Gold Penguin Logo with Text

How to Easily Migrate a Breakdance Website with Duplicator

Migrating a WordPress website can be a daunting task, but it doesn't have to be. By using a plugin like Duplicator, you can migrate your entire Breakdance site from one host to another moderately easily.
Updated April 26, 2023

When working on a WordPress website, you might run into issues where you want to move your site from one web host to another. This could be a variety of personal or professional reasons: wanting to change hosts, website growing and needing more resources, or running into issues with your current hosting provider. Whatever the reason, if you need to migrate a Breakdance Builder WordPress website, there are a few options you can take. WordPress sites are generally easy to migrate to a new web hosting provider and could be done with a few WordPress plugins

There are a few plugins that can help you with this process, but we recommend using the Duplicator WordPress Migration Plugin. This plugin is easy to use and will help you quickly migrate your WordPress website to a new host.

What does it mean to Migrate WordPress?

In WordPress, “migrating” a website simply means moving it from one web host to another. This process can be as simple or complicated as you make it – depending on how you want to move your website and what resources you have available.

What is a Staging Site?

A staging site is an almost exact copy of your live WordPress site. It's typically used for making major changes to your website, like adding a new plugin or theme, before pushing those changes to your live site.

Making changes on a staging site first ensures that any issues can be fixed before they impact your live site. This can be very helpful when you're making significant changes to your website, like migrating to a new host.

Creating a staging site is relatively easy with most WordPress hosting providers. Once you've created a staging site, you can follow the same steps outlined in this guide to migrate your live WordPress site to the staging site. Then, once everything is working correctly on the staging site, you can simply push those changes to your live site.

Migrating a Small WordPress Site

If you are moving a small WordPress site with a few pages and posts, you could simply create a full backup of your site (including the WordPress files and database) and then upload it to your new web host. This would be the simplest form of migration, but it’s also less flexible and can be more prone to issues.

Migrating a Large WordPress Site

On the other hand, if you are moving a large WordPress site with hundreds or thousands of pages and posts, you might want to consider a “staged” approach where you first migrate your site to a staging environment. This would give you a chance to test the migration and make sure everything is working as it should before making your website live on the new host.

In this article, we’re going to focus on migrating a WordPress site from one host to another using the Duplicator plugin. This is a great option if you want more flexibility and control over the process, and it’s also relatively easy to use – even if you’re not familiar with website migrations. This tutorial is focused on smaller websites, but the same principles can be applied to larger sites as well, just be cautious.

Why Migrate a WordPress Website?

There are a few common reasons why someone might need to migrate a WordPress website. 6 common reasons for migrating a WordPress site are:

1. Your website is growing and you need more resources

2. You want to change web hosting providers

3. You’re running into issues with your current host

4. You want to move your site to a staging environment for testing

5. You want to create a local development copy of your site

6. You’re launching a new WordPress website

If any of these circumstances apply to you, then you might need to migrate your WordPress website. Keep in mind that migrating a WordPress site is different from simply moving the files from one host to another – you’ll also need to migrate your database, which contains all of your website content (pages, posts, comments, etc.).

While it’s technically possible to manually migrate a WordPress site without any plugins or special tools, we don’t recommend it. The process is relatively complicated and there’s a higher chance for errors. Instead, we recommend using a WordPress migration plugin like Duplicator. This plugin will handle all of the heavy lifting for you and make sure that your website is successfully migrated to the new host.

What happens to WordPress files when Migrating a site?

When you migrate a WordPress site, you’ll need to move both your WordPress files and your database.

When you migrate a WordPress site, you’ll need to transfer both your WordPress files and your database to the new host. We’ll show you how to do this using the Duplicator

WordPress Site Files

Your WordPress files include all of the core code that makes up your website (as well as any themes or plugins that you’re using).

WordPress Database

Your database, on the other hand, stores all of your website content like pages, posts, comments, and settings. In other words, your WordPress files contain the structure of your site while your database contains the content.

Local vs Hosted WordPress Websites

Before we dive into the tutorial, it’s important to understand the difference between a local WordPress website and a hosted WordPress website. A local WordPress site is one that you set up on your computer using software like MAMP, WAMP, XAMPP, or LocalWP. This can be helpful for developing and testing purposes.

A hosted WordPress site is one that’s live on the web and available to visitors. In order to launch a hosted WordPress site, you need to purchase web hosting and a domain name. Once you have both of those things, you can install WordPress and start adding content to your site.

For the purposes of this tutorial, we’ll assume that you already have a hosted WordPress site that you want to migrate to a new host.

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s take a look at how to migrate a WordPress site using the Duplicator plugin.

Migrate your Breakdance Builder WordPress Site with a Plugin

Migrate Breakdance Builder Using Duplicator

The duplicator WordPress plugin is one of the best WordPress migration plugins. It's a great choice for those who need an easy way to migrate their WordPress websites. This plugin will create a package that includes your WordPress files and database which you can then use to move your site to another host or even locally. Download the plugin directly from your WordPress dashboard, install, and activate the plugin.

Backup

Before starting, backup your WordPress website. This is important in case something goes wrong during the process and you need to revert back to a previous version. There are many WordPress backup plugins available, but we recommend UpdraftPlus as it's easy to use and has a free version. Updraft allows you to backup your WordPress files and database and store them remotely in the cloud (through services like Google Drive, Dropbox, or Amazon S3).

Export Existing Site

Once you've installed and activated the Duplicator plugin, go to Duplicator -> Packages and click on the "Create New" button.

On the next screen, you will be asked to choose a name and description for your package. You can also choose to exclude certain files or directories from being included in the package. For most people, the default settings will work just fine.

Follow the setup settings to create a new package. This will give you two files called "installer.php" and an "archive.zip" containing everything you'll need for the entire migration process. The PHP file contains the instructions for a WordPress installation while the zip file contains all the files & old site information.

migrating a wordpress website with duplicator plugin, build completed installer and archive

Push to Destination Site

Navigate to your file manager on your destination site, this could be found through your hosting provider or more specifically in cPanel -> file manager. We'll be adding a new database & user by installing a mysql database.

  • Log into your hosting & to the cPanel main menu.
  • Under Databases, select MySQL Databases.
  • Under Create a New Database, enter a name and press Create Database. Keep this simple and remember the name.
  • Add yourself as a user to modify the database. Under Add a New User, enter a username and password, then create a User. Remember this login as well.
  • Go to add a User to a Database, choose the user and database you just created from the dropdowns, then click Add.
  • On the Manage User Privileges screen, check the ALL PRIVILEGES box to provide this account access to the database, then click Make Changes.

Now go back to your file manager, upload both the installer.php and archive.zip files to your root folder directory.

migrated files on new wordpress website

Once these are uploaded, go to [yourdomain.com]/installer.php

  • Enter the database name from earlier, then the username and password that you just created (Host can stay as “localhost”).
  • Click Test Connection & ensure your site is connected properly.
  • Click Run Deployment.
  • The next screen will show both old and new URLs, which should be the same if you’re keeping your old domain. Press Run Update.
migrating a wordpress website using duplicator

Now the work with Duplicator is done and your WordPress migration process is complete. Your content is now moved from your old web host to your new one. If you navigate to your new URL, everything should be mirrored properly. Go to your WordPress dashboard and log in.

Export Breakdance Settings

You'll need to export your old Breakdance settings in order to import them into your new WordPress site if you want them to remain the same. On your old site go to Breakdance -> Settings -> Tools and download your Export file (a JSON file). You can import this file on your new WordPress host the same way.

Regenerate Breakdance Cache & Import Settings

The last step is to regenerate the Breakdance cache and import your old settings. On your new WordPress site, go to Breakdance -> Settings -> Tools and use the Regenerate Cache button. This will rebuild all of your cached files so that they work on your new host.

Next, click on the Import button and select the JSON file you downloaded from your old site. This will import all of your old settings so that your new WordPress site looks and feels just like your old one.

And that's it! You've now successfully migrated your entire Breakdance Builder WordPress website from one host to another using the Duplicator plugin!

Conclusion

Migrating a WordPress website can be a daunting task, but it doesn't have to be. By using a plugin like Duplicator, you can migrate your entire Breakdance site from one host to another moderately easily. You'll also have to export and import your old settings so that your new site looks and feels just like the old one. With some patience, you can get your new site up and running in no time. Leave a comment below if you have any questions or encounter any problems while following this guide!

Want To Learn Even More?
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to our free monthly newsletter
where we share tips & tricks on how to use tech & AI to grow and optimize your business, career, and life.
Written by Justin Gluska
Justin is the founder of Gold Penguin, a business technology blog that helps people start, grow, and scale their business using AI. The world is changing and he believes it's best to make use of the new technology that is starting to change the world. If it can help you make more money or save you time, he'll write about it!
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Join Our Newsletter!
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to our newsletter where we share tips & tricks on how to make use of some incredible AI tools that you can use to grow and optimize a business
magnifiercross