I’m looking for advice on what is the correct “order of operations” for a brand streamlining + WP site migration without turning it into an SEO mess. I figured I would just hire an “agency,” but even that is turning out to be more difficult than I expected. The “agencies” I’ve found on Upwork seem to mean just “WP design + development,” I haven’t found the ones who can do the SEO migration (or I find good SEO/migration people who don’t seem confident in the design + dev piece).
I have websites/brands A, B, and C. I’ve had B.com and C.com (not Astra WP theme) for years, and I recently had a designer and dev make A.com (he used Astra theme). C.com has a blog and really good SEO for the super specific niche that it’s in. C.com has some SEO but I’m planning to totally redesign it along with the move. Here is what I’m trying to do:
* Have A.com be the main site, but move B.com and C.com to be under that brand/SEO…so it could be A.com/B or A.com/C (and also allow people to go to B.A.com or C.A.com to redirect to there).
* Make some minor tweaks / fixes to B.com, and I also have some tools (Chatbot, e-book free download/mailing list, Embedded Calendly scheduling tool) that I don’t want to lose
* Ensure that I don’t lose SEO during the move…that means (I think?) keeping the same URL naming formats, and also mapping + 301 Redirects…I also have some minor Google Search Console errors that would be great to fix as part of this project.
* I use Closte.com for hosting, and I want to keep using it…I’ve run into devs who don’t like the interface (no cpanel, etc.), so I need to ensure it’s someone who won’t push me to switch to another host to complete the project.
* I want to keep the site(s) clean and fast loading…I had bad a bad experience in the past where the dev installed like 10 plugins to do small things…then it just made the site needlessly slow and bulky…I’m OK to pay more to have the site stay clean and load fast.
Here is what I \*think\* is the correct order of operations, but I could be wrong:
1. Backup everything and save sitemaps
2. Have a dev migrate/rebuild the B.com in Astra theme so it matches A.com theme, including keeping the blog intact (not sure the technical jargon for this?)
3. Have a dev migrate/rebuild (or totally redo) C.Com in Astra theme so it matches A.com theme
4. Make the new sites live on A.com/B and A.com/C , and check that all the tools (chatbot, etc.) are working
5. Do 301 Redirects for all the old B.com and C.com pages/blog posts
6. In parallel, I can personally contact any high authority backlinks and ask them to please update their links to the A.com/B/blog or whatever URLs (but if they don’t then I still have the 301 Redirects in case they don’t update)
7. Delete B.com and C.com WP installs (but keep the domains and redirects active)
My questions:
1. Is the above the correct steps (anything important missing)? Correct order of operations?
2. Correct terminology? Am I using the wrong terms for any of this that might cause confusion (or are there more technical terms I should be using)?
3. How / where can I find a dev / agency who can do all of the above without messing it up? I’ve had issues in the past where a dev says they can do everything, and then in the middle of the project they admit they actually don’t know how to do something in the specs. In this situation, I’m mostly worried about messing up my SEO.
4. Any idea how much something like this should cost (ballpark)? Ideally it would be a fixed price, but even to know approximate hour ranges would be helpful…or is there an example of an agency who specializes in this?
Thanks!
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