Blog, News & Events

Building your website locally is a smart and safe way to experiment, develop, and refine without risking live downtime. But once it’s ready for the world, migrating to a live server can feel intimidating—especially for beginners. This guide walks you through a smooth, step-by-step transition from your local environment to a live server with minimal disruption.

🧰 Tools You’ll Need

• A local development environment (like XAMPP, WAMP, or MAMP)
• FTP client (e.g., FileZilla)
• cPanel access or a similar hosting control panel
• phpMyAdmin (locally and on server)

Step 1: Prepare Your Site for Migration

• Clean up unused plugins and themes
• Backup your local site files and database
• Update URLs if your site references localhost

Step 2: Export Your Local Database

1. Open phpMyAdmin on your local server.
2. Select your database and click Export.
3. Choose the Quick method and format as SQL.
4. Save the file.

Step 3: Upload Your Files to the Live Server

1. Use an FTP client to connect to your live server.
2. Upload all your site files (typically from the htdocs or www folder) to the public directory (often /public_html or /www).

Step 4: Import Your Database to Live Server

1. Open cPanel and go to phpMyAdmin.
2. Create a new database.
3. Click on the new database and go to the Import tab.
4. Upload your previously exported SQL file.

Step 5: Update wp-config.php (for WordPress sites)

Update the database name, user, and password in your wp-config.php file to match the live server credentials.

Step 6: Fix URLs & Paths

Run a search-and-replace tool like Better Search Replace to update old local URLs to your live domain.

Step 7: Test Everything

• Check all links and images
• Test forms and site functions
• Ensure HTTPS is enabled (you can use Let’s Encrypt SSL)

Bonus Tip 💡

Automate your future migrations with plugins like All-in-One WP Migration or Duplicator.

Final Thoughts

Migrating your website doesn’t have to be nerve-wracking. With the right steps and a calm approach, you’ll have your local masterpiece shining online in no time.

Need help hosting your live site? Choose reliable web hosting or explore managed options with built-in migration support.