Xantrex approached us with the idea of making the switch from Sitefinity to WordPress. As a team that has worked on numerous enterprise-level Sitefinity and WordPress projects, we were more than excited to tackle the task.
Open Source vs Closed Source
We love open source. We all got into programming because we loved the open nature of the internet. Learn anything, do everything, become anyone. For this reason, systems like WordPress hold a special place in programmers’ hearts.
Closed-source systems like Sitefinity put up walls, force developers to work with proprietary code and make it difficult for systems to develop at the pace required by the internet. Developers hate telling a client “no” because of system limitations and Sitefinity is full of them.
WordPress vs Sitefinity
There are several reasons why a business may consider switching from Sitefinity to WordPress. Here are a few of the most common considerations…
Costs
Sitefinity requires the client pay Licensing Fees to use the software. For this reason, the first point goes to WordPress. Licensing fees are a deal-breaker for most clients and can be prohibitively expensive before development begins. Once development starts you begin hitting add-on costs: eCommerce? Add-on. Personalization? Add-On. Chat Bot? Add-On. Sitefinity doesn’t publically disclose its licensing costs. From experience – it gets expensive for clients quickly. Alternatively, WordPress is free to use.
Developer Fees for Sitefinity can be quite expensive as well. There is a saying in the programming world: “Nobody ever got fired for learning [insert system here]” and Sitefinity is no different. There is a specific demand for programmers that work within proprietary systems and they often come with a hefty price tag.
Cost is prohibitive for many Sitefinity website owners. Routine maintenance often trumps website improvements when it comes to budget. A website that does not keep up to date with user expectations will fail to improve its results. For this reason we like working with open source systems like WordPress.
Ease of Use
For common content management tasks, these are about equal. If you are just trying to make a post or a page either CMS will do the trick. However, when it comes to customized experiences, content types and publishing flexibility WordPress is the clear winner. WordPress has a massive free plugin library. There are several paid plugin sites if you can’t find what you are looking for here. In stark contrast, Sitefinity has a limited Add-On library and is often very costly to extend.
System Flexibility
This comes back to the old Open Source Vs. Closed Source debate above. WordPress is open source. Supporting this concept is a massive community of developers collaborating on and improving the WordPress core. This mass of creative and technical input accelerates progression. Comparatively, closed source systems are rigid and inflexible. This can improve security but makes closed source systems slow to adapt to change.
Website Security
Website Security is often cited as the reason clients choose Sitefinity. However, this is highly contentious. Closed-source systems rely on closely guarded secrets to maintain security. Open source systems rely on massive amounts of users and programmers performing security audits and penetration testing to create next-level security. You can sort of pick your battle here to declare a winner. We prefer WordPress.
Website Scalability
Tie. WordPress and Sitefinity both scale gracefully with the right development team. Our team has launched projects on both platforms that have scaled and handled large volumes of sustained traffic.
Challenges
This client had been burdened by Sitefinity for many years and was ready to make the switch. Here are a few things to consider when planning your Sitefinity to WordPress migration.
Migration Away from Sitefinity
Moving away from .NET creates its own task list. As a production team that came from a background in enterprise-level Sitefinity builds, we were a great choice for a partner on this project. A Sitefinity website migration means that you must also plan a server migration. What company will host your website? Who will point the domain to the new server? Who will manage your .aspx redirections? We tackled all of these tough questions for Xantrex.
Content Audit. Site Architecture, Content Hierarchy, Content Mapping & Redirection
These challenges are present during all website redevelopment projects but are worth mentioning here. Everything we do is data-driven. These often-overlooked elements are key aspects of usability. Below we break down each element and how it helps users complete their journey.
Content Audit
A Content Audit reviews your existing website content and determines which content should be migrated to the new website. This was done fairly aggressively on this project as much of the content deep in the site’s architecture was out of date.
