Which order do I things in

Been planning this for a long time but a little nervous of it all going wrong and ending up losing what I already have.

My forum is currently phpbb 2.x.xx 15,000 members and 750,000 posts. What I want to do is convert it to vbulletin with vbseo.

1. Do I convert my current data to an empty vbulletin install that already has vbseo configured, or do I perform the conversion first and then add vbseo once the data is in place?

2. I understand there is a vbseo installation service which I would be happy to pay for. Would it also be possible to pay extra for someone knowledgable to perform the phpbb>vbulletin conversion?

If not can anyone recommend a reputable person/company to do this for me?

Hello,

We do not offer vBulletin installs nor conversion services. Our installation is to install the vbseo product onto vBulletin as outlined here: vBSEO - Installation Service
vBulletin themselves offer an installation service of their software, but i don't beleive they have an import choice.
Simply put, I don't blame them for not offering it. Impex is FAR from perfect. It will get most of your data in, but you WILL lose stuff, such as user passwords need to be reset, some times signatures, avatars, attachments, etc don't work properly, etc. Support that would be a nightmare. Luckily for you, phpBB is one of the better impex version products. You *should* be able to retain most data.

I would recommend the following:

1) install vb 3.8.x to a new database on your server (note, impex isn't ready for vb4 beta, and nor is vbseo yet)
2) install impex
3) run impex to convert from phpbb
4) double check everything is right (impex isn't perfect and some times takes a couple tries)
5) install vbseo onto vb
6) install our 301 after impex product: 404 / 301 Tool After Import Redirect on ImpEx imported forums

Thanks for the quick reply on the order of things.

Yeah, I realise that there might be some missing data and passwords will need to be reset. I can manage the vbulletin install myself but the conversion and vbseo install (with all the htaccess stuff) are what has put me off from doing this 2 years ago!

Just not sure my own skills are up to the job. I've scoured the net and cant find any company that offer the impex conversion, well none that have up to date references and I'm loathe to use the hire a freelance type sites.

If you're on apache, it's cake to install vbseo. It's less hard than vb, setting up the database, etc.

FTP, import a product, and save a key. That's it.

The directions are very easy:
vBSEO 3.3.2 Readme File

Ok, I'm going to give it a go after the weekend.

I just did a Google search on 'impex conversion' and this thread was No 3 less than an hour after it was started.

If that isnt an endorsement, I dont know what is.

Definitely an endorsement

The power of vBSEO.