How to migrate your Joomla site to WordPress in 5 steps

Joomla is a powerful platform itself. However, many people prefer WordPress for your applications, largely due to its ease of use and flexibility. The problem is that the migration of a site from one platform to another can be a little confusing. That’s why we’ll guide you through the process.

Overall, migrating to WordPress Joomla include:

1. Configuring FG Joomla plugin for WordPress.
2. Find the Joomla database parameters.
3. Migrating your Joomla content to WordPress.
4. Replace your internal links in WordPress.
5. Point your domain to your new WordPress site.

By the time we’re done, your website should be running on WordPress with no problem. Before we begin, however, let’s discuss why you might want to switch from one platform to another first.

Looking for a reliable hosting where you can run Joomla migration to WordPress? The Hostinger can help you with that. We have a WordPress hosting platform optimized for best performance and speed. Guarantee of 30 days included refund.

If you encounter a problem during the transfer, our team successful agents dedicated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, will be present to help in all stages of the process.

Why migrate Joomla to WordPress?

Let’s start by saying that Joomla is a fantastic platform. It offers integrated options of search engine optimization (SEO), robust security and many useful features. Migrate from one platform to another is not to choose what is superior, but what is best for your particular needs.

WordPress, by comparison, is the most popular Content Management System (CMS). It also offers a number of advantages over Joomla. For example:

• WordPress is easier to handle for beginners. If you’re new to creating and managing websites, it will probably take much less time to familiarize yourself with WordPress than Joomla.
• You have more customization options. The large number of plugins and themes available for WordPress users is impressive. No matter what type of website you want to create, you can create a lot faster using these dedicated tools.
• The WordPress community is much more active. More users mean you have access to better support community. If you have a problem using WordPress, you will find thousands of online guides and tutorials to help you solve them.

In our experience, WordPress is by far the best choice if you do not have experience in web development. With this CMS, you can create professional-looking sites that have advanced features without touching a single line of code. On the other hand, if you have experience with web development, you can take advantage of the platform further. So there are a few drawbacks to using WordPress.

By now you should know if you are ready to migrate Joomla to WordPress, so do not lose more time trying to sell the tool for you. Instead, we will teach you to do the work, so you can go back to work to improve your website.

Preparing to migrate Joomla to WordPress

Before starting the migration process, you need three things:

1. A hosting with powerful servers to your new site. If you do not know which to use, check the our products .
2. A clean WordPress installation, set up and ready for use.
3. Access to the domain you’re using in your Joomla site. After migrating your site, you need to upgrade this domain to point to your WordPress configuration.

Note that the choice of hosting is essential to the functioning of your website. Ideally, choose a supplier that offers fair prices, great performance and specific features of WordPress. For example, we optimize our Premium plans and business to provide a high level of performance if you are using WordPress.

Anyway, when you have a hosting plan and a set of WordPress installation, it is time to roll up our sleeves and get to work.

Step 1: Setting the FG Joomla plugin WordPress Plugin

WordPress allows you to import content from various other platforms. However, the Joomla CMS is not among the list that supports this course. Do not panic, because you can easily add the Joomla support WordPress using the correct plugin. In this case, the FG Joomla to WordPress .

To begin, go to your WordPress dashboard and go to the tab Plugins> Add New . You will see a search bar on the right where you can enter FG Joomla to WordPress to access the plugin:

Click the Install Now next to the name of the plugin. WordPress will set everything up and, when ready, a new button Enable appears in the same place. Click on it and the plugin will be ready for use.

Before using the plugin, you’ll need some credentials that will enable WordPress to include your Joomla content. Let’s talk about how to do this.

Step 2: Find the Joomla database parameters

For the next step, we need their Joomla database credentials. This will cause the WordPress plugin to import your Joomla content. Without them, the platform will not allow the plugin to copy your files.

To find these credentials, go to the Joomla control panel and select the tab system at the top of the screen. Choose the Global Configuration and look for the tab Server :

If you look to the right, you will see a section called database settings . The fields that interest us are Host , Database User Name , Database Name and Prefix Database Tables :

If your Joomla database is located on a server or hosting of different Web WordPress site, you may need to use the remote name of the MySQL host. An easy solution is to make a backup of your Joomla database, send it does for the current hosting account and use it instead of the original during migration.

