Website Import and Export
If you have an existing WordPress website and would like to move it onto Vendasta’s hosting platform (WordPress Hosting Pro), Vendasta Services can help!
You will also gain access to Vendasta Services’ Website Support team when we import a site with Website Support+ activated (3-month commitment).
For the full list of what Website Support+ covers, see the Website Support article.
What benefits are there when importing a site through Vendasta Services?
With Vendasta Services, your website is in trusted hands! To import the site, our Website Support+ team will:
- Package and download the website from the original hosting platform
- Upload and set up the site in our WordPress Hosting Pro hosting platform
- Plugins, themes, WordPress versions, and PHP versions are updated where possible*
- Website is checked over for quality assurance to ensure all links & elements are functioning properly
*Plugins or themes may require a license key to update.
Vetting Process for Importing & Support:
Vetting:
- Activate the free Website Import Vetting product on the applicable account.
- Complete the fulfillment form with the credentials we need to access and assess your site:
- Domain registrar login (registrar name, username, and password)
- Current WordPress site URL
- WordPress admin username and password
- While we can vet the website without access to the domain registrar, we cannot vet the site without the WordPress admin login credentials. If a firewall or country restriction is active, you may also need to allowlist our IP address.
- Upon receiving the completed fulfillment form, our team will vet the website, which includes reviewing, but not limited to:
- Plugins actively running on the website
- How the website is built (ie. Divi, Elementor, WPBakery, etc.)
- If there are any custom-coded themes or elements that our team cannot support
- Once the website has been vetted, you will receive an email update with our findings, either acknowledging that it is approved for import & support or that it’s denied (in which case we would recommend rebuilding the site with our design team).
To be eligible for import and support, your site must run on WordPress 6.4 or higher and PHP 8.3 or higher. Sites that cannot be updated to these versions may be rejected.
Importing:
- If approved, we will activate WordPress Hosting Pro and the Website Import & Support add-on (one-time setup fee + 3-month monthly support fee).
- Import completed within 3 business days post-vetting.
- Website hosted on a temporary domain. (ex: business-name.websitepro.hosting)
Going Live:
- You will receive an email to review the site on the temporary domain. Upon your approval and domain registrar access, we will set the site live on the custom domain.
- Alternatively, you can update the DNS settings. We can provide you with the CNAME and A Records.
Please note that a site can take up to 72 hours to fully propagate. During this time, you may receive an insecure connection error page. Website downtime should be minimal but could last a few hours while the DNS records remap the new route to your website.
Common Reasons for Import & Support Rejections:
- Not a WordPress site
- Does not meet the minimum PHP 8.3 or WordPress 6.4 requirements
- Fully custom-coded themes, templates, or elements our team cannot support
- Built only with native WordPress (Gutenberg) blocks, with no supported theme or builder
- Extensive outdated or mixed-version plugins, especially page builders
- Heavy reliance on Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) or other complex custom fields (reviewed case by case)
- Security concerns
- Part of a multi-site
- Built using an unsupported builder or method
- Compatibility issues with WordPress Hosting Pro
If our Website Support+ team is unable to support the website in question, we will email you to let you know that we are unable to support this site and explain why we had to reject it.
Custom add-on delivery times
If you request work beyond the standard import and support scope, the following are typical delivery timelines once we have everything we need (content, logins, and any paid plugin licenses):
| Add-on | Volume | Delivery time |
|---|---|---|
| Additional pages | 1-5 pages | 2 business days |
| Additional pages | 5-10 pages | 3 business days |
| Additional pages | 10-15 pages | 4 business days |
| Additional pages | 15+ pages | 30-minute design consultation first |
| Hourly work | 1-5 hours | 2 business days |
| Hourly work | 5+ hours | At the developer's discretion |
| Website copy | Up to 1,500 words | 5 business days from the content call |
| Website copy | More than 1,500 words | 10 business days |
| Products & images | 1-5 | 1 business day |
| Products & images | 5-25 | 5 business days |
| Products & images | 25-50 | 7 business days |
| Products & images | 50-100 | 10 business days |
| Products & images | Bulk (CSV upload) | Reach out to our team |
These timelines pause while we wait on information or assets from you. We will send up to two reminders (about one per week); if we do not hear back, the request is placed on hold. Content, logins, and any paid plugins must be provided before work begins.
Exporting a Website
If you have decided you wish to move a website to a new host and discontinue support, we are able to provide you with the file for your website.
What you need
- A hosting environment with a WordPress Installation.
- The All In One Import/Export plugin installed on your new WordPress host.
- Reach out to our team to provide you with the file for your existing website.
- Check to ensure that your website is working correctly in your new environment before discontinuing service.
Our team can provide you with the necessary file and credentials for the existing website, but we are not able to access your new hosting nor are we able to perform the import to your new host on your behalf.
Important Note: Once you have discontinued your hosting with us, we will only have access to the website on our servers for six months, after which it will be permanently deleted.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs):
Is my site eligible for Website Support+?
We support the following for Website Support+:
- WordPress websites built by our Vendasta Services Websites team
- Most WordPress websites built with approved visual builders
- I.e., Divi, Elementor, WPBakery, etc.
Websites not built by Vendasta Services (or with significant changes done externally after being built by us) will need to be vetted before being approved for Website Support+.
Website support requests can be sent to marketingservices@yourdigitalagents.com
My site is already on WordPress Hosting Pro, can you support it?
If your site is already hosted on WordPress Hosting Pro, activate the standalone Website Support+ product. If the site is rejected for Website Support+, once we vet it, we will reject the product, and you will be automatically refunded. Rejected sites can be rebuilt with our website design team.
Website support requests can be sent to marketingservices@yourdigitalagents.com
Can you install the AI Chat Receptionist on my imported website?
Yes! Website Support+ includes installation of the AI Chat Receptionist on your imported website. Our Website Support+ team will:
- Add the web chat code to the site
- Confirm the widget loads properly on the website
- Perform a basic test (open chat, confirm a message can be sent)
- Add brand colours to the AI Chat Receptionist
If you need advanced features such as full brand configuration beyond basic brand colours, SMS messaging, voice calls, or custom conversation flows, please explore our AI Receptionist Setup & Support service.
What type of forms will you set up on my site?
As part of Website Support+, we can convert an existing third-party contact form into a CRM form so that submissions flow directly into your CRM as leads. We set up standard contact and lead-capture forms.
We do not build advanced form functionality, including:
- Advanced field-level conditional visibility (showing or hiding fields based on input)
- Calculated fields
- Complex validation rules
- Multi-page forms with save-and-resume progress
- Native payment fields
- Native appointment booking
- Fully responsive form previews
- Logic-based field prefilling
If you need any of these advanced features, reach out and our team can scope the custom work for you.
What will happen to my existing form and submission data?
When we convert your form to a CRM form, the legacy form is deactivated and removed from the front end of your site, so visitors only see the new CRM form. We do not remove the legacy form plugin, so any previously collected submissions remain viewable in your WordPress backend. Your existing form entries are also migrated into the CRM.