Migration. It's usually something we think about with birds, but birds can actually give us an insight into digital migration. One migration definition basically states that migration is movement to a new area in order to find better conditions. Isn't that the goal of business, too? Achieving the best possible conditions to do business, so as to facilitate growth and positive ROI.
Thus, if you're thinking about doing a digital migration of your website, blog, or CRM, you've come to the right place! Migrations can be tough, and companies tend to want to stick to what they know, the same old platform, the easy choice...But when a company dares to make the switch to something better, that's when the magic happens. Especially when you find a platform like HubSpot that blows away all of your expectations, you just have to take the leap!
There are a lot of benefits to migrating to HubSpot: it's an all-in-one platform for Inbound Marketing, sales, and services, it has an intuitive, easy-to-use layout, and it comes with great features like automation and reporting. If you're ready to take your business to the next level with a HubSpot website migration, discover our guide on the migration process.
HubSpot Migration First Steps
This can't be stressed enough: undergoing a migration or integration in HubSpot must be planned, and thus should not be taken lightly. It is an in-depth, complicated process, and before starting, you need to have defined your process, done a full system audit, and identify key players and actions. Below, we show you how to get started:
- Get stakeholder buy-in:Make sure you have the management team on-board.
- Establish which features/hubs you will use: Make sure to investigate and get product demos of the options before diving in.
- Purchase HubSpot: This may seem pretty straightforward, but you must establish your subscription basis to Hubspot, who will purchase it (your company or your agency partner), and who is responsible for renewals, billing, etc.
- Set a timeline: Migrations are time-consuming since there are a lot of details you need to cover. Set aside the right amount of time and stick to it, otherwise it can be an endless process.
- Establish a migration team: This can be either a dedicated team member or an agency partner. Plus, you can count on support from HubSpot.
- Do your basic account set-up: No matter what you're migrating, you need to do the basic set-up of your HubSpot account from the very start. Add your logo, company info, branding, language, etc.
HubSpot CRM Migration
Clear and well-structured data is key to your business strategy, KPIs, and success. Therefore, migrating your CRM is something that should be taken very seriously and with the utmost care and attention. These are the most important steps:
- Clean up your data before import: Before importing into HubSpot is the best time to optimize your data and get rid of any unnecessary information. Do a data audit in your current CRM.
- Establish import properties/mapping: Make sure you understand all the default HubSpot properties, and take into account your data that doesn't fit to those specifications. Plus, HubSpot allows you to create custom properties. Know exactly what the HubSpot CRM can do.
- Start with a test batch:You don't want to import all of your data and then find out there was an issue. The best strategy is to do a trial run of a smaller subset of data, work out any kinks, and then do your full migration.
- Upload and build lists: Upload static lists and build segmented lists based on HubSpot filters. The more information you have on a contact, the more filters you can use to customize lists.
HubSpot Website Migration
- Recreate your website on HubSpot: HubSpot services feature a website migration, so their technicians can recreate your website template on the platform.
- Or choose a new website design: With your move, are you wanting to start fresh and do a website redesign? Luckily, HubSpot has hundreds of templates to choose from or you can easily build your own.
- Recreate landing pages, thank you pages, and forms: You can also have HubSpot set up your landing page templates, then round out your conversion paths by adding forms and thank you pages.
- Connect your domains: Connect the domains of your website, landing pages, blog, emails, etc. This will involve your IT team, but there is a simple HubSpot guide to consult.
HubSpot Blog Migration
One of the best things about HubSpot is its ability to conquer every area of the Inbound Marketing sphere: from content to data to analytics. That's why having your website and blog in HubSpot is so beneficial, you can create, publish, post content to social media, and analyze the results...all from a single platform.
It's recommended to migrate your blog to HubSpot if you have your CRM and website on the platform, too. If you're using WordPress, discover our comparison. Plus, keep these steps in mind for your blog migration:
- Audit your blog: Do an audit of your current blog. Do you really want to transfer everything? Doing a content audit is great way to see which posts are performing well, and should absolutely be migrated, and which might be holding you back.
- Import blog content:Make sure you have the htmls from the current platform to import into HubSpot. Always back up your data in case something goes wrong. Like your website, you can migrate your existing template or choose a new one.
- SEO:Establish authors, tags, and internal naming inside HubSpot to have each field properly filled out. Revise your SEO: keywords, titles, meta description, alt text, to make sure it's all still there and to optimize. Check out the HubSpot SEO guide for web and blog.
- Update CTAs, banners, forms: Your blog posts will lead visitors to the next step in the conversion path. Use banners, CTAs, and forms to attract their attention and collect data. Use Smart Content to do A/B testing.
- Integrate with social media: Make sure to reconnect your social networks to spread your content online.
Other HubSpot Features
The list of HubSpot products and tools is long, and making the switch to HubSpot could give you even more features than your current platform. Check out the "extras" that can help your Inbound Marketing strategy go even further:
- Email: Emails template can be easily recreated with HubSpot's drag-and-drop editor. Define your email strategy, create lead nurturing campaigns with help from automated workflows, and more!
- Automation: Besides lead nurturing campaigns, automation can be used for just about everything, from updating contact properties to sending internal notifications.
- Chatbots:Have a chatbot already? Make sure it appears on your website. Or build a chatbot or live chat directly inside HubSpot.
- Reporting: HubSpot features analytics dashboards, plus default and custom reports. Define campaigns and KPIs so that you can properly report on the key metrics of your business.
Your HubSpot website migration will no doubt give your business better conditions for doing Inbound Marketing and more. For a HubSpot Partner Agency to help you with all aspects of the migration, plus strategy, content management, and more, mbudo would be happy to help!
Mary Swick
Mary is a professional copywriter with over 10 years of experience in Marketing and Advertising. As an American expat in Madrid, she enjoys the relaxed Spanish culture, hiking, and the latest shows from Netflix and HBO. Mary also loves cats and music (she's the office DJ!)