Over a month later and I’m finally ready to write about my experience with transferring from Blogger to WordPress. This has been an ordeal but a rich learning experience nonetheless.
Why did I switch?
Before I share my learning experience, I thought I would address this popular question. A couple of months back some of you may have recalled the infamous “porn menu” screen that took over the domain of The Deliberate Mom. As I worked desperately to get everything back on track, Blogger was useless. Blogger finally did get back to me, four days AFTER the issue was resolved. However, their response wouldn’t have helped even if it did come in a timely fashion. This was confirmation enough that it was time to move.
Secondly, the Blogger platform is free. While most would say this is a benefit, the benefit of “free” concerned me. As we all know, when the economy is bad or businesses are struggling, free is usually first to go. I wanted the security of knowing that my content is secure on a domain that I pay for and control.
Lastly, the big SEO (search engine optimization). I have been working on growing my blog. As I’ve been researching how to do so, I realized just how limited Blogger is when it comes to SEO. One of the key ways to build your blog is to have it easily found and discovered by search engines. I knew that in order to grow, a move would have to take place.
What I learned
This has been such a rich learning experience. I discovered so much and thought I would share some of what I learned with you.
Purchase your domain
If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to purchase your domain! Even if you don’t plan on ever switching to WordPress, buy your domain. It’s really affordable (I’m talking $10-$15/year) and it makes your blog… YOURS.
Decide if you want to give your blog a new look
This is a great time to change the look of your blog. Decide ahead of time what changes you would like to make. Take time to look at what you like about other blogs and make a wish list.
I knew prior to my transfer that I wanted a new header. However, that was an easy change and I designed it entirely on my own with PicMonkey.
You could always change the look of your blog after the transfer but it’s ideal to have everything in place before the transfer is complete. This way you can focus your time and energy exploring the WordPress platform and writing new content.
Hire someone to transfer your blog for you
I think this was the best decision I could have made. I hired someone to do all the work for me. It took about 48 hours for my blog to be completely migrated. I imagine if I had done the transfer myself it would have been more like 480 hours. Transferring a blog is a big job and the more posts and photos your blog has, the bigger and more challenging that job becomes.
I highly recommend iMarkInteractive. They’re affordable, quick, and highly dependable!
Move your blog as soon as possible
I’ve been blogging for almost four years. Over 720 posts had to be moved. As I stated previously, this task is easier if your blog is smaller. I was fortunate to only lose a few comments during the transfer (and those were comments that were posted while the transfer was being completed).
Research your webhosting options
I got a “package deal” with my blog transfer. The package included 1 full year of webhosting. It sounded too good to be true… and it was. Within five days of my blog being transferred, I received an email from the webhosting company stating that my account was using too many resources and that if it’s not resolved, my account would be suspended. This is not something to be stressing about when I was still trying to learn the technicalities of a new blogging platform!
I wish I had researched webhosting options prior to my move. After one full week of emails, phone calls, researching how to “fix” things, installing plugins and uninstalling plugins… I threw in the towel. It was time to switch webhosts. I found a new webhosting service and I have been very happy so far! If you’re interested in a video about webhosting check this one out. I learned a lot through Shauna’s descriptions and graphs. You can check out Shauna’s company, Servously, HERE.
Beware of all the pretty plugins
Plugins are to WordPress what apps are to the iPhone. There are so many plug-ins to choose from. Be careful with what you choose and do your research! Plugins draw on your resources, so you want ones which are efficient, tested, and will benefit your site rather than slow it down.
Be cautious with the content you share
I’m quickly learning that everything takes space… and space = money.
I’m now meticulous with sizing my photos before adding them into posts. I also recommend installing the Jetpack plugin and activating the Photon component. The Photon plugin pushes your photos first through the FREE blogging platform of WordPress.com before landing them on your self-hosted website. What this means is your bandwidth and resources are saved.
Write some posts and keep them in reserve for after the transfer
I really wished I had this knowledge before my blog transfer. I found it very challenging to be exploring the WordPress platform, dealing with webhosting issues, AND trying to write new content. I would recommend you have some complete posts on hand to lighten the burden during this transitional time.
