My web developers know nothing about my website. Help!

Dear Aunty B,

How do I migrate from a closed (proprietary) source system to an open source Joomla system? The web development company I engaged three and a half years ago has gone through some changes recently; with the head developer, 2IC developer and project manager all leaving about three to six months ago.

The developers left behind know next to nothing about my website which uses third-party software. It takes ages to get anything fixed and it is far too expensive for hosting. I want to move everything to a Joomla open source developer. I heard it will take at least three months. Any tips?

Frustrated,
Melbourne

Dear Frustrated,

Can you hear that? No? Listen. That’s the sound of me heavy breathing with excitement. I feel like you are channelling me. Honestly! Because that is exactly the position that we were in two years after launching SmartCompany. Our proprietary system cost a fortune, and once we had an emergency and they couldn’t respond because they were team building at a go-kart place.

I’ll give them team building…

And then we changed to Joomla. It was bliss. Pure bliss. Yes, it took a few months and there were a few issues. But we have never looked back.

Here are a few tips:

• Get an up-to-date copy of your website from your current developer.
• Make sure you have control of everything associated with hosting your website such as domain name, website hosting, DNS records. Make sure you are the primary account holder and NOBODY has access to these unless you have specified so.
• Make sure your new developer knows their stuff. Look at some of the websites they’ve done and the functionality that they have.
• Create a really good brief. Usually developers see the world differently to other people. They see things in databases, we see things in pretty buttons and funky menus. You need more than just a pretty mock-up of how you want your website to look, you need to be able to articulate what you want your website to do. Often with big web design companies, you don’t deal with the developer, you deal with a project manager who acts as a mediator or translator between you and the techies. So be prepared to work hard, especially at the start, to save yourself time later on.
• Open Source is good however sometimes it is too good to be true. Nine times out of 10 free modules, components and plugins you can download require some type of tweaking to fit your site.
• One of the most important and sometimes the most time consuming jobs is ensuring that none of the links to your site break when you migrate across. Make sure your developer can redirect all existing pages on your site to your new site. Be prepared for some loss in traffic when migrating, but make sure you’re doing everything possible to minimise the effect.

Good luck!
Aunty B

To read more Aunty B advice, click here.

Email your questions, problems and issues to auntyb@smartcompany.com.au right now!