Learn how to migrate your blog from WordPress to HubSpot. We will walk through concepts such as exporting blog from WordPress, importing blog into HubSpot and learning how to set redirects to ensure you don't lose any organic traffic.

1. How to migrate your blog
from Wordpress to HubSpot

2. Hello!I am Vu Long Tran
Implementation Specialist, Services, Asia
You can find me at:
@vulongtran

3. Nervous?
A blog
migration
may sound
hard, but is it
really?

4. 19,322HubSpot customers as of Q1 2016
You probably already know…
and of course, most of our
successful customers blog…

5. “
“You gain strength, courage and
confidence by every experience in
which you really stop to look fear in the
face... Do the thing you think you
cannot do” - Eleanor Roosevelt
So don’t fear...

6. The blog migration
process is
straightforward
Export Import Review

7. Export from
Wordpress
Import to
Hubspot
Review and
Redirect
Traffic (if
needed)
The blog migration
process is
straightforward

8. Blog migration details
Export a xml file from
Wordpress
This will include blog post
with details such as:
◇ Date of post,
Category, Author,
Status (Draft,
Published)
◇ Images
Import this xml file into
HubSpot
This will import the blog
posts into HubSpot.
Review and check blog
post links
This is to ensure that
traffic continue to go to
your blog posts.
Export from
Wordpress
Import to
Hubspot
Review and
Redirect
Traffic (if
needed)

9. Export from Wordpress
Let’s export from Wordpress using WordPress’ blog export
function
1

10. Use WordPress’ Blog Export function
1. Login to your WordPress.com admin
(sometimes known as “WP-
Admin”);
2. Navigate to Tools > Export;
3. Choose what to export;
4. I suggest you make sure you have
All Content selected and press
“Download Export File”;
5. You will receive a .xml file.
More instructions directly available from
WordPress here:
http://codex.wordpress.
org/Tools_Export_Screen
Export from Wordpress

11. Import into HubSpot
Let’s import your blog into HubSpot using the Hubspot blog
importer
2

12. Use HubSpot’s Blog Import function
1. Go to your "Content Settings" and navigate to “Blog Importer”
(screenshot bottom left);
2. Upload your .xml file. using the “Select Import File” button (screenshot
bottom right);
3. Follow the prompts;
4. (Optional) Towards the end, you have the option to add in your email
address, so that you are notified when the import is completed.
More instructions directly available from the HubSpot Academy here:
http://knowledge.hubspot.com/blog-user-guide-v2/how-to-import-your-
wordpress-blog-posts-into-a-hubspot-cos-blog
Export from Wordpress

13. Review and Redirect
Traffic (if needed)
Review your blog posts in HubSpot and set redirects when you’re
ready
2

14. Your blog is imported in
HubSpot. Now what?
Well done!
You have been successful in importing your blog in
HubSpot. Now it’s time to review your blog with two key
goals:
1. Review blog look and feel - Ensure that your blog is
being presented with the look and feel that your
online visitors are accustomed to;
2. Redirect traffic - Make sure you keep your organic
traffic.

15. Review
your blog

16. Review your blog
Everything looking good?
Here are some key elements to check at:
LOOK AND FEEL
◇ Check whether your blog look
and feel is correct
￭ Is the navigation and
footer bar in the right
place?
￭ Are the blog images
loading correctly?
Positioned fine?
￭ etc.
LINK CHECK
◇ Check the links are all working
◇ Compare link URL structure with
those that you had set up in
WordPress previously. This
includes:
￭ main blog URL and
￭ blog post URLs.

17. Redirect
traffic, as
needed

18. Redirects are important as traffic is still going to your old
website URL, so we need to ensure that traffic is guided to
your new website URL structure.
This helps:
◇ Website visiting usability (as users will get no dead
links)
◇ SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) ranking is
maintained
Redirects are
important

19. URL mapping
redirects
(COS URL
Mappings)
Three key ways to
redirect traffic
WordPress site
redirects
(as required)
Search engine
redirects

20. URL Mappings will be your most important tool on HubSpot
Normally if hosted on HubSpot - Whenever you change the URL of a page or post built
with HubSpot, the software automatically sets up a 301 redirect from the original URL
to the updated URL.
URL Mappings
If hosted elsewhere - However, if your website was previously hosted on
WordPress or another website provider, based on your review earlier,
you may need to create or define your redirects accordingly.
Add URL Mapping redirects accordingly
1. Go to your "Content Settings" and navigate to “COS URL
Mapping”
2. Set up and “add URL mapping” accordingly
You should follow instructions directly available from the HubSpot
Academy here on how to read and set it around your website’s
structure
http://knowledge.hubspot.com/website-user-guide/how-to-use-the-url-
mapping-tool-to-redirect-pages

21. Redirect traffic from Wordpress to HubSpot
This step is only completed as required.
Depending on how you have your website set up, and whether or not your are moving:
◇ your entire website from Wordpress to HubSpot’s website hosting OR
◇ if you are just moving the blog, the place where you'll need to set up the URL
mappings will differ.
That is, you only need to redirect traffic on WordPress if you are still planning to use
WordPress to host your website. Otherwise, HubSpot will simply allow you the option
to migrate and host your blog on HubSpot’s hosting servers.
WordPress redirects

