This article deals with the procedure for migrating to REC so you retain any previous marketing value in your existing site.
To read about what's involved in migrating your products to REC read this article.
Established sites will have built up a level of marketing value on the web based primarily on:
Content - How many pages exist and the quality and optimisation of the content on those pages
Inbound Links - The number of links pointing to the home page and other pages
Internal Link Architecture - The way pages are linked to each other within the site
Social Media - Activity on social media
This value will be reflected in the site's existing Domain Authority value.
What To Do Before Migrating To REC
1. Decide If A Clean Start Is Best
If so, then all the content can be re-written for the new site to reflect your current sales and marketing messages.
2. Measure Your Domain Authority
Do you have enough domain authority to warrant trying to hold onto it? If it's too low and an ecommerce site, REC will typically regain that ground quite quickly due to it's great search engine friendly architecture. You will also benefit from running an internet marketing program.
3. Check Your Analytics
Understand which are your most popular and engaging pages with most conversion coming off them and which sites are referring most traffic to you. You can do this in Google Analytics if you have it set up and configured correctly with Google Webmaster Tools. You will want to protect the value of these pages if they deliver enough value by re-directing them to your new URL's and retaining great content.
4. Check Your Webmaster Tools
Login to your Google webmaster tools and check your current status before you start.
5. Map Your Content
Create a simple spreadsheet which records your content pages, highlights which ones to keep and which page they will re-direct to on your new site. REC has an in-built Redirect Manager to perform the redirects so you maintain value.
6. List Your Product Feeds
Make a list of your product feeds and how you submit them. REC will create an automatic feed to Google Merchant Centre so your products can appear in Google Shopping via Google Adwords Product Listing Ads (PLA's). You can also create csv files via the Import/Export system.
7. Know Your Payment Processor Options
REC is integrated into a number of major payment processors and gateways. Make sure you are able to use these. Allow 2-3 weeks for banks to set up your merchant account. Read full details about taking payments [opens in new tab]
For High Domain Authority Sites
8. Perform A Detailed SEO Crawl
Get a full SEO picture of your website using a leading SEO crawl tool such as SEOMoz and use this in your migration plan.