How to Clone or Migrate a WordPress site in three easy steps!

Let's face it, moving or cloning a WordPress site can be tricky if you do not have experience using phpMyAdmin or another database utility tool. Today I am going to show you how to successfully move or clone your site using a WordPress plugin I personally use with each and every single WordPress installation I do.

Why would you need to move or clone a site?

Well, you might find your sites traffic demands are escalating and you need to move your site from shared hosting to a VPS setup. Maybe you have a successful site you would like to clone and use as a already done for you, working template. Over the years I have found many situations were I could benefit by simply using the clone of a previous site I have already created, only make a few changes and updates to the theme, ect.... saving time and money for myself and clients.

Getting Started

For your first step head over to WP-DBManager for more info or to download the plugin.

WP-DBManager allows you to optimize your database, repair your database, backup database, restore database, delete backup database , drop/empty tables and run selected queries. Supports automatic scheduling of backing up, optimizing and repairing of database.

In my opinion WP-DBManager hands down is the best backup and restore plugin out! It is 100% FREE and has never once let me down.

Step :1 Installing WP-DBManager

You'll need to install the WP-DBManager WordPress plugin on both your previous server ( Current Site installation ) and on your new server ( New Site installation ).

• Log into your current WordPress dashboard
• Navigate to "Plugins" -> "Add New"
• Search for "wp-dbmanager"
• Click "Install Now" and continue to activate the plugin

Step 2: Generate and Download a backup of your Current Database

Use WP-DBManager to create a database backup on your Current host, this you will later import to your new hosting provider, database or server.

• Make sure you are once again logged into the WordPress dashboard on your current site to be cloned or moved
• Now that WP-DBManager has been installed you will see a "Database" option in the left WordPress menu. Click "Database" and then click on -> "Backup DB"
• Click the "Backup" near the bottom of the page.

If the backup was successful, you should see a success message similar to: "Database Backed Up Successfully. Now we need to download the database backup that we just restored.

• Next, still in your WordPress dashboard, click "Database" -> "Manage Backup DB" in the left menu and select the database file you just created in the table.,
• Click "Download"

Step 3: Upload and Import the database backup you just generated

Now that we have created a complete backup of the database, we'll need to upload it to our new Web Hosting, database or server and then Import it useing WP-DBManager.

Uploading the file.

Our database backup file that we have created will be named similar to 1308064682_-_user_db.sql for example. This file needs to be uploaded to the wp-content/backup-db directory of the new installation you will be cloning or migrating to. If you're not familiar with FTP, I would recommend using the file manager in your cPanel to upload the file. Upload your file.....

Once you've uploaded and saved the file via ftp or file manager to your wp-content/backup-db directory we can use WP-DBManager to import it.

Please Note: It is recommended in my experience that before your use WP-DBManger to import your site, firstly upload the original theme and all the plugins needed, basically everything you were using with your current installation. Things can get a bit messy if you decided to do this as a afterthought!

• Log into your WordPress dashboard for the WordPress installation on your Web Hosting
• In the left menu, click "Database" -> "Manage Backup DB".

If you uploaded the database file to your file manager correctly, you should see it in the list of backups now on new site.

Select the database from the list and click "Restore". If the database was restored successfully, you should see a message similar to, "Database on 'June 14, 2011 @ 3:18 pm' Restored Successfully. Often I can do this with almost no problems as the plugin works well to do all the necessary changes needed for the import.

If you have any questions or need help please just shout and I will be more than happy to assist. I hope you found this information useful.

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Thanks for reading,

Cheers