is that migration is manual unless proven otherwise. It certainly isn’t one-size-fits-all, but entering a website redesign project assuming there is an easy button that automatically moves existing content into a new design is fraught with risk. Key considerations for a scripted approach vs. manual approach:
• Scripted migrations work best with well-formatted, consistent content. This rarely works for a full site, but it can work
for news articles, faculty/staff profiles, or even standard, lower-level pages with mostly text content.
• Most scripted migrations require touch-up. Even when content is successfully moved, many scripted migrations still
require human review, updated links, and image additions.
• Website redesigns often introduce new design and features. Automated migrations sometimes can’t take advantage of
new features.
Be flexible and iterateStep #9
Website migration requires juggling a lot of moving parts. From content approval to completing system features, one constant remains: Flexible teams must plan for iteration. Start with building a skeletal IA (placeholder pages using the correct URL, title, and page template). Making this the first step in the migration process pays dividends. Common areas of iteration include:
• Adding metadata to accommodate keywords
• Interlinking throughout the site
• Adding optimized images with alt text
Anticipate procedural practicesStep #10
We’ve migrated enough websites to notice a few recurring procedural practices that are sometimes overlooked. Here are a few tasks you should anticipate to avoid late surprises:• Build lists of redirects, or create them in the system as the work progresses.
• Conduct migration in a staging environment, separate from development.
• Use an image naming scheme.
• Lock down content that has already been migrated so it doesn’t get out of sync
as you progress.
Track your progressStep #11
Tracking progress and assignments is critical in avoiding rework, gaps, and surprises. The tools need to fit the project, and here are some of our favorites:• A shared, collaborative tracking document that lists pages to migrate (by URL), status, review needs, outstanding tasks
for a page (connecting links, adding images, etc.), required redirects, and other details.
• GatherContent is a great content staging environment for content creators and includes robust steps for content
review and approval.
• File sharing tools such as Dropbox or Google Drive are helpful for storing images, PDFs, video, and other assets to
migrate.
• Project management tools like RedBooth, Asana, or Monday.com provide great visualizations via kanban for the
content migration process.
Prepare for launchStep #12
Migration is the last major step before site launch. But launches can be delayed when there’s no clear end or transition plan. It’s important to remember that it is not uncommon for website redesign projects to launch in phases. Pivoting from migration to launch preparation brings activities from migration into the tactical task list for launch such as: • Conduct a final content review.
• Review website accessibility.
• Ensure redirects are in place within your CMS.
• Implement a launch checklist at the intersection of content and functionality such as site search, web forms, 404 page,
robots.txt crawler directives, and links or integrations with external sites/systems.
If you found this e-book helpful, check out mStoner’s other resources which are jam-packed with timely, strategic, and actionable knowledge.
Additional Resources
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Special Thanks
GREG ZGUTA Director of Client Support [email protected]
MICHAEL BOLTON Web Support Analyst michael [email protected]
DANIELLA NORDIN Director of Marketing daniel [email protected]
SHANNON LANUS Director of Content Strategy [email protected]
TRAVIS KOURY Marketing Specialist [email protected]