Be prepared to spend some money
Transferring to WordPress comes at a cost. There are webhosting fees, plugin fees (like if you have a backup service or if you want a specialized plugin like SocialWarfare), and domain fees. Some of the costs are a one-time expense but most are annual. Make sure you can afford these expenses before taking the plunge.
Transferring your blog from Blogger to WordPress? Read this first. #blogging Click To TweetYou don’t have to be “tech-savvy ” to use WordPress
I was scared of transferring to WordPress because I had heard numerous reports that it wasn’t as user-friendly as the Blogger platform. Yes, it took a bit of learning to navigate WordPress but I found learning it to be no different from when I started using Blogger. There’s way more options and tools on WordPress BUT it’s really straight-forward for writing posts and inserting media.
Final thoughts
Overall, I’m delighted with WordPress. I love it as a blogging platform and it’s really not as “techie” as I thought it would be. I adore the features it offers and I feel more secure that I’m on a self-hosted platform (even though I’m watching my disk space and bandwidth like a hawk).
What blogging platform are you using? Would you make any recommendations to someone transferring from Blogger to WordPress?
Thanks for sharing this info! I am on blogger, but have been considering WordPress, so I’ll have to keep this info on hand when I really start researching.
Glad you found this useful Brittney! I hope it helps if/when you make the switch.
Awesome post about why you switched to WordPress. That porn issue would make me switch too! You should be able to have full control of your blog!
I am loving WordPress and I’m thrilled that I made the switch. It’s horrible to feel like you don’t have control over your blog (and what’s displaying on it).
Thanks for visiting Kristie!
I bet you can see the difference between blogger an wordpress. When I did my blog migration I did it by myself, however, I had only 30 post back then. I was lucky I didn’t miss any comments and the images transferred nice and in each post.
I love wordpress and I have no regrets… I’m glad you feel the same way! Sending you lots xoxo
I see a huge difference Remy… and I love it. I wouldn’t go back to Blogger. I would also recommend people to start their blogs on WordPress as opposed to Blogger.
Wishing you a lovely weekend.
xoxo
I just finished my switch over from Blogger to WordPress about a week ago. I did many of the things you suggested, so great advice! It is a bit of a learning curve, but I am so glad I made the switch! What have been some of your favorite plugins so far?
Stopping by from #SITSSharefest!
Thank you so much for stopping by Kristen! I’m thrilled I made the switch! As for my favourite plugins… how did you know I was working on that posting?! Seriously, next Saturday or the week after that I will be sharing a post about my favourite plugins.
Wishing you a lovely weekend.
Haha! I guess I will be checking back next weekend! Looking forward to your post!
I’m hoping I’ll have it complete for next Saturday… if not, definitely the week after next. I already alluded to it in this post but Jetpack is DEFINITELY one of my favourite plugins.
Thanks for writing this. I’m considering the move, but have no time right now. I’m going to take your advice and start preparing now though, because I’m thinking I’ll do it sometime this winter.
Thank you again for writing this, Jennifer!
You’re so very welcome Sarah! I hope this helps you when you make the switch!
great advice here! i did the switch about 9 months ago, and found the learning curve on WP quite steep (i’m still on it truth be told!) but in the end i have no regrets!
your blog looks so fresh and clean, beautiful!
xoxo
I’m finding the learning curve to be a lot easier than expected but then again, that could also be because I had someone set everything up for me. I’m a hands-on learner, so I’m enjoying the process of fiddling with things.
I’m so happy with the look. It does feel a lot fresher and cleaner!
xoxo
I think your reasoning is so solid. I switched last summer and it was that lack of control feeling that nagged at me. And I totally hired someone to do it for me. I’m sure I could have managed but it would have taken stressful hours for this non-tech girl.
I’m so glad you switched over. Doesn’t it feel so great?
I’m delighted I made the switch. It feels so good to feel I’m not at the mercy of Blogger!
I’ve been thinking about making the switch to WordPress for some time. But like you, I’ve got over 700 posts and a lot of content. I’ll definitely be coming back to this post. Thanks for the tips!
I’m glad you found this helpful. I would definitely recommend Tanya from Blogelina to do the transfer for you. She was so good (and very affordable)! As I mentioned in this post, nothing was lost in the transfer (other than a few comments that we being posted as the transfer was being done).
