How to Migrate from InMotion Hosting to WordPress.com

Embarking on a journey to migrate your website from InMotion Hosting to WordPress.com is a strategic move towards unlocking a realm of possibilities for your online presence. In this comprehensive guide, we, the experts, will walk you through the intricacies of this migration process, ensuring a smooth transition while maximizing the potential benefits for your website.

Why Transition from InMotion Hosting to WordPress.com?

Shifting to WordPress.com enhances your online presence, offering several advantages. Explore the reasoning behind this strategic transition from your current platform:

  • Intuitive User Interface Embrace a user-friendly interface tailored for easy navigation and content creation on WordPress.com.
  • Diverse Selection of Themes – Opt for a broad range of professionally designed themes on WordPress.com to elevate visual appeal and engage your audience effectively.
  • Plugin Ecosystem for Enhanced Functionality – Leverage the extensive plugin ecosystem on WordPress.com to achieve flexible functionality without needing custom development.
  • Robust Security Measures – Enjoy the benefits of robust security measures, including automatic updates and vigilant monitoring.
  • Seamless Mobile Responsiveness – Enjoy seamless mobile responsiveness, ensuring an optimal user experience across devices.

Getting Ready for Website Migration

Before implementing any alterations, it is essential to generate a backup of your current InMotion Hosting content. This precaution ensures the security of your data during the entire migration process. Here’s a guide on how to accomplish this:

  1. Log in to your InMotion Hosting WordPress website by entering your username and password, or access the admin panel via InMotion Hosting.
Login into your website
  1. Go to “Plugins” on the left-hand menu, and then click the “Add New” button.
Add new plugin
  1. Click the “Upload Plugin” button and then choose the file by clicking on “Choose File” to upload the WP Staging | Pro plugin.
Upload Plugin and Choose Plugin
  1. Click the ‘Install Now’ button.
Install Now Button
  1. Once the plugin is installed, activate it.
Activate Plugin
  1. Go to the menu on the left, find ‘WP Staging | Pro,’ and click the ‘Backup & Migration’ option.
Backup and Migration Option
  1. If you don’t have an existing backup, no need to worry. Simply click the “Create Backup” button to generate a new one.
Create Backup Button
  1. Provide a name for the backup, then click the “Start Backup” button.
Enter Backup Name and Click Start Backup Button
  1. The backup was successfully completed.
Backup Complete
  1. Upon completing the backup process, you will typically find a “Download” option under the “Action” button. Ensure to securely save this backup file on your computer.
Download Backup

The Migration Process

  1. Login into Your WordPress.com Website.
Wordpress.com Login Page
  1. Go to the “Plugins” section in the WordPress dashboard and click the “Upload” button.
Upload Plugin Button
  1. Next, proceed to upload your WP Staging Pro.
Upload Wp Staging Pro Plugin
  1. After installing and activating, go to the “Backup & Migration” section in the WordPress dashboard under “WP Staging Pro.”
Backup and Migration Option
  1. Next, click the ‘Upload Backup’ button.
Upload Backup Button
  1. Currently, upload the backup file exported from your InMotion Hosting website.
Upload InMotion Hosting Backup
  1. The backup has been successfully uploaded.
Upload Backup Successfully Uploaded
  1. After that, click the ‘Action’ button and then click the ‘Restore’ option.
Restore Button
  1. Press the ‘Next’ button.
Next Button
  1. Next, click the ‘Restore’ button.
Restore Button
  1. The backup restoration was successful.
  2. Click the “OK” button.
Backup Successfully Restored
  1. Again, log into your WordPress Website
Again Login to your Website

Perform a thorough website test on WordPress.com to ensure the proper functioning of all components and review content for accuracy and formatting.

Conclusion

In this guide, we’ve navigated the intricate process of migrating from InMotion Hosting to WordPress.com, offering a roadmap to success. Armed with this knowledge, you are well-equipped to not only make the transition but also to elevate your online presence. The journey may be complex, but with careful consideration and attention to detail, you can ensure a triumphant migration.

Author: Rene Hermenau

I'm René Hermenau, founder of WP STAGING. I've been building WordPress infrastructure software since 2013 and writing code on GitHub since 2011. My repos live at github.com/rene-hermenau. WP STAGING started as a small developer project solving the same problem I kept hitting on client work: there was no fast, safe way to clone a WordPress site for staging or migration without breaking serialized data, file paths, or media references. Today we are a team of more than 10 people. The free plugin runs on hundreds of thousands of WordPress installations, and the Pro version powers backup, migration, and staging workflows for agencies, hosting platforms, and ecommerce stores. I'm still hands-on with the codebase and technical architecture. Our releases are built as a team, but many of the core architectural decisions are ones I helped design, test, and evolve over the years: how we handle large database exports, how we keep memory usage flat on multi-GB sites, and how we make migrations atomic against partially written tables. "When you touch code, leave it 10% better than before and write a test." If you're stuck on a WP STAGING question, the docs are at wp-staging.com/docs. If you hit a bug, file it on GitHub at github.com/wp-staging. Our team reads everything that lands there.