Switching From Blogger to Wordpress? Input Requested | Bloggers Lair | Yakezie Forums

I switched from Blogger to Wordpress about 2 months after I started.  I wrote a post about the differences here:  http://www.budgetinginthefunst…..wordpress/

Let me know if you want any further details.  :-)

1)  Imagine that every time you linked to a fellow blogger's Wordpress site, they were silently notified.  Also imagine that you get little reminders when someone links to you.  All of the sudden you know who your biggest link supporters are and other blogs realize that you are helping them and sometimes feel inclined to help you back.  I love trackbacks and pingbacks…it's link love central!  :-)  I can't completely quanitfy the difference, but I would not have gotten this popular this quickly if other bloggers didn't know I was tossing link love their way!

2)  What you are doing is fine for a monthly backup.  BUT, there is a plugin in Wordpress called "WP Database Backup Plugin" or something like that – it can be easily set up to backup your database every day and email you that backup.  I love knowing that I at least have that if my site ever crashes completely.  The peace of mind is priceless.  I also backup my sites through Host Gator at least once a week since it is nice to know that if one backup fails, I have another option.

Making the transfer is tough.  It was nerve-wracking and learning how to use Wordpress after finally getting used to Blogger was a major PITA!!!  I am not trying to soften the blow – it will hurt.  A lot.  But, within a couple of months, you will wonder why you put it off so long…Wordpress just makes it easier to grow. 

Being the weenie that I am, I would highly suggest paying for someone else to transfer your site if you do go that route since it is nice to be able to ask questions and work out the kinks with someone that has done it hundreds of times before.  I would also suggest asking around before you pick your theme so you will have some people in mind when you run up against problems.  I know a bunch of Yakezie use the Thesis theme now, at least 4 of us use Atahualpa (I'm one of those), and at least 2 people I know of use F2.  It's just nice to know who you can ask if you need some help.

I'm in a similar situation.  I've been using Blogger forever and eventually realized I'd be better off using Wordpress.   But the more time goes buy the more I worry about making the switch.   I don't want to build 2+ years of posts and then have problems after I migrate and end up losing traffic and google hits cause of it. 

If you are contemplating a switch then its better to do it sooner rather than later.

I think if you already own your own domain name then you should be ok if you switch to WP since the domain is still the same on all the other sites.

I am pretty much ready to make the switch too. I am on blogger at the moment. I have to say that I probably would not have started if it wasn't for the ease of starting with blogger. I just dove right in after reading only a couple of blogs (and having to deal with layoffs at our office – I wanted a back up plan). After I was up and running for a month or so I started finding out everything … I decided to wait and see if I would last 6 months. Now I am ready but I have a dilemma …

- Switch my current site to Word Press

- Start a new one with less investing more money focus and not be anonymous when I write.

I have been toying with branding and bigger ideas about product so I am juggling the toughts of just keeping the one I have now anonymous and starting a new one with Word Press.

Out of curiosity, how long does it take to do the switch? Can I dedicate a weekend to it? (I'll go read the posts mentioned in the thread, I have not yet)

Craig – Free From Broke said:

I think if you already own your own domain name then you should be ok if you switch to WP since the domain is still the same on all the other sites.

Budgeting in the Fun Stuff said:

My Personal Finance Journey said:

Craig – Free From Broke said:

I think if you already own your own domain name then you should be ok if you switch to WP since the domain is still the same on all the other sites.

---

Thanks for your input Craig! So you think that the specific ending of my old posts would be kept the same if I switched from Blogger to Wordpress? For example, would the end (such as this –  2010/12/how-to-compare-business-loans.html) be kept the same you think? Thanks!
 

---

Mine were kept the same when I moved over.  :-)
 

If anyone out there knows a little more about the url structure and switching from blogger to wp I'd like to hear to make sure what I'm saying is accurate.

Thanks.  Funny, in another thread, Jim Wang's 25 step to blog article was mentioned and one of the steps (6) is to go into Permalinks to customize how it shows!

So, I suppose I should add some feedback since I performed this beast last month, 28 Nov to be exact.  

The first thing is to find a host. I chose Hostgator thanks to Khaleef's link. I was pretty happy that hostgator has 24 hr phone and online chat support. I used them a couple of times in the transition.

Second, depending on how savvy you are, a simple ehow article can tell you how to install wordpress.org. Here is the one that I used for hostgator: http://www.ehow.com/how_469897…..stico.html. If your domain is currently hosted through Enom (who Google registers domains with) you will have to go into your enom settings (accessed through google apps) and simply change your name servers and shift your blogger account back to a .blogspot account. Take NOTE: Do this at night as it can actually take the 24-32 hrs for your site to start working fully. In the meanwhile, you will be able to simply transfer your site using Wordpress's import feature.

I can't stress how important it is to try to match the URLs from blogger to the ones in your new domain. For example, my blogger urls were, say, howwepreventwealth.com/10/12/how-to-transfer.html (cutting off words), but trying to set up the permalinks in Wordpress the best I could get was say, howwepreventwealth.com/10/12/how-to-transfer-this-crap/ (note the subtle difference). Those two words threw off every internal link on my site. It still is a freakin' pain. So be sure to try to match the URLs in the permalink section of wordpress and leave it for the duration of your blog. 

Another thing that I'm still fighting with are my comments. I installed the disqus plugin and the comment system is great when I get comments :( but I'm still trying to import comments from blogger today. I spent hours trying to figure this out but once again, I think it has failed based on the mismatched links. URL=LINK=VERY IMPORTANT. 

Other than missing comments and the horrified wait for the transition, it wasn't too bad. 

Oh, you may lose your tags and categories, which I did, which freakin' sucked! So yep, the sooner the transition, the better.  

I don't even mind if you give me a call with questions. I have nothing to hide and I'm not a serial killer. Email tonight or whenever and I'll send you my number. 

BTW, after your transition, I'll save you some time by giving you a heads up on some plugins that you might want to employ such as the archive page on my site (clean archives reloaded plug-in) or the social bookmarking one (sharing is sexy plug-in), and I can talk you through setting up pages if you want. 

Trust me, I don't mind saving people the time that I spent fighting with the transition. And sorry for any typos, I'm not re-reading all of this. 

Romeo

LifeAndMyFinances said:

I recently moved my site from Weebly builder (not recommended by the way) to Wordpress and I am loving it so far! Crystal mentioned the pings and trackbacks – they have already been so helpful for me!

 

My website now looks so much more clean and professional – and there are so many things that I can do to optimize my site! I'm completely sold on Wordpress, and I would advise anyone to make the switch.