You can keep this guide open for now or copy the contents of these fields somewhere safe. You’ll need them soon.

Step 3: Migrate your Joomla content to WordPress

At this point, you have all the ingredients you need. It’s time for FG Joomla plugin for WordPress do the rest of work. To start, go back to your WordPress dashboard and go to the tab Tools> Import . Inside, you will see several options, including one that says Joomla (FG). Click the link Turn importer below:

The next part is where you’ll configure how the plugin will handle the content that matters. First, choose whether you want the WordPress merge your Joomla content with your existing posts or set it as a new site. We recommend the latter option, even if your WordPress site is brand new:

Now, scroll down to the parameter section of the Joomla site. There, you will need to enter the URL of your existing Joomla site. Thus, the plugin will know where to draw your media files, which are required, unless you want your new site run out of image:

Go to the section of the Joomla database parameters , where you will use the credentials located in the previous step. Glue the Joomla values for their respective fields, but leave intact the Port and Database options:

Now, click the Test the database connection , so that the plugin can make sure the database parameters work.

We’re almost done, but there are still some settings to adjust. If you scroll further down, you’ll see a section called Behavior. Here you can choose whether to import posts filed, select which media files should extract the plugin Joomla and decide what to do with the meta keywords of your content:

You will also notice that there is an option to import your Joomla content as pages instead of publications. If you do this or not, will depend on the type of site you were running on Joomla. If your site is a blog, for example, you should keep this option off.

Finally, you can go ahead and click the Start / Continue Import button, and wait for the plugin to do its job. This may take a while, depending on how big your Joomla site, so go and grab a cup of coffee while you wait.

If you want to know how is the process, keep an eye on the log section in this page. There is also a progress bar that shows how far you are:

In our experience, migration usually happens smoothly. However, there are cases that WordPress may have difficulty in importing some of your Joomla content depending on your hosting provider. If you are using a light plane, the plugin can “complete migration” when trying to extract your Joomla content, which may result in errors.

Just to be clear, this is not a common problem. However, it shows how important it is to choose a solid hosting provider. If you encounter this problem, you need to restart the process and rerun.

In any case, after the migration is finished, you will see a success message in the log section. Now, go ahead and take a look at the new pages and posts from your WordPress site. You need to verify that all of its contents was transferred from Joomla to success with WordPress.

At this point, you may notice that if you click on a link inside of WordPress, it may not work as expected. This is because these links are still pointing to your Joomla site. Let’s fix that now.

Step 4: Replace your internal links in WordPress

Fortunately, FG Joomla to WordPress plugin also includes a tool to help you fix your internal links. To use it, you need to return to the tab Tools > Import and click the Rotate importer under the Joomla option again.

You will see the same image of step 3. Ignore all the settings used in the last step and go all the way to the bottom. There is a section called After migration , including a button that says Modify internal links . Click on the button:

This button takes care of all internal links found in your WordPress content and fixes so they no longer point to Joomla. When the process finishes, the plugin tell you how many links it changed. It should work smoothly, although you have to check some links later, just to make sure.

Now your new WordPress site is pretty much done! There is only one detail to finish, that is your domain.

Step 5: point your domain to WordPress

You probably already have a registered domain name pointing to your Joomla site. However, after the migration, you need to ensure your domain is taking visitors to the right place.

If you want to register a new domain for use with WordPress, you can do this. However, we do not recommend changing fields if your website has been available for some time. Fortunately, change the website to which your existing domain points is quite simple.

There are several ways to change the settings of your domain, including the exchange of name servers and the use of ” records “.

When finished, remember that it may take a while until the changes in your domain are made. This means you do not have to worry if access even lead to your Joomla site shortly after making the switch. Take a few hours, or days at most, and your domain will be updated to point to your new site.

At this point, there is nothing else to do but work on your WordPress site. You can delete your Joomla site, as you will no longer use it, but it is up to you.

Conclusion

Switch from Joomla to WordPress is a big decision, but it is not a process as complicated as you might think. If you are giving up because they did not think possible, you will be happy to know that it only takes a few steps. You can simply use a plugin to allow WordPress Joomla import your data, connect this plugin to your existing website and then let it migrate to Joomla WordPress for you.

Do you have any questions about the Joomla migration to WordPress? Leave a comment below.