22. Redirect traffic from Wordpress to HubSpot
For example, your website is hosted on Wordpress at www.domain.com, your old blog
URLs were at www.domain.com/{rest-of-post}, and you migrate only your blog to
HubSpot where it will exist at info.domain.com/blog/{rest-of-URL}.
That is, your websites were:
Website hosting is onWordpress at www.domain.com
Blog is hosted at www.domain.com/{rest-of-post}
Now you plan on migrating only your HubSpot, so:
Website hosting is still the same as above.
Blog is hosted at info.domain.com/blog/{rest-of-URL}
Because the old blog URLs were at www.domain.com and the rest of the content of
your website (other than the blog content that you migrated) is still hosted on
Wordpress, you have to set up the URL mappings in Wordpress.
Why?
That's because traffic to www.domain.com (your old blog post URL) is directed to
Wordpress, so it is only Wordpress that is able to redirect the traffic to the new blog
post URL, which is to say "actually, the traffic you expected to find here lives at this
new URL instead."
WordPress redirects

23. Okay got that, now how do I set up these redirects on WordPress?
WordPress has quite a few redirect plugins that you explore and use for your
redirecting needs.
We have found that HubSpot users have found success in setting up these URL
Mappings in Wordpress using a Wordpress plugin called Eggplant 301 Redirects.
Setting up 301 redirect is your goal
Whichever WordPress plugin you do decide to use. The key here would be to make
sure you are using a 301 redirect. As this is a permanent redirect that will be set up so
that any remaining traffic to your old hosting server will find it’s way to the new server.
This will also inform search engines crawlers indexing your website that you site has
moved.
Only follow these steps once you are happy and ready with where you are directing
your traffic. Since completing this step will immediately send traffic to your new site
location.
WordPress redirects

24. Depending on what you have opted to have hosted on HubSpot and how you had
your website, blogs and landing pages set up previously. You may need to tell search
engines that your links have changed.
Only follow these steps once you are happy and ready with where you are directing
your traffic. Since completing this step will immediately send traffic to your new site
location.
You can tell Google directly via their Google Webmasters Console that:.
Search Engine redirects
Your links have changed
Go to Google Webmasters Console and tell them that
your website has changed links. That way traffic is
redirected at the “search engine” level.
Use the Change of Address redirect tool that Google offers
A change of address notification helps you manage the
transition needed by Google to index your new URLs at the
new address, while minimizing impact to your current
ranking in Google Search results.
This updated index status remains in effect for 180 days,
by which time Googlebot will have crawled and indexed the
pages at the new address.
That they should index pages from your website
If you haven’t done it already, submit your sitemap so that
you can tell Google directly which pages you want them to
index on their search engine, and they will review and
index accordingly.
This is an easy process as your sitemap is hosted at
YourWebsite.com/sitemap.xml,
where “sitemap.xml” will be the default alias at HubSpot.
Read instructions onhow to submit your sitemap from
Google

25. Tools to help after you set
your redirects
Here are some tools to help you confirm that your redirects
work fine.
Check out these free link checking tools:
◇ W3 Link checker - http://validator.w3.org/checklink
◇ Xenu link checker - http://tech.dejavuguides.
com/2015/12/how-to-find-broken-links-on-your-site.
html
◇ Wummel linkchecker - http://wummel.github.
io/linkchecker/

26. If you were collecting email addresses on your WordPress site, you’d want to
configure your forms and RSS emails in HubSpot.
Here are the three steps to set this up in HubSpot:
Don’t forget your RSS
blog subscribers
3. Publish RSS emails
Customize and publish the RSS
emails in HubSpot.
2. Configure subscription options
Configure your subscription
options within the blogs settings.
1. Configure subscription
notification settings
Configure subscription
notification settings within your
contacts' contact properties.
Special thanks to SmartBugMedia for highlighting this so easily missed step!

27. Let’s recap

28. Blog migration details
Export a xml file from
Wordpress
This will include blog post
with details such as:
◇ Date of post,
Category, Author,
Status (Draft,
Published)
◇ Images
Import this xml file into
HubSpot
This will import the blog
posts into HubSpot.
Review and check blog
post links
This is to ensure that
traffic continue to go to
your blog posts.
Export from
Wordpress
Import to
Hubspot
Review and
Redirect
Traffic (if
needed)

29. URL mapping
redirects
(COS URL
Mappings)
Three key ways to
redirect traffic
WordPress site
redirects
(as needed)
Search engine
redirects

30. Next steps
Congratulations now you have reviewed the key process to importing your blog into HubSpot.
Here are some additional resources to further help you with your blog migration.
How to import your WordPress blog posts into
a HubSpot COS blog
http://knowledge.hubspot.com/blog-user-guide-
v2/how-to-import-your-wordpress-blog-posts-into-
a-hubspot-cos-blog
How do I change the root URL of my COS
blog?
http://knowledge.hubspot.
com/articles/kcs_article/cos-blog/how-do-i-
change-the-root-url-of-my-cos-blog
WordPress vs Hubspot, how is HubSpot
different from WordPress
http://www.hubspot.com/products/faq/hubspot-vs-
wordpress-cms
How to use the URL mapping tool to redirect
pages
http://knowledge.hubspot.
com/articles/kcs_article/cos-general/how-do-i-set-up-
a-flexible-pattern-url-mapping
Why did HubSpot reset the social sharing
counters on my imported Wordpress blog
posts?
http://knowledge.hubspot.
com/articles/kcs_article/cos-blog/why-did-hubspot-
reset-the-social-sharing-counters-on-my-imported-
wordpress-blog-posts

31. Thanks!
Any questions?
You can find me at:
◇ @vulongtran

32. Credits
Special thanks to all the people who made and released
these awesome resources for free:
◇ Presentation template by SlidesCarnival
◇ Photographs by Unsplash