Migrating your WordPress blog to VeloCMS

VeloCMS can import WordPress content from a WXR export file (WordPress eXtended RSS). This includes posts, pages, categories, tags, and images. The import preserves your post slugs and published dates so existing links and search rankings are maintained.

Step 1: Export from WordPress

In your WordPress admin, go to Tools → Export. Select 'All content' and click 'Download Export File'. This downloads a .xml file. If your blog has media files (images), those are linked in the XML by URL — VeloCMS re-hosts them from your WordPress site during import, so your WordPress site must remain live during migration.

Step 2: Import into VeloCMS

In Admin → Tools → Import, click 'Import from WordPress' and upload the .xml file. The import runs as a background job. Large sites (1000+ posts) can take 15–30 minutes. You can navigate away — the import continues and you will see a completion notification.

Step 3: Review imported content

After import, go to Admin → Posts. Imported posts keep their WordPress status — published posts stay published, drafts stay drafts, private posts stay private, and pending or scheduled posts arrive as drafts — so review the published ones right away. Check a few posts for formatting: Gutenberg blocks are converted to VeloCMS rich text format. Most common blocks (paragraph, heading, image, list, quote, code, embed) translate cleanly. Custom Gutenberg blocks and third-party blocks are converted to plain text with an import note.

Step 4: Redirect old WordPress URLs

If your WordPress site used different URL patterns (e.g. /2024/01/my-post/ vs /my-post/), you need redirects to preserve search rankings and inbound links. The import wizard creates them for you: in Admin → Migrate Content, the configuration step has a URL Redirects section: every WordPress permalink gets a permanent 301 redirect (there is no temporary 302 mode). The rules are written when you commit the import. To review or delete them afterwards, open Admin → Tools → Broken Link Checker and look at the Redirect Rules list. If the importer missed a redirect, run a scan there and click Create 301 on the broken URL.

Handling WordPress plugins

WordPress plugins do not migrate — they are WordPress-specific PHP. For common plugin use cases: WooCommerce → use VeloCMS Shop; Contact Form 7 → use VeloCMS page builder contact form block; Yoast SEO → VeloCMS has built-in SEO with AI scoring; Mailchimp for WordPress → use VeloCMS newsletter with Mailchimp integration; Akismet → comment moderation is built-in to VeloCMS comments.

After migration

Once you are happy with the imported content: (1) publish the posts you want live, (2) point your custom domain to VeloCMS, (3) submit your sitemap (yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml) to Google Search Console, (4) keep your WordPress site in maintenance mode for 2–4 weeks to allow old Google-cached URLs to redirect correctly, then take it offline.