A clean cross-platform handoff for a heritage nonprofit's online store.
Migrated Bodie Foundation's online store from Ecwid to Shopify, set up the shop subdomain at shop.bodiefoundation.org, configured DNS in GoDaddy, and verified SSL globally. Finished cleanly through a mid-project executive transition.
PROOF SO FAR
A focused four-hour technical engagement, not a multi-month growth project. Stats reflect operational outcomes from the migration itself.
The handoff
Bodie Foundation preserves the Bodie ghost town in California's Eastern Sierra, an authentic, intact 1880s mining settlement now run as a state historic park. Their online merchandise store had been on Ecwid, and they wanted it moved to Shopify with the public shop link living at shop.bodiefoundation.org.
The main site stayed on Squarespace. The new store lived in Shopify. The domain registry was in GoDaddy. Three live platforms, one registrar, and one piece of plumbing to connect them all so visitors hit the right place when they clicked Shop.
What was done
The migration touched four systems. Each one needed the right credentials, the right permissions, and the right access to make a small change without breaking anything else.
Cross-platform credentials intake · Shopify subdomain configuration · GoDaddy DNS · SSL verification · Mid-project ED handoff
Credentials and access intake
Squarespace, Ecwid, Shopify, GoDaddy. Confirmed the scope (the public site stays where it is; only the store moves), mapped the actual handoff path, and surfaced the password issues early so they did not block the cutover.
Shopify subdomain configuration
Added shop.bodiefoundation.org as a custom domain inside Shopify and let it generate the required CNAME target. The store itself was already populated; this was the connection between the public-facing URL and the Shopify backend.
DNS configuration in GoDaddy
Added one CNAME record pointing shop to shops.myshopify.com. Walked the new executive director through the change herself once the in-house transition happened, with a five-minute, step-by-step she could action without a live screen share.
Verification and cutover
SSL provisioned automatically, the subdomain went live globally within the hour, store link operational. Original Squarespace site unchanged. Zero merchant downtime end to end.
The continuity moment
Roughly halfway through, the foundation's executive director moved on. A new ED stepped in. Most cross-vendor projects stall hard at this point: passwords get lost, context resets, the new lead has no record of where the work was.
This one did not, because the credentials, the platform map, and the next step were all written down in the email thread the moment they were known. The new ED picked up the final DNS change herself with five minutes of guidance.
Close
A small, well-handled technical handoff for a nonprofit doing meaningful preservation work. Total billed engagement: four hours.