livebooks blog

In our previous article we’ve covered the context in which we began migrating our websites from Flash to HTML5. But the website migration process doesn’t have to start from a Flash website. In fact, website migration is a common practice among businesses and individuals who feel that the current status of their website is drawing close to its inevitable end. There’s only so much “spring cleaning” a website can take before it’s time to switch to a better, improved and easy to manage version of it.

For the past two years liveBooks has migrated thousands of websites to our new HTML5 platform. Our dedicated migration team goes above and beyond when it comes to delivering a migrated website. From transferring your content, to revising the final result and following up on the delivery by the support staff, we’re making sure that every migration request is answered with the best results for you and your business.

Preparing for the big step

Moving to a new website platform is similar to changing your place of business, but with the help of a professional moving team that does all the hard work. What we ask from you is your vision and an update on your content.
Before starting the migration process check out our website templates and choose the one that best suits your business’ needs. We have dozens of layouts available for you to pick from. Each one is developed with distinct characteristics in functionality and design.
Once you find the new home for your content, it’s time to go through all the old one and decide what goes and what stays. Clean it up!
Choose which images are way too old to go on the new platform and make sure that the ones you want transferred are properly set up.
Go through your written content and update any texts that need editing.
Check all the links. Some of them might not be working anymore.
Delete empty pages.
We’ll take it from here.

The migration process

As soon as you give us the OK, the migration process begins:

1. We download your content and move it to the template you’ve chosen.
2. We add all existing SEO from your old website. This is a very important step that will ensure your website to be found on any search engine. (Note! If your old site had no SEO, please take a moment write down descriptions and keywords that will help your business grow. Here are some useful tips for you to consider.)
3. We add self canonical URLs for your pages. This step helps search engines index your pages as individual ones, removing any duplicates that might be otherwise wrongly identified and penalized.
4. We create redirects from all of your old links. This means that your visitors that bookmarked your pages or are accessing them from their browsing history will now get redirected to your new and improved website.
5. We make all the design changes you want, if you want them. This is where we put the finishing touches on your new site. It’s where we change colors, fonts or gallery layouts if that’s your vision. All action taken on this step is to assure the delivery of the online extension of your brand as you’ve established it on the market.
6. We revise your website before delivery. This means checking the website works and looks great on all devices: desktop, tablet and mobile. We check all the links and make sure they all work.
7. We deliver your website. Our support team will deliver your website and give you access to your account. This is the perfect time for you to browse through your new content and design editor. Our knowledge base is full of articles to answer any questions you might have.

The perks of liveBooks migration

• More time for you and your business and fewer headaches with your website maintenance
• Your work will be showcased on our modern and elegant liveBooks platform.
• You will have two dozen templates to choose from and the possibility to upgrade to a custom package which allows the integration of custom code to any of your pages.
• Your liveBooks site will be built based on your existing one, with improvements in design, functionality and SEO.
• The liveBooks Image Gallery will contain all your images, properly tagged and organized. This tool is great for all users with a large number of photographs and galleries.
• Get found with the SEO Everything™ feature that makes our existing clients Google superstars.
• Your new site will be optimized for all mobile devices.
• Our award-winning support specialists are ready to take all your questions and requests.
• All liveBooks websites are easy to update.
• The liveBooks migration process is free of charge.

We’ve seen many websites wither away and drag business along with them. The culprits are always the same: either the clients have a hard time accessing their content or they don’t have access at all to their content and updating the website is a difficult chore, or the platform they’ve used is no longer a reliable online standard. For us here at liveBooks, this is unacceptable.

Our theory is this: your business deserves a great website! You should always be able to access your website and update your content easily. You should have a team of support specialists to help you if things get tangled. You should never have to worry about your website.

If you want to migrate your website with our help, please get in touch with us by phone, email or chat with us from our website! We’re happy to help you build a better website for your business.

We’ll leave you with a quick before & after visual tour of one of our many migrated websites.

Before migration:

After migration:

 

In 2016, Google announced that it will block all Flash sites within the following two years. The major browsers adopted this change and, although a little saddened by the news, we embraced it because it made perfect sense: as much as we love the Flash websites we’ve designed for our clients for many years, they would soon become obsolete in the dawn of this new update. Such is the advancement of technology.

Another aspect we had to take into consideration was the way browsing has drastically changed since the arrival of mobile devices. When our company began, browsing was done strictly on desktops, thus, functionality and design were created for just one type of screen: your laptop or desktop landscape layout.

The rise of mobile browsing

Let’s go back to 2016 and compare it to the following year. Mobile browsing has increased drastically. This study shows just how much our behavior has changed when it comes to going online. Moreover, Google has taken a clear stand on prioritizing mobile browsing and, furthermore, it will penalize websites that have different content on their two versions – desktop and mobile.

Since Flash isn’t responsive, a new platform was ready to take its place. In our case, we chose HTML5. These are the three main reasons for our decision:

1. Browser cross-compatibility with all major browsers.

You can never tell whether your visitors are avid Google Chrome users, dedicated Safari fans or simply true Internet Explorer believers. With HTML5, your website will work and look the same on them all. Yes, sometimes the colors of your photo content could appear differently on them; we’ve covered this issue in a previous article.

2. It’s optimized for mobile devices.

All your content and SEO will be the same on both versions of your site – desktop and mobile. Some design elements might change to better fit the device used, but your visitors will find all the info they need on your properly structured HTML5 website. In other words, no more horizontal scrolling from your tablet or phone, unless the owner of the website has a reason for it.

3. The code is clean.

Tell this to any developer and watch their eyes sparkle. While this is more of an in-house piece of information, it’s good to know that a clean code runs in the back of your website. This means that any adjustments you would like to see on your website should be done in an easy and error-free manner – this applies for changes made both from the Design Editor as well as any custom code alterations.

What is website migration?

Website migration is the operation of moving all content from one platform to a better one. This includes:

Images
Written content
Links – social and contact links as well as any on or off-site redirects
Image metadata – image info and tags
Website, page, and image SEO – SEO Everything™
Legacy URLs – redirect links from all your old links to your new ones

This is the setting in which we started the migration process of all our sites from Flash to HTML5. In next Tuesday’s article, we will analyze in depth all operations which allow for a smooth transition of content to the HTML5 platform. We will also give a couple of examples of websites we’ve migrated, to observe the improvements in functionality and design.

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