Website Architecture
Site Architecture is the structure that organizes and delivers the content on your website. Visually it looks like an organizational chart starting at your homepage and working its way down through the subpages of your website’s navigation. Subpages are logically grouped and make sense to your users. We massively reduced Xantrex’s navigation to improve user experience.
Content Hierarchy
Content Hierarchy identifies the website’s most important content and promotes it in the design and navigation. We counted clicks, measured interactions and built the entire structure of the website around what is most important to the user.
Content Mapping & Redirection
All of that content auditing and restructuring means that old links need to be redirected to a logical new destination. Content Mapping & Redirection navigates the user from a page that no longer exists to a relevant page. In the case of the Xantrex website, we found that users were navigating to old product pages to download documentation. The new Site Architecture called for the removal of discontinued products. For this reason, old product links now navigate users directly to the archived product documentation. We mapped and redirected over 700 of these old links.
Figuring Out What to Do with All the Money You Saved
By making the switch from Sitefinity to WordPress you have no doubt saved a ton of cash from licensing fees, custom programming and costly .NET developers. Not sure where to spend that extra budget? We suggest paying yourself a little extra for your savvy purchasing decision or donating the cash to an important cause like the Wild Sheep Society of BC. We wouldn’t complain if you bought us a coffee or a beer though!
Sitefinity to WordPress Redevelopment Process
Here’s where the rubber meets the road in our Sitefinity to WordPress process!
Creating Modular Content with Advanced Custom Fields
Content should be easy for busy teams. Templates should allow editors to quickly create pages while replicating the look and feel already established by earlier pages. Content should be editable from one location and able to be used in multiple places across the website. Branding should be baked into every element available to content teams. With Advanced Custom Fields we can create custom Gutenberg blocks taking content portability to the next level in WordPress.
Replacing Sitefinity Custom Content Types with WordPress Custom Post Types
The archaic structures of the existing website limited content output on the front end. We planned to create migration paths for standard content that should be portable and custom content when planning our move from Sitefinity to WordPress. The required the creation of several Custom Post Types (CPT) to create a home for each new content type. These post types included Industry Solutions, Case Studies, Customer Stories, News Releases, In the News, Tradeshows, Library and Products. Using CPT allows us to do things like divide content into specific groups, optimize internal search, curate mailing lists, and restrict editorial users to publication on specific content.
Products were created as a CPT for performance reasons. Xantrex is B2B and has no intention of ever running an eCommerce website. For this reason, we chose to omit all the eCommerce bulk that slows down websites with CPT.
How WordPress Custom Post Types Create Control and Flexibility
The Xantrex Document Library showcases the portability and flexibility of WordPress Custom Post Types. Historically Xantrex uploaded these items as PDF documents on their Sitefinity website. When documents were updated the content had to be manually tracked down on the website and replaced. This had frequently led to broken links or outdated content.
Back end Control of Custom Post Types
In the backend, we can create simple structures to make content entry and updating a breeze. This makes replacing an outdated document super easy! It also allows us to create SEO-friendly structures to index documents on search engines.
Front end Flexibility of Custom Post Types
On the front end, users can search specific content type to retrieve the desired item quickly. This is the case with the documents in Xantrex’s library. This format also allows us to quickly create intuitive structures for users to navigate. Finally, this approach is more search engine friendly than simply uploading PDF documents.
Top-Tier WordPress Hosting & Security Maintenance
Solid, secure hosting is the safest way to protect your investment. We keep the Xantrex website secure and running smoothly with our WordPress Hosting & Security Maintenance service. Should the website ever become compromised our team has the essentials, thanks to daily site backups, to fix the problem without having to scramble to find the latest working copies.
Considering WordPress vs. Sitefinity or a Sitefinity to WordPress Migration?
We can help! Considering website re-platforming? Not sure which system to choose? Considering migrating from Sitefinity to WordPress? Let’s Chat!
Curious about custom WordPress development or not quite ready to pick a CMS yet? Explore alternative Content Management System choices here! Any questions? Just ask! We are happy to serve as a trusted advisor to you on your website development journey.