Thanks for sharing this. I use Blogger because it seemed user friendly, but I’m glad to hear that you were able to move your blog without losing anything. So much good information here. I didn’t realize that about the photo storage. I’m going to look into that !
You don’t need to worry about photo storage on Blogger as there is lots (perhaps unlimited?) space… however by externally hosting your photos, your blog may load a bit faster.
I’m so glad you found this helpful. Thanks for visiting.
So excited that you posted about your experience! I’ve been waiting with anticipation to hear! I really, really need to save up to make the transition and for a new site design. I’m long overdue.
You make it feel less scary, but I think the thing that scares me the most is the hosting photos externally. I have a Photobucket and Flickr account, but I worry I’d never understand how to do it correctly. You would think I’d be more tech savvy b/c I work in IT, but no. I’m really, really not. :)
Externally hosting photos is quite easy. Instead of loading the photos directly onto WordPress, I load them into Photobucket. When I want to insert a photo into a post, I simply select the “insert URL” option on WordPress and copy the image url from Photobucket. It’s not too daunting… just another step in the blogging process.
Glad you enjoyed this (and I’m so happy I finally posted it). Would you believe I’ve been working on this post for over a month?!
Have a great weekend my friend!
Hi
I think that your problem with the sordid menu was caused by your domain registration lapsing. Once this happens the domain is taken back by the registrar, in your case enom.
Often lapsed domain s are used to earn advertising revenue until they are reassigned.
Your Domain settings that pointed to blogger will have been removed. I am sure your blogger blog was perfectly fine. the problem was with enom redirecting your lapsed domain to other content.
Blogger is a very robust platform that unlike wordpress does not need expensive and time consuming maintenance, security backups, security updates. or expensive hosting.
We run many websites for clients on the blogger platform(new.maxgoldhouse.com is an example). Sites are super quick to load and new content gets indexed by google soon after it is published. We host all images on picasaweb which as well as offering unlimited hosting space for free allows us to resize images on the fly. picasa is a cdn for free.
Occasionally we have a project where blogger is not the right choice, increasingly we use github pages which has a much shorter learning curve than wordpress and once again no time consuming brain taxing maintenance.
There are thousands of people making a comfortable living promoting wordpress most of whom are scathing about alternatives. wordpress is a good offering but it isn’t always the right choice.
Dave L
Thank you for sharing your insights and expertise.
If you’re able to help others make the most of Blogger and save them money while providing the customer service that Blogger lacks, then I’m sure they appreciate it.
Hi Jennifer! I was just thinking of writing to you to see how things were going on WordPress. I’m glad it worked out so well. I did have a learning curve myself, but it didn’t take too long to figure things out. You use so much more media than I do, so I didn’t bump into that problem.
My son told me that Blogger is free, which is great. But it’s also bad because they have no motivation to help when something breaks. That happened to me, as you know. Blogger was really unhelpful, and didn’t seem to care at all. I love my hosted WordPress! Any problems are taken care of, and really fast too.
Hope you’re having a great weekend!
Ceil
I’m just loving WordPress Ceil.
You’re so right about the lack of customer service with Blogger. It was infuriating!
Wishing you a lovely weekend as well.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
You’re welcome Amber! I hope it was helpful.
Thanks for stopping by.
When I did this I really messed up not only traffic but my revenue I had been
Using blogger for so long that I gained some really nice traffic however during my move to WordPress I deleted my blogger website and all that traffic was gone XD so the main thing I can suggest is if you move from a blogger blog keep the posts there and start fresh on WordPress
Thanks for sharing your experience with your transfer Scott.
I’ve encountered a tiny (almost unnoticeable) dip in traffic. When my blog was transferred, the woman I hired redirected all my traffic to my WordPress blog (my blog is still on Blogger and is not deleted). Perhaps other people considering a transfer should keep that in mind as well.
I’m glad you’re liking your new blog Jennifer! And you’ve learned so much about WordPress in such a short time. Those are some great tips you have. If image sizing still becomes an issue, you should remember to always optimize the images before uploading. I use image optimizer for Mac (free). In addition, you can use a free plugin wp Smush it to reduce images that have already been loaded. That should reduce some major image baggage. Good luck!
I’ve heard of Smush it but haven’t installed it yet. So far the approaches that I’m using are working well for managing photos on my blog.
Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your expertise!
Lots of good information!! So glad I switched and so glad you did too :)
Thanks Caroline! I’m loving it (just like you said I would).
I hope you’re having a lovely weekend.
Great write up Jennifer. My hardest thing when switching about a month ago was the security. I had literally thousands of spammers, robots and spiders crawling all over my site and had to learn how to take care of this fast!
I had loads of spam too (but it’s all caught by Akismet). I still hate going through the spam and deleting it but there’s not much that can be done about that! I also wrote my first robots.txt file shortly after launching my WordPress site -eek! Talk about learning curve!
Thanks for sharing your experience with this too!
I have been contemplating the big switch as well but I like that word free. I’ve always said that once my blog starts making money I’ll make the switch but I haven’t done anything to make money. I like hearing others experience and I’m glad yours was an almost flawless switch over. I’ve heard of others who lost lots of their content making the switch. I’ll probably do it later this year or early next year but for now I’m happy on Blogger.
I feel so fortunate that my transfer went as well as it did. You definitely need to do what you’re most comfortable with. You seem to have a good thing going on over there anyway!
Thanks for stopping by my friend!
Eeeeks another post about the wonders of wordpress. Great post, too. We should switch. But I’m scared. And maybe a little lazy hehe. Maybe we’ll wait till we have enough money earned to pay someone to do it for us! Yeah that sounds good. . . :) I love all your blogging posts they are so helpful!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this. I was a little nervous about the switch but after the mess I had dealt with when my blog went down while on Blogger, I felt like I had nothing to lose. I’m fortunate the transfer went as well as it did.
I’m delighted that you find my blogging posts helpful. I’m by no means an expert… I just like to share my research, learning, and discoveries with others.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you had a lovely weekend.
I’m so glad you shared your experience! It hits close to home because I’m on blogger and the thought of making the move frequently crosses my mind out of paranoia for losing my stuff. Ugh, I somehow wish blogger had an option to pay for additional services. I’m keeping this post in my pocket. Thanks Jennifer!
Glad that you can look back on this post if you need to. A word of advice, don’t feel pressured or rushed. You need to do what feels best for you and what you want/expect from your blog.
Such good info Jennifer! I’m saving for if I ever want to switch. It sounds daunting to me but maybe someday I’ll do it :)
Glad you thought this information was helpful. It doesn’t hurt to tuck it in your back pocket if you need it some day, you can always refer back to it.
I’m glad I made the switch but it was the right decision for me at the time.
This is great advice, Jennifer. I especially love recommending people get their own domain name. This is great advice to no matter where your blog is hosted. It would be awful to brand yourself only to find someone else already has it. If it is trademarked, they can even require you to stop using it. I have used self-hosted wordpress for various projects for years. It is an amazing content management system. Glad you are getting settled in with the system.
I blogged for almost two years before it dawned on me that I should buy my domain. I am very fortunate that my domain wasn’t taken in the meantime!
I’m really enjoying WordPress. Despite the initial rocky start with webhosting, it’s been a lot easier to navigate than I anticipated.
First off, I’m so glad that all issues with hosting have been resolved for you. That’s a relief! (And I’m glad that WordPress is meeting your needs!)
As you know, I’m also 700+ posts deep in blogging (and that I still feel comfortable at Blogger.) Old habits die hard. :) It meets all my needs.
I never knew about the picture resizing! Interesting!
I’m delighted that the hosting worked out too. Shauna has been a blessing! I would absolutely recommend staying with what works for you and suits you best.
This was really interesting Jennifer. I’m not sure I’m ready for the changeover yet but when I am I know who I can speak to! Thanks for sharing your advice. I will be featuring you this Friday!
Best wishes,
Natasha in Oz
I’m glad you enjoyed this and found it interesting Natasha! Thanks for featuring it too… I’m honoured!
I am so glad that I chose to transfer my blog to WordPress early on as I am not sure I would have been brave enough once I had too many posts on my blog. Your post offers some great advice especially about checking out hosting sites and affordability.
I don’t even know what bandwidth and disk space are, so that is something for me to check out!
I would recommend to anyone to self host if they can afford it. It is not half a s difficult as it sounds.
