What to save before you replace your old website

Before you replace your old website, save six things: the words on every page, the photos, a list of every page address, how your contact form is set up, your email settings, and the logins to your domain and hosting. Most of it takes an afternoon and needs no technical skill. Once the old site is switched off, some of these are gone for good, and the one you forgot is always the one you needed.

Why a backup matters even if you hate the old site

Owners often say "I don't want anything from the old site, it's terrible." The look may be terrible. But inside it are years of small decisions that worked: the way you described your main service, the photo of the job that customers mention on the phone, the page a local church links to, the form that sends quotes to your office manager. A new site that drops those quietly loses things that were bringing in work.

There is a second reason. If the old site is on a hosting plan that renews soon, or a builder you plan to cancel, the day the account closes is the day the files disappear. Hosts rarely keep a copy for you after cancellation.

1. The words on every page

Open each page and copy the text into a document, one heading per page. It feels slow, but it is the most useful thing on this list.

Copy the page title and the main heading as well as the body text.
Keep your service descriptions, your about story, any FAQ answers and anything customers have praised.
Copy reviews and testimonials word for word, with the customer's name and town as shown. Keeping reviews and testimonials when you redesign covers how to carry them over.
Note anything legal-sounding, such as license numbers, warranty wording or a privacy page, so whoever builds the new one can match it.

If your site has a lot of pages, you can save each one from your browser instead. In Chrome, press Ctrl+P (Cmd+P on a Mac), choose "Save as PDF", and save it under the page's name. That gives you a picture of the layout and the text in one file.

2. Your photos, at the largest size you have

The photos on a website are usually shrunk copies. Before you download them from the site, look for the originals: your phone's photo library, an old email from the photographer, a folder on the office computer. Originals print and display far better on a new design.

If the website copy is the only one, save it anyway. On a computer, right-click the photo and choose "Save image as". Put everything in one folder and name the files in words ("kitchen-remodel-oak-street.jpg") so you can find them later. Also note which photos you have permission to use. A photo a designer bought for your old site may have a license that does not move with you; ask, or replace it.

3. A list of every page address

This is the item owners skip, and it matters most if customers find you on Google. Every page of your site has its own address, like yourbusiness.com/services/drain-cleaning. Google, other websites and your own old flyers point at those exact addresses. If the new site moves a page and nobody forwards the old address, visitors land on an error page.

How to make the list:

Click through your menu and footer and copy each page address from the bar at the top of your browser into a spreadsheet.
Search Google for site:yourbusiness.com (no spaces) and scroll through the results. You will find pages you forgot, such as an old coupon page or a staff bio.
If you have Google Search Console set up, its Pages report lists what Google knows about. Google Search Console for small business owners explains where to find it.

Give the list to whoever builds the new site and ask, in writing, that every old address either keeps working or forwards to the closest new page.

4. How your forms and booking really work

A contact form looks simple from the outside. Behind it are settings someone chose years ago. Write down:

Which email address receives form messages, and whether a copy goes to anyone else.
What the form asks: name, phone, address, the type of job, a photo upload.
Any automatic reply the customer gets, and what it says.
Any booking tool, payment button, or quote calculator, with the company that runs it and the login.

Then send yourself a test message through the old form and keep that email. It shows exactly what arrives and is a handy reference when you test the new one.

5. Your email and domain settings

If your email address ends in your business name, the settings that make it work live in your domain's DNS records. DNS is the address book that tells the internet where your website and your email live. A careless website switch can overwrite those records and stop your email without warning.

Before anything changes, log in where your domain is managed, find the DNS page, and take screenshots of every record listed. Pay attention to the ones marked MX, which route your mail. You may never need the screenshots. If email stops after the switch, they let anyone put it back in minutes. Keeping your email working during a website change walks through it step by step.

Make a short list with the company name, the website address for logging in, the username, and who has the password:

The domain registrar, where your web address is registered and renewed.
The hosting or builder account, where the old site lives.
Your email provider, such as Google Workspace or Microsoft 365.
Google Business Profile, the listing that shows on Maps.
Any tools tied to the site: booking, payments, analytics.

If you cannot get into one of these, deal with it now, while the old site still works and the renewal emails still reach you. How to find where your domain is registered helps if you are not sure which company holds your address.

A whole-site copy, if you can get one

Many hosts offer a backup button in their control panel, often under "Backups" or "Files". WordPress sites can be exported from the dashboard under Tools, then Export, which saves the text of posts and pages. A full backup is good insurance, but do not rely on it alone: a backup file is hard to open without technical help, while your document of words and folder of photos are things you can use yourself.

Your afternoon checklist

Text of every page copied into one document
Photos saved in one folder, originals found where possible
Spreadsheet of every page address, including ones found on Google
Form settings written down and a test message saved
Screenshots of every DNS record at your domain
Logins list for domain, hosting, email, Google profile and tools
A full backup from your host, if it offers one

With that folder ready, any redesign goes faster and nothing important gets lost in the move. If you would rather not gather the words yourself, a rebuild can start from what is already on your pages: you can see your site rebuilt first and compare it with the old one before deciding anything.