Step 5 · Switch over
Static-mode site migration
Your website does not disappear with the cessation of activity. It migrates to a static version, kept under contract, which preserves the entire published content and the accumulated SEO value — without any application engine running.
Why this migration exists
An active website runs on an application stack — server, database, CMS, plugins, security dependencies — that requires continuous maintenance. When the publishing entity closes, that maintenance stops: security updates are no longer applied, the database may grow inconsistent, the CMS eventually shows errors. The site, in time, becomes a fragility point rather than a useful memory.
The static-mode migration solves that equation. Content — pages, articles, media, metadata — is regenerated once and for all in pure HTML. No more database, no more CMS, no more plugins: a set of files served directly by a CDN. Hosting cost drops to a few euros per month, the attack surface becomes near zero, and the content stays accessible for as long as the contract provides.
How the migration runs
- Full capture. An exhaustive crawl of the site is performed, page by page, asset by asset. For WordPress, Drupal or other well-known CMS sites, we also use native exports as a complement to ensure completeness.
- Regeneration as pure HTML. Each page is regenerated in a self-contained format: HTML, CSS, images, static scripts only. Canonical URLs are kept (no aggressive redirects that would break SEO). Meta and Open Graph tags are preserved. The sitemap and robots.txt are regenerated.
- Clean disabling of active features. Forms (contact, newsletter, order), member areas, carts, user accounts, dynamic search engines — anything that depended on the backend is disabled and replaced by a clear explanatory message. For commerce sections, a notice indicates the shop has closed and points to follow-up contact.
- Cessation banner or page. Depending on your choice at scoping, either a discreet banner at the top of the site, or a dedicated landing page, clearly signals that the entity is no longer operating and specifies successor or liquidator contacts. It is a matter of transparency to your visitors and former clients.
- Deployment on Scaleway behind Cloudflare. The static site is served from Scaleway French object storage, with Cloudflare as the CDN frontal for TLS and abuse protection. No primary storage at Cloudflare. See site continuity.
- Domain preservation. Automatic renewal under contract. TLS certificates are renewed automatically (Let's Encrypt or equivalent). No intervention from you is needed during the entire period.
Specific cases
E-commerce sites. Static migration keeps product pages (useful for SEO and documentation for former buyers) but disables carts, customer accounts and payment. A clear notice indicates the shop has closed. See the independent e-commerce closing case.
High-traffic editorial sites. For media with thousands of articles, the crawl can take several days and require optimisations (parallelisation, CDN cache management). See the media to freeze in read-only case.
Member areas or protected content. If your site holds content reserved for registered users, static migration generally turns it public or removes it, depending on your choice at scoping. Maintaining access control after migration is possible through alternative mechanisms but lies outside the standard scope.
Scope your site migration
Every site has its specifics (CMS, e-commerce, heavy media, protected areas). Initial scoping validates feasibility and calendar.