Don't let a bad agency experience hold you back

The Step by Step Guide to moving your Umbraco Website to another Web development Agency

Maybe you feel like you've been overcharged or underserviced by your current agency, or perhaps they're unresponsive and slow to address your needs.

Whatever your reasons for wanting to switch agencies, We're here to make it as smooth as possible for you and will guide you through every step of the way.

Step 1: The Contract

First up is to review your current contract to confirm that you own the website files and database. It's also important to check whether there are any termination fees that you need to be aware of. It’s common practice so expect a fee (any more than a day is pushing it though). 

You also need to make sure you have access to the domain name records (DNS). This is super important as without it you can't move.

Finally, Is there a deadline for your current hosting?

Knowing these details will be crucial in helping you plan your exit strategy and timings.

Step 2: The Umbraco CMS Review

To help us better understand your CMS and any complexities we need to be aware of, we request a temporary user account with full developer permissions.

Our Umbraco specialist will then review the doc types, dataTypes, Partials, as well as the frontend code (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript).

Based on this analysis, we will provide you with a sitemap that breaks down all the content components. Together with a list of any clarifying questions that we may have.

At this point, we can tell you if we can adopt your website or not. If we can, then the next step is to get to the site files for the Code Audit.

Step 3: The Code Audit

We conduct a code audit to identify any potential security vulnerabilities, improve website performance, and ensure that your website is up-to-date with the latest best practices.

By identifying these issues, we can take steps to address them and improve the overall experience of managing your Umbraco CMS. This also allows us to proactively maintain your website and ensure that it continues to meet your needs.

The files we need to make this happen are as follows:

1. A ZIP of the root folder of the website that includes the web.config, the Umbraco folder, and the media folder
2. A ZIP of the SQL Server Database
3. A ZIP of the project files that include the source code, including any JavaScript, CSS, C# files, etc.

Finally, we ask for information on the current server configuration:

1.  What version of Windows?
2.  IIS version
3.  Version of the Application Pool - this can be seen in IIS and is usually .Net 2.0 or .Net 4.0
4.  Running Mode of the Application Pool - this can be seen in IIS and is either Classic or Integrated Mode
5.  The bindings for the website - these are the URLs currently associated to the website
6.  Any other non-standard settings (like URL Rewrite rules, SSL settings, etc)
7.  List of 3rd party API's' that the website is using and any available documentation
8.  Any documentation available related to the Website

From here we set up a clone of your website on our testing environment and carry out the code audit. It’s at this point that we have everything we need for the final stage of the process. The Switcheroo!

Step 4: The Switcheroo

This is where we need everyone's attention and diaries aligned. Agree on a day (preferably a Tuesday or Wednesday) that both agencies and your team can agree to. The 

Actions before the switch date

1. Content freeze day before the switch
2. Set up and configure the new server for hosting.
3. Copy website files to the new server
4. Test the website on the new server using the local hosts file or staging domain.

Actions on the day of the switch

1. Incumbent to export the current database to new hosting agency (am)
2. A New Hosting agency to import it to the new server.
3. Update domain DNS records to point to the new server's IP address.
4. Set a low TTL for DNS records to minimize downtime.
5. Monitor website performance and functionality during the transition.
6. Perform a final content sync check after DNS changes have propagated.
7. Ensure SSL/TLS certificates are installed and functioning on the new server.
8. Decommission the old server after a successful transition.

And that's it.

Your website has a new happy place.

I genuinely will recommend Gecko – you even managed to persuade me that Umbraco, when used correctly, isn’t awful, haha!

Carolyn Scott

Digital Communications Officer, Scottish Human Rights Commission

Step 5: The Action

So If you are not feeling the love anymore and thinking about switching but are not sure where to start.

Let us help you switch your Umbraco website to a happy place. A place that is refreshingly responsive, constantly creative, and where your challenges become our challenges.