Converting from HTML to WordPress

I just converted this website to WordPress. It was written years ago in server side HTML/CSS then I tacked a WordPress blog onto it. This conversion gets the whole site into WordPress. Here’s the process:

1. Create and install WordPress in a new directory in my case globalcreations.com/WPVersion
2. Install the key plugins:
   1. WP-SpamShield
   2. Wordfence Security
3. Intall and activate your desired theme.  I used Divi from Elegant Themes.
4. Create WordPress pages for each of the HTML pages (just copy the content from the old site on the web browser and paste it into WordPress).  Update and correct as needed.
5. Create WordPress posts from all the posts on the old installation. Since I didn’t have very many, I just copied and pasted like with the pages. You could do this with the database if you wish.

Once the new installation, in a separate directory, is working as intended, it’s time to take down the old site and install the new.  I had my pages in HTML set up in directories so, for example my FAQ page was globalcreations.com/faq/index.shtml  and used as   globalcreations.com/faq.  In WordPress I used permalink created from the page/post name.  My new page was titled FAQ so that, ultimately the URL becomes globalcreations.com/faq – the same as it was before – and no need for redirects.  At this point,  I want to move my WordPress installation from globalcreations.com/WPVersion to globalcreations.com.  Here are the steps for that:

Make sure all php, .htaccess, and other files that might be copied over are backed up and/or moved, and that the root directory is ready for the new WordPress files.

• Log in to your site.
• Go to theAdministration > Settings > General
• In the box for WordPress Address (URL): change the address to the new location of your main WordPress core files.
• In the box for Site Address (URL): change the address to the new location, which should match the WordPress (your public site) address.

• Click Save Changes.

• Move your WordPress core files to the new location. This includes the files found within the original directory, such as http://globalcreations.com/WPVersion, and all the sub-directories, to the new location.
• Now, try to open your site by going to yourdomain.com/wp-admin. Note, you may need to go to yourdomain.com/wp-login.php
• If you are usingPermalinks, go to theAdministration > Settings > Permalinks panel, be sure they are set up the way you want and save.
• Existing image/media links uploaded media will refer to the old folder and must be updated with the new location. You can do this with the Better Search Replace plugin.  I just edited the Posts table to replace /WPVersion/ with /.
• In some cases your permissions may have changed, depending on your ISP. Watch for any files with “0000” permissions and change them back to “0644”.  The easiest way to check this is get into the file manager in your website’s server  control panel.  Mine were all ok.
• If your theme supports menus, links to your home page may still have the old subdirectory embedded in them. Go to Appearance > Menus and update them.  All of mine were fine because of the way they are created in DIVI.
• Sometimes you would need to restart your server, otherwise your server may give out an error. (happens in MAMP software (Mac)).  No such problem with my server.

Now,  due to the way I had the original website set up with links like global creations.com/faq, the new site was still bringing up the old pages.  That’s fine since the old website was never down while the new one was being installed, but to keep that from happening now, I just deleted the old directories from the server.

All that remained was adding a few plugins for special purposes and the site is good to go.  If you run into any problems using it,  let me know!