If you‘ve been running your website on Joomla and the K2 extension, you may be wondering if it‘s time to move to WordPress. As a developer who has helped dozens of sites switch from Joomla to WordPress, I can tell you the migration is easier than you think and brings huge rewards.
In this guide, I‘ll explain:
- Why WordPress is a better choice than Joomla today
- How to migrate your Joomla K2 content to WordPress in two simple steps
- Extra tips to ensure a smooth transition
Let‘s dive in!
The Case for Switching from Joomla to WordPress
Launched in 2005, Joomla became quite popular among developers as an open source CMS. But over the years, WordPress emerged as the dominant choice for most websites.
Here are some key reasons why WordPress is a better option today compared to Joomla:
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Easier to use – With its intuitive UI, WordPress is great for non-techies. Joomla has a steeper learning curve.
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Bigger ecosystem – WordPress has over 55,000 plugins and thousands of themes available, far more than Joomla‘s extensions.
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Superior security – WordPress releases 3x more frequent security fixes. Joomla is often late patching vulnerabilities.
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SEO advantages – WordPress makes it easier to optimize pages for search and has better support for metadata.
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Lower resource usage – WordPress can run efficiently even on low-cost shared hosting while Joomla requires more robust hosting.
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Larger community – As the world‘s most popular CMS, WordPress has far more tutorials, guides and developer talent available.
According to W3Techs, as of 2022 WordPress powers 43% of all websites while Joomla is at just 2.4% and declining. Major sites like Forbes, TechCrunch, and Sony Music have migrated to WordPress as well.
The table below summarizes the key differences:
| WordPress | Joomla | |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of use | Very easy | Steep learning curve |
| Code quality | Very high | Moderate |
| Available plugins/extensions | Over 55,000 | Around 7,000 |
| Security updates | Very frequent | Slow |
| SEO capabilities | Excellent | Average |
| Resource usage | Very efficient | Higher requirements |
| Support and docs | Excellent | Weak |
As you can see, WordPress beats Joomla on almost all aspects today.
The Risks of Sticking With an Outdated Joomla Site
Staying on an outdated Joomla site poses growing business risks including:
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Security threats – Using obsolete Joomla 1.5 or 2.5 exposes your site to many vulnerabilities. In 2021 over 330k Joomla sites were hacked according to Sucuri.
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Losing out on modern features – New WordPress innovations like blocks editor are not available in old Joomla versions. Your site falls behind.
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Declining support – With the user base shrinking, support forums and developer talent is harder to find in Joomla.
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SEO struggles – Core Web Vitals scores measuring page experience will be a key Google ranking factor. Old Joomla sites often have poor performance.
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Revenue losses – An outdated site means losing out on business opportunities and falling behind competitors.
Instead of sinking additional money into an obsolete CMS, migrating to WordPress future-proofs your investment.
Step 1: Migrating K2 Items to Joomla Articles
Now let‘s get into actually migrating your Joomla K2 site to WordPress…
The first step is exporting your K2 content to the native Joomla articles structure. This allows the Joomla to WordPress importer to work its magic later.
You‘ll need to use the K2 to Joomla Articles extension for this.
Once installed in your Joomla site, go to Components → K2 to Articles to access the exporter tool.
Here are key settings you need to configure:
- Select the K2 categories to migrate – You may not want old unused categories moved.
- Content to import – Choose "Full Article Text" to move over content.
- Author – Map to the current Joomla user so edits are attributed correctly.
- Status – Published or unpublished state of imported articles.
- Galleries – Whether to import K2 image galleries.
- Comments – Option to include comments on articles.
With the settings optimized, click Export K2 items to Joomla articles. This will convert all your K2 content structure into regular Joomla articles.
Step 2: Migrating Joomla Articles to WordPress
Now we are ready to bring the Joomla articles you exported from K2 into WordPress.
For this, you‘ll need the superb FG Joomla to WordPress plugin for WordPress.
Install and activate the plugin on your WordPress site first. Then go to Tools → Import and select the Joomla (FG) importer.
It will ask you for your old Joomla site database details like the hostname, username, password etc. This allows it to directly connect and import all your old articles.
Next, check off the specific elements you want to migrate from Joomla, like:
- Categories
- Tags
- Articles
- Images and Galleries
- Comments
- Custom Fields
Once configured, run the import by clicking Import content from Joomla to WordPress.
The plugin will now automatically migrate over your Joomla categories, articles, images, comments, and metadata into WordPress as a mirror copy.
And that‘s it! With just those two steps your Joomla K2 content is now safely migrated to WordPress.
Optimizing After Migration for Best Results
To ensure your newly migrated WordPress site is running smoothly, here are a few optimization tips:
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Install a redirect plugin on the old Joomla site to avoid broken links and 404 errors.
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Resize large images using a tool like Imagify to improve page load speeds.
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Review any formatting quirks in the imported content and fix as needed.
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Update your internal links and navigation with the new WordPress URLs.
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Submit new XML sitemap to Google Search Console for better indexing.
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Consider a caching plugin like WP Rocket and CDN to maximize performance.
Migrating from Joomla to WordPress takes some effort but pays off in the long run with a faster, more stable site.
Take the Next Step and Migrate for a Better Website!
If you‘ve been running a Joomla site, I highly recommend you make the switch to WordPress. The superior technology, security, support and features will take your website to the next level.
As you saw, the migration process is pretty straightforward using the right tools. In a few hours, you can be running on WordPress without any content loss.
Leave behind the endless Joomla upgrades and vulnerabilities. Eliminate the fatigue of trying to customize outdated technology. With WordPress, you‘ll have peace of mind knowing your website is ready for the future.
So don‘t wait any longer! Talk to your developer and make a plan to migrate your Joomla site to WordPress. Your visitors, SEO and business will thank you.
