Why Website Migrations are Natural and Necessary

All migration starts with a trigger or, in this case, a catalyst.

For some animals, migration is hard wired into their brains. Salmon instinctively feel obligated to move upstream to spawn, and in most cases, die. For other animals, like birds, migration happens seasonally brought on by change of weather and dwindling resources. They migrate in fall to warmer areas with more food, and then return again to their summer home in the spring.

Migration in the digital world mirrors the phenomenon in the animal world. In both cases migration is caused by one of two triggers; obligation or choice. In the case of Adobe Catalyst both types of migration are present. . Eventually the service will be discontinued, forcing those using the platform to migrate whether they want to, or not.  On the other hand, the end of Catalyst support, planned for March of 2021, gives users enough time to make the choice to migrate before having it forced upon them. Whether you do it now, or wait until 2021, there is one inevitable conclusion: migrate or be left behind. 

It’s here we should take a lesson from our animal friends. While the process of migrating a website is not without its difficulties, technicalities and intricacies, it’s also coupled with an opportunity to better your online presence, drive traffic to your website, and grow your audience. Now, before you go off and pack your bags to move, let’s do some planning. 

Before moving your site and its content, you should take some vitals to ensure that once you finish moving your site, it’s still in good health. Hopefully you have some reporting software or analytics data being collected on your current site. This is the best place to start planning your migration. Use the analytics reports for page traffic, content engagement and other metrics to show what content is getting the most attention. You can leverage this insight to better decide the layout, focus and structure of your new site, or to see where you need to drive more traffic, grow an audience or better display information.

Now that you have an idea of where you are currently, it’s time to decide where you’re moving. The web is full of hosting companies,  and cookie cutter template solutions, but you didn’t migrate just to stick with the herd, right? It’s time to set yourself apart. The best way to do that is a custom site with curated content, intelligent design and well thought out information architecture hierarchy, and placed in a user- friendly CMS with SEO integration. For these reasons, and many more, you may want to consider finding a partner who will point you in the right direction, and lead you in your migration. The load is always lighter when shared, and as luck would have it—we know someone.

Make sure you’re headed in the right direction with your Catalyst migration! For more detailed information on the site migration process, download  or contact us today to get started!