How to Move Your Website to a New Designer

Changing web designers may seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. With a little preparation and the right support, moving your website to a new designer can be a smooth and straightforward process.

There are many reasons why authors decide to make the change. Your current designer may be retiring, your website may have become outdated, or perhaps you’re simply looking for someone who better understands the needs of authors and publishers. Whatever the reason, your website is a valuable business asset, and it’s important to ensure the transition is handled carefully.

Start by finding the right designer

Before making any changes, take time to choose a designer who is a good fit for your needs.

Look for someone who:

Has experience designing websites for authors or other creative professionals.
Can show examples of recent work.
Explains technical matters clearly.
Offers ongoing support and maintenance.
Has positive testimonials from clients.

A good designer should be happy to review your existing website and discuss your options before you commit to anything.

Make sure you get quotes from a number of web designers before making your final decision.

Find out who owns what

One of the first things your new designer will want to establish is who controls the various parts of your website.

These typically include:

Your domain name (for example, yourauthorname.co.uk)
Website hosting
WordPress administrator access
Email accounts
SSL certificate
Any premium themes or plugins
Google Analytics and Search Console (if used)

It’s surprisingly common for authors not to know where these are held, especially if someone else set everything up several years ago. Don’t worry if that’s the case—an experienced designer can usually help identify where everything is managed.

Gather your login details

If possible, collect the login details for your website before the handover begins.

These might include:

WordPress login
Hosting account
Domain registrar
Email hosting
Newsletter platform
BookFunnel account (if you use one)
Social media accounts linked to your website

Having everything ready can make the transfer much quicker.

Will I need to change hosting?

That depends on the web designer you choose.

Some designers are happy to work with your existing hosting provider, while others—including Bookwebs—provide a fully managed hosting service as part of their ongoing support.

At Bookwebs, we host all of our clients’ websites because it allows us to offer a faster, more reliable support service. We know exactly how our hosting environment is configured, how it interacts with WordPress, and how to resolve any issues quickly. It also means we can take care of software updates, backups, security monitoring and technical maintenance without relying on a third-party hosting company.

If you move your website to Bookwebs, we’ll arrange the hosting transfer for you and manage the entire process from start to finish. In most cases, the move is completed with little or no disruption to your website or email services.

Back up the website first

Before making significant changes, your website should always be backed up.

This ensures that if anything unexpected happens during the transition, the website can be restored quickly.

Professional web designers will normally make a complete backup before beginning any migration or redevelopment work.

Review your existing website

Changing designers is an excellent opportunity to review your website.

Ask yourself:

Is the design looking dated?
Are all my books included?
Is my biography up to date?
Does the website work well on mobile phones?
Is it easy for readers to join my mailing list?
Are there pages that could be improved or removed?

Sometimes a few carefully planned improvements can make a significant difference without needing a complete redesign.

Understand what will happen next

Every designer works slightly differently, but the process often looks something like this:

Review the existing website.
Agree the work required.
Secure access to the website.
Create backups.
Make any necessary updates or improvements.
Test everything thoroughly.
Continue with ongoing maintenance and support.

Knowing what to expect makes the whole process much less stressful.

Common concerns

“My current website is a WordPress website – how does that affect things?”

One of the great advantages of WordPress is that your website content is highly portable. Your pages, blog posts, images and other media can all be exported and transferred from one WordPress installation to another. This means that if you decide to move to a new web designer, you’re not tied to a particular company or platform.

In many cases, a new designer can migrate your existing content to a fresh WordPress installation while preserving your pages, blog posts and image library. This provides an excellent opportunity to modernise the design, improve performance and update the website without having to recreate everything from scratch.

This flexibility is one of the reasons WordPress is such a popular choice for authors. Unlike some proprietary website builders, where moving to another provider can be difficult or even impossible, WordPress gives you the freedom to take your content with you. Your books, articles and images remain yours, making it much easier to change web designers whenever your needs change.

What if my current website was built using a website builder?

If your current website was created using a website builder such as Squarespace, Wix or Weebly, moving to a new web designer is still perfectly possible, but the process is usually different. Unlike WordPress, these platforms don’t generally allow an entire website to be transferred to another system while keeping its design and functionality intact. Although your text and images can usually be exported or copied across, the website itself often needs to be rebuilt on the new platform.

The good news is that this is often an opportunity rather than a disadvantage. Rebuilding the site allows your new web designer to create a modern, faster and more flexible website, remove outdated content, improve navigation and ensure everything works well on today’s devices. While the transition may involve a little more work than moving between WordPress websites, your valuable content—such as your book descriptions, biography, blog posts and images—can usually be preserved, giving you a fresh website without losing the material you’ve already created.

“Will my website disappear during the move?”

In most cases, no.

If the transition is planned properly, visitors shouldn’t notice anything happening behind the scenes.

“Will I lose my Google rankings?”

Simply changing web designers does not affect your search rankings.

However, if pages are deleted, URLs are changed or content is removed without proper planning, rankings can be affected. An experienced designer will take care to avoid unnecessary disruption.

“Do I need a completely new website?”

Not always.

Many websites simply need updating, improving or modernising rather than replacing entirely.

A professional review can help you decide which approach offers the best value.

Common mistakes to avoid

Cancelling your hosting before the new designer has taken over.
Forgetting where your domain name is registered.
Losing access to important email accounts.
Deleting old content without considering its value.
Choosing a designer based on price alone.

The cheapest option isn’t always the most cost-effective if it leads to problems later.

Final thoughts

Moving your website to a new designer is usually much easier than people expect.

The key is to choose someone you trust, gather as much information as you can and allow enough time for the handover to be completed properly.

A well-managed transition should leave you with a website that’s secure, up to date and ready to support your writing career for years to come.

You may also find these articles useful:

Thinking of moving your website?

If your current web designer is retiring, you’re unhappy with your existing service, or you’d simply like a fresh pair of eyes on your website, Bookwebs can help.

“At Bookwebs, we’ve transferred many author websites from designers who were retiring or closing their businesses. In almost every case, the author expected the process to be much more complicated than it actually was.”

We’ve specialised in designing and supporting WordPress websites for authors and publishers since 2006. As part of our fully managed service, we transfer your website to our own professionally managed hosting platform, taking care of every stage of the move on your behalf. From transferring your website and domain settings to ensuring everything is working correctly after the move, we’ll handle the technical details so you can continue focusing on your writing.

Visit https://bookwebs.co.uk/ to learn more about our services and discover how we can make transferring your website straightforward and stress-free.

Web Design for Authors