Establish what the new website still needs to do
An outdated TYPO3 release calls for a review, not automatically a new CMS. An upgrade may preserve a useful architecture. If the organisation’s offering, editorial work or website requirements have changed substantially, a new WordPress site may be worth considering.
We would start with the requirements that remain: sites and languages, responsibilities, approvals, forms, private areas and connected systems. A real editing task is particularly revealing. Can the team publish a typical page more easily in WordPress without introducing workarounds elsewhere?
Multilingual publishing and specific approval rules need to be accounted for in the proposed WordPress setup. The useful comparison is between two configured solutions, not a highly customised TYPO3 installation and an empty WordPress site.
Map content elements to WordPress blocks
The page tree is only part of the inventory. We also examine content elements, records, file references and relationships between pages. A text-and-image element is a different migration task from a product finder connected to a PIM.
In WordPress, pages and editorial articles need suitable structures. Events, locations and other distinct records may warrant custom post types. Reusable page elements can become defined blocks with fields chosen for the editorial team’s work.
For the import, we map TYPO3 content elements and their fields to the agreed WordPress blocks and content types. We start with a varied sample and check images, internal links, language relationships and metadata before processing the full collection.
Rebuild the features your website relies on
Product finders, booking tools and CRM connections each need a plan for the move to WordPress. We assess where existing plugins meet the requirements and where custom development makes sense, accounting for data migration, connections to other systems and ongoing maintenance.
A contact form may need to preserve validation, delivery rules, consent handling and a CRM connection, not just the same fields. A customer area adds authentication and permissions. These workflows belong in the estimate and in acceptance testing.
The WordPress theme also needs building or adapting from a suitable foundation. The existing visual identity can remain, but its implementation still needs checks for mobile use and accessibility.
Account for existing URLs and search traffic
We retain existing URLs where practical. Where addresses must change, we map each one to the appropriate new page and set up permanent redirects. Sending every old address to the homepage is not a useful substitute.
Titles, descriptions, canonicals, language annotations and internal links need transferring or deliberate revision. Before launch, we check the sitemap, indexability and important destination pages. Afterwards, we monitor errors, traffic and Search Console. Even a carefully managed migration can cause temporary ranking fluctuations.
Use a trial migration to establish scope
We would propose a limited first stage: import representative content, implement an important workflow and let the editorial team use it. That reveals what can be automated and where manual work is required. Migration, design, feature development and training can then be estimated separately.
The cutover plan covers the editing freeze, final data transfer, backups and rollback. The estimate includes migration, development and editorial training, alongside ongoing hosting, licensing and maintenance for WordPress, plugins, the theme and custom code. This provides a cost comparison with further development of the existing TYPO3 site.
Content can be transferred. Publishing workflows, custom features and page design need an appropriate implementation in WordPress. The case for moving depends on how that compares with improving the existing TYPO3 site.