I’ve (almost) decided to move my existing store from an IONOS self-hosted Wordpress/WooCommerce setup, to Shopify. I also use IONOS for email, and IONOS supply a SSL certificate as part of the hosting package, and I have the domain is held at GoDaddy.
As it stands I’m happy to manually copy the products over (there’s only a handful at the moment, and it’ll be a good time to give them a refresh).
However I’m going around in circles as to what I actually need to do to achieve moving the store to Shopify, while keeping the email, and making sure I still have a suitable SSL certificate in place.
I know I need to update the domain register so that the domain points to Shopify for web purposes, but I will probably move email to GoDaddy at some point for simplicity (email only hosting is the same price between GoDaddy and IONOS, so I may as well condense to one provider).
Can anybody give me an outline of what steps I need to do, to ensure a smooth switchover?
I’m not too worried if the website switchover isn’t entirely smooth, but I really can’t risk email issues, as it’s also used for other selling platforms.
You’ve got the right idea here. If your domain is already with GoDaddy, then keep it with GoDaddy, and then just edit the DNS records to point to the new Shopify store (once you’ve got it all set up and ready to launch).
You’d want to reach out to GoDaddy directly, to see if they’re able to migrate over your past emails. Otherwise, you’d be starting from scratch (ie. you’d lose all your previously saved emails). Everything email-related will be on GoDaddy’s end – so definitely do a chat with their live support team before you move forward with anything, and ask them any questions you have, re: email address/account.
Otherwise, you could keep your email with IONOS, if you’re worried about any potential issues (or losing past saved emails). Honestly, if it’s working, it’s not really a big deal to have 2 separate bills … so if you’re having any doubts, or if GoDaddy’s support team isn’t inspiring a lot of confidence with the email switch, then just keep your email where it’s at!
With regards to the SSL certificate – you don’t need to purchase this via GoDaddy. When you change the domain’s DNS records to point to the new Shopify store, then Shopify will provide the SSL automatically (it’s included as part of the monthly fee you pay for the store).
Thanks for your post. Clarifying how the SSL worked was good to know.
The biggest issue I had, was when I setup my old website, I’d moved the NameServers to IONOS, so had to move them back to GoDaddy, then make sure the records were still set correctly so email still went to IONOS.
I will probably move the email from IONOS once I’m happy everything else is working as it should.
Yes, if you switch the nameservers back to GoDaddy, then you’d want to copy the old DNS records that you were using for your email settings, back over to GoDaddy, so that everything continues working!
