Backing up a site that's not my own
Well, the site is my own, sort of.
We pay a service called FindLaw to host our website. If I told you how much we paid for it, monthly, you wouldn't even believe it.
Anyway, FindLaw may or may not own the design. I don't care about the design anyway. However, all of the written content (legal articles, blog) and so forth definitely belong to us. All of the words belong to us.
I want to stop paying FindLaw and I want to move the domain to my own server.
I have no access to FindLaw FTP or any back-end of any use. (Just a login to add content).
Is there a simple way for me to back up the entire site and index all of the current URLs, besides going to each page and copying and pasting content?
The pages are all in ASP now, and I am moving it to Wordpress. So I need all of the indexed URLs, so I can do a 301 redirect.
Thank you in advance!
We pay a service called FindLaw to host our website. If I told you how much we paid for it, monthly, you wouldn't even believe it.
Anyway, FindLaw may or may not own the design. I don't care about the design anyway. However, all of the written content (legal articles, blog) and so forth definitely belong to us. All of the words belong to us.
I want to stop paying FindLaw and I want to move the domain to my own server.
I have no access to FindLaw FTP or any back-end of any use. (Just a login to add content).
Is there a simple way for me to back up the entire site and index all of the current URLs, besides going to each page and copying and pasting content?
The pages are all in ASP now, and I am moving it to Wordpress. So I need all of the indexed URLs, so I can do a 301 redirect.
Thank you in advance!
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ASKER
A little more than $3000 actually. That's for hosting, adding 1 or 2 SEO articles per week (we add a few of our own each week), and "link building."
Having a link to your site, from FindLaw is pretty huge I think. But if we are number one in google for our targeted phrase already...and the site is ten years old...with tons of legal content-- do you think I still need FindLaw? Other then being part of their linking network-- I feel the site can stand on its own.
If I am wrong-- I get fired.
Any opinions on this?
Having a link to your site, from FindLaw is pretty huge I think. But if we are number one in google for our targeted phrase already...and the site is ten years old...with tons of legal content-- do you think I still need FindLaw? Other then being part of their linking network-- I feel the site can stand on its own.
If I am wrong-- I get fired.
Any opinions on this?
A little more than $3000 actually.
I'm in the wrong business... :)
But if we are number one in google for our targeted phrase already...and the site is ten years old...with tons of legal content-- do you think I still need FindLaw?
It's an interesting problem (says the guy whose job doesn't depend on the outcome) because a great deal of your pagerank and thus positioning may be due to the link juice obtained from FindLaw.
Technically speaking, if it's your content on your domain name with good SEO practices then the move to a new set up will result in a slight and temporary drop in the serps due to re-indexing and Google's 301 penalty but you would recover very quickly. The minor penalties that get assessed on redirection should be more than cancelled out by inbound links, domain age, the WordPress "bonus" from structure, etc.
What you can't really account for is FindLaw. I don't think SEO, a link and hosting is worth $3000/month unless you are paying for bulletproof hosting that could withstand any amount of simultaneous traffic and are constantly in the top 3 of any relevant search. But, as you say, it's your neck on the block and you need to weigh the expectations of the status quo against the costs.
ASKER
Yeah... It's a tough decision for me.
If I save the company $36,000 in one swift motion-- by simply moving our content to another server..
I am a hero and would likely get a raise.
If we lose our number one ranking for Arizona Divorce Attorney, I get fired. No doubt.
This is why we need golden parachutes! It's far easier for me to move meekly along and just do as I am told then risk my job. On the other hand, I shouldn't be restricted in my genius because I am afraid of getting fired.
Ah well. Such is life.
He with the Gold, rules.
If I save the company $36,000 in one swift motion-- by simply moving our content to another server..
I am a hero and would likely get a raise.
If we lose our number one ranking for Arizona Divorce Attorney, I get fired. No doubt.
This is why we need golden parachutes! It's far easier for me to move meekly along and just do as I am told then risk my job. On the other hand, I shouldn't be restricted in my genius because I am afraid of getting fired.
Ah well. Such is life.
He with the Gold, rules.
ASKER
@AustinComputerLabs-- I tried a test version of the software and it worked beautifully. It indexed all of my pages.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
ASKER
Thank you both very much.
If we lose our number one ranking for Arizona Divorce Attorney, I get fired. No doubt.
You might slip from 1 to 3 but recover in 30-60 days. Or not. The problem is that there is no real way to know.
Let me ping a few SEO Experts and see if I can get them to answer.
If we lose our number one ranking for Arizona Divorce Attorney, I get fired. No doubt.
This depends... if your content and URL structure remain the same, you should be in good shape. If you are continuing to use the same domain, I don't see any redirection needed.
You may see a fluctuations in rankings upon change over to the new web host, but as noted, if everything remains the same, you shouldn't lose that ranking.
A 301 redirect on the other hand, you may lose some rankings as some link equity is lost in the redirection (anywhere between 2-10% of link equity is lost). If you are doing a 301 redirect, be aware of your major rankings and drops so you know where to focus your linkbuilding efforts.
Hope that helps.
Matt
Changing your hosting provider will not matter to Google as long as you have the same domain name, and same URL path.
301 redirects will cause you to (likely temporarily) lose traffic, and potentially your #1 position for certain search keyword terms or groups of keywords.
You may be getting some link equity from FindLaw; do they talk about any specifics in their documentation given to you, or in the original agreement that you signed with them?
Hope you've gotten some good direction from the answers here.
Even though you've closed the question feel free to ask another or ask a more specific question here.
301 redirects will cause you to (likely temporarily) lose traffic, and potentially your #1 position for certain search keyword terms or groups of keywords.
You may be getting some link equity from FindLaw; do they talk about any specifics in their documentation given to you, or in the original agreement that you signed with them?
Hope you've gotten some good direction from the answers here.
Even though you've closed the question feel free to ask another or ask a more specific question here.
ASKER