You may have noticed that our blog has changed a bit in the past few months. That’s because we migrated NewlyWoodwards from Blogger to WordPress. And by we, I mean my friend Laura did all the work. (You should be used to me outsourcing the hard things to more competent people like my husband and smart friends.)
You may have noticed bloggers making the switch for a while now. This is just a quick post about why we did it and how it went. And because Laura is awesome, she’s offering a special promotion for NewlyWoodwards if you want to make the switch, too.
The Why
If you’ve been around a while, you’ve heard me joke that when I started NewlyWoodwards in 2008, I thought I was brilliant. I mean, I was going to start a place where I could blog about our home renovation, our marriage and all our other projects. NO ONE HAD EVER DONE THAT BEFORE.
I didn’t read blogs and I didn’t know anything about blogs. Clearly. But, I quickly learned that there were a lot of great blogs out there doing what I wanted to do. Much better. But, I continued on and blogging became a really fun outlet for me and a great way to document our lives.
I started the blog in Blogger, which served us very well. It took all of 5 minutes to set up, was easy to modify and post and added more and more capabilities. But, I started getting annoyed when Blogger would mysteriously go dark. And, I learned that I would have a lot more flexibility and control by moving my blog to WordPress. But the migration seemed WAY beyond my capabilities.
A few reasons I was leaning towards making the switch:
- There seem to be more options and flexibility in WordPress. In addition to having ultimate flexibility to the site, you can also add countless widgets to improve your blog.
- Blogger “owned” my blog. If Blogger decided any content was inappropriate, they could remove it. It really freaked me out to have the possibility of years of content being removed. With little I could do to stop it. On a self-hosted WordPress site, you own your own blog and content. You pay for it, but it’s yours.
- Google kept making changes to Blogger, which made me worry what was coming next. Google Reader will be going goodbye soon, and this is a perfect example of Google making big changes that could affect us. Who knows what will come next? There is also very little support for Blogger, meaning that you are on your own if there’s an issue. Sometimes, no amount of Googling helps.
- Everything I read about SEO tells me that WordPress is just plain better. The better the SEO, the more people come to my blog. And who doesn’t want more people coming to visit?
There are tons of other reasons that bloggers have. But these are a few.
It also helps that my friend (Laura – from Candyland Studio) knows a LOT about WordPress, and was awesome enough to help me through the transition.
The How
There were several things I had to do before I could migrate thousands of posts, comments and followers.
- First, since I already purchased my domain name within the Blogger platform, I determined where it was purchased.
- Then, I purchased a hosting package, which is where all my “stuff” will live. Unlike Blogger hosting, I now own all of this.
Then, I worked with Laura to move everything from Blogger to my new self-hosted WordPress site. Honestly, this was a bit stressful. And I definitely wasn’t comfortable doing that myself. What would happen if I lost all my posts? Or followers? That would have been pretty sad.
Laura made sure that didn’t happen. There was a bit of a downtime for NewlyWoodwards while everything got migrated from blogger to the new host (about a weekend). And a few moments of “what the…?” when we realized there were a few moving parts that popped up.
When she transferred everything, she set me up a Genesis WordPress template. I went with her Intermediate Web Package because then I didn’t have to spend time learning how to change my theme colors, create a new header, set up the navigation menu, and sidebar stuff … Laura set most of it up for me so I could log in and keep blogging as seamlessly as possible.
In the end, I was left with a self-hosted WordPress blog that gave me so much more flexibility. And within a month, I had a noticeable increase in traffic and subscribers, which I attribute to better SEO. (Although I’d love to say it is just because NewlyWoodwards is so awesome that no one can stay away.)
So far, I’m super happy I made the switch. While I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Blogger and it served me very well for nearly five years, there are some valid reasons to migrate to WordPress.
Are you interested in moving to WordPress?
If you are, I’d highly recommend using my buddy Laura. (She also offers other web design packages.)
If you want more information, check out her website.
Plus, she’s offering a special offer to NewlyWoodwards readers. (That’d be you.)
Do you have any questions? Or have you made the switch and have other
input?
Disclaimer: I was not compensated for this post, but my friend Laura and Candyland Studio did migrate NewlyWoodwards from WordPress to Blogger. I was so pleased that I offered to share my story on the blog and she graciously offered my readers a discount on her web services.
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Katherin says
Thank you for this post!
I’m totally agree with all your reasons to switch to wordpress! It’s not for nothing that this platform has become the most popular blog publishing solution. WP is so flexible and easy to use. And