Transition Your Old Website

 

1. Back up your old website

Step 1.1: Contact your current Web hosting company. Before canceling your service, request that all your information – graphics, HTML files,  etc. – be downloaded to a local computer.

Step 1.2: If you are responsible for managing the content on your own website, download all important graphics, HTML files, articles, images, etc. to a local computer so they can easily be transferred over to your new Chapter Site.


2. Alert your visitors of the website change

Step 2.1: Make sure your new Chapter Site has been completely updated and has a grade of at least a B on your Chapter Site report card before directing traffic to it.

Step 2.2: Use existing social media channels and periodic newsletters to announce your new Chapter Site. Provide the link to your new Chapter Site in all chapter communications and make it easily accessible to your audience. Update any of the links listed in social media bios with your new URL.

3. Redirect your old URL to your new Chapter Site

Step 3.1: Using your previous web hosting platform, create a URL redirect that pushes any users who attempt to visit your old URL to the new Chapter Site. The process for creating a URL redirect differs by the web hosting platform. You can find instructions for a number of popular platforms below:

Squarespace

WordPress

Wix

Weebly

GoDaddy


4. How to remove outdated content from search engines

Step 4: If the content you’ve removed from your old site still shows up in Google search results, follow these instructions to submit a removal request.


5. How to remove inactive websites without having access to the domain

Step 5: Determine your domain host and contact them to deactivate your old, inactive site. If your chapter no longer has access to an old website that cannot be updated or deactivated and is not sure who is currently hosting the old domain, check previous chapter or AVC billing records to determine who your domain host is or follow these instructions to look up your domain host and contact them.