How to Migrate an Existing Website to Draftly in One Afternoon

Traditional website migrations are notorious for taking weeks, costing thousands in developer fees, and causing major SEO headaches. But what if you could migrate an existing website to Draftly and launch a faster, more cinematic version in just a few hours? It's not only possible; it's a process that over 70% of our users who switch from platforms like WordPress or Squarespace complete in a single afternoon.

This guide breaks down the migration process into four manageable stages. We'll skip the technical jargon and focus on a practical, content-first approach that preserves your hard-earned search rankings and gets you live before the day is over.

Pre-Migration Prep: Your 30-Minute Content & SEO Audit

Before you build anything, you need a plan. A successful migration isn't about copying every single page and post. It's about strategically moving your most valuable assets. This audit should take no more than 30 minutes and will save you hours of work later.

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Think of this as a 'spring cleaning' for your website. Research shows that most websites have underperforming pages, with Pareto's principle often applying: 80% of traffic comes from 20% of the pages. Your goal is to identify that critical 20%.

Inventory Your Core Assets

• Core Pages: Open your existing site and copy the text from your most important pages (Home, About, Services/Products, Contact) into separate text documents.
• Key Visuals: Download high-quality versions of your logo, key product shots, team headshots, and any hero images you want to reuse.
• Brand Identity: Note your brand's primary and secondary color hex codes. If you use specific fonts, write down their names. This will be crucial for customisation.
• Legal Documents: Copy the text from your Privacy Policy and Terms of Service pages. These are straightforward content transfers.

Map Your URLs for SEO

• Create a simple spreadsheet with two columns: 'Old URL' and 'New Draftly URL'.
• List the URLs of the core pages you identified above.
• For now, the 'New Draftly URL' column will be a simple, clean version of the page title (e.g., `/about-us`, `/services/consulting`).
• Add two more columns: 'Current SEO Title' and 'Current Meta Description'. Copy these from your old site for each URL. This data will be gold for the SEO checkup phase.

The 2-Hour Content Transfer: Rebuilding with AI

Now for the main event. This is where Draftly's AI shines, reducing a process that typically takes days down to a couple of hours. Your goal is to recreate the structure and content of your core pages efficiently.

What is website migration? It's the process of moving a site from one hosting environment or platform to another. With Draftly, this involves using AI to generate a new, superior foundation and then populating it with your key content, rather than performing a complex, code-heavy transfer of old files.

• Generate the Foundation: Start by giving Draftly a detailed prompt. Don't just say "Build a website for a marketing agency." Instead, try: "Create a cinematic, scroll-driven website for 'Momentum Digital,' a B2B marketing agency in London. The target audience is tech startup founders. The tone should be professional, innovative, and results-focused. Use a color palette of dark blue, white, and a vibrant orange accent." The AI will generate a multi-page structure with relevant sections and visuals.
• Populate Key Pages: With the foundation in place, navigate to each page (e.g., About, Services) in the Draftly editor. Open your text files from the audit phase and paste your content into Draftly's rich text blocks. The structure is already there; you're just adding your specific details.
• Refine with AI Chat: This is your accelerator. Instead of manually adding new sections, use the chat editor. You can use commands like, "Add a testimonial section here with three cards," or "Change the image in the hero to a picture of a modern office." For more advanced commands, check out our guide on Mastering AI Chat Editing in Draftly: Commands That Save Hours.
• Upload Your Assets: Go to your media library and upload the logos and images you saved earlier. Replace the AI-generated placeholders with your own brand assets. Our system makes Managing Media and Files in Draftly: Upload, Organise, and Optimise a simple drag-and-drop process.

The 90-Minute SEO & Technical Checkup

Your new site is looking great, but don't hit publish just yet. This 90-minute check ensures you don't lose any SEO authority and that the user experience is flawless. Draftly automates over 90% of technical SEO best practices, but a quick manual review is essential for a smooth transition.

• SEO Meta Tags: Open your URL map spreadsheet. Go through each page on your new Draftly site and use the Draftly SEO Panel Guide: Optimise Every Page for Search to input the SEO titles and meta descriptions you saved from your old site. Keep them consistent.
• Image Alt Text: Click on each of your uploaded images and add descriptive alt text. For example, instead of "image1.jpg," use "founder of Momentum Digital speaking at a conference."
• Internal & External Links: Click through every button and text link on your new site. Ensure they point to the correct pages within your new site or the correct external resources.
• Mobile & Tablet Preview: Use Draftly's device preview to check how your site looks and functions on different screen sizes. More than 60% of web traffic in most industries now comes from mobile, so this is non-negotiable.
• Forms & CTAs: Fill out your own contact form to ensure it works and that you receive the lead notification. Click every 'Book a Demo' or 'Contact Us' button.

Flipping the Switch: Going Live in Under 30 Minutes

You've done the hard work. The final step is pointing your domain to the new Draftly site and officially going live. This process is surprisingly fast and is the final piece of your afternoon migration project.

• Connect Your Domain: This involves logging into your domain registrar (like GoDaddy, Namecheap, etc.) and updating a few records to point to Draftly's servers. The process can vary slightly by provider, but our step-by-step guide on how to connect a custom domain to your Draftly site covers all major platforms.
• Publish and Verify: Once your domain is connected, hit the 'Publish' button in the Draftly editor. Your new cinematic website is now live to the world. DNS changes can sometimes take a little while to propagate globally, but it's often nearly instant.
• Final Checks: Open your live URL in a new browser window. Do a final click-through of the main pages and navigation. Once confirmed, you can request indexing in Google Search Console to let Google know your site has moved and is ready to be crawled.

Ready to stop wrestling with your old, slow website? Generate your new foundation on Draftly and see how quickly you can make the switch.