By coincidence my latest post is about what I have learned as a new blogger. As I found that when I was researching self hosting my blog, most of the posts were aimed at people who were probably a lot more computer savvy than me!
Thanks Debbie! I’m glad you found some of this information helpful!
I’ll have to check out your post too! Sounds like something I could have benefited from a few months ago when I was thinking about moved my blog from Blogger to WordPress.
I so appreciate you sharing your experience Jennifer. I am preparing to make the transfer in the next month or two and was planning to use a “package deal”. Your post has me reconsidering that now. I appreciate the heads-up. I’d be happy to learn from those who are ahead of me to prevent mistakes I’d regret. Thank you for taking time to share!
Karen, if the package deal is affordable I would still go with it but have an alternate webhosting service on the backburner if things go wrong with the packaged one. Transferring a blog can be very expensive – so if you have a packaged deal, it’s probably good to stick with it. However, if you have issues with your webhosting company, act immediately. I messed around trying to fix things for a week when I should have just known it wasn’t a good fit. Shauna’s webhosting company has been FABULOUS so far… I would highly recommend her as a backup webhosting service.
I transfered to wordpress a year and a half ago, but moved back last week. I think the people at WordPress are even more unhelpful than the ones at Blogger…
WordPress does have many perks, but I like Blogger more.
This is the first time I’ve heard of moving from WordPress to Blogger. I imagine that must have been a challenging decision to make. I would definitely say that WordPress is not for everybody. There’s more to think of… with Blogger you can write and publish. With WordPress, there are many other things to take into consideration.
Thanks for sharing your perspective.
THANK YOU so much for this information! I have been needing to make a transfer for some time, and just completely overwhelmed by the thought of it all and did not know where to start! I too had a horrible experience earlier this year, where live RUSSIAN girls had taken over my site, I even had to change my name… So now my pins and other links out in the world wide web do not connect to my new domain name! All that work is lost! So frustrating! I put so much time and effort into each of my blog posts with tutorials and photos and am frustrated with how limited Blogger is! My business is growing and my website/blog is stagnant! This information is GOLD!!! I am interested though in how you found someone to transfer the information, was this done via local or remotely? Please if you would not mind, share your contact/s I am ready to spend the money for the help and make the MOVE!! I am so happy today to have found you over at G’Day Friday Favorites!! I am also your newest follower! Thanks.
Jeanne
Hi Jeanne! I’m so glad you found this information helpful. I’m also sorry to hear of the frustrating issues you’ve had with your blog.
Transferring your blog can be very stressful (as I shared in this post) but I learned so much in the process and I am happy to share my learning experiences with others. I had my blog transferred remotely by Tanya from Blogelina. She charges $149 for the transfer which includes 1 free year of hosting. However, as I shared in this post, I had to find a different webhost because things weren’t working out with the free webhosting company. I would recommend having an additional webhosting company in mind if things don’t work out with the free webhosting provider (as I mentioned in this post, I chose Shauna’s company to host my blog and I have been super pleased with her services).
If you do choose Blogelina to transfer your blog, would you mind using my affiliate link? Once you’re on her site, click the Blogger to WordPress tab just below the header and you will see all that’s included in her transfer package. I recommend Tanya because I had such a positive experience with her. As I mentioned the only content I lost in the transfer was a few comments that were left while the transfer was being completed. In addition, while she was transferring my blog, there was no downtime… my blog was up and running the whole time (which I think is pretty miraculous in itself).
Thanks so much for following. I look forward to connecting with you and I hope that this further information helps you in your decision-making process.
Wishing you a lovely weekend.
Jennifer
Thank you so much for sharing this. I hope to start a blog soon
and the information was invaluable.
You are so very welcome Tami! I have a variety of blog building posts (just look under my my Blogging tab HERE).
Thanks for reading and best wishes to you as you prepare to launch your own blog.
Jennifer, thank you for posting this well-written summary. I’ve read quite a few of these “what to expect when switching from Blogger to WordPress” and I appreciate the brevity and points you’ve made. I’ve been debating this switch for over six months, and it was refreshing to read someone’s experience where they paid someone to help with the move.
I’m delighted you enjoyed this and found it helpful Marnie. I learned a lot when I made my transfer… just passing my learnings along.
Thanks for your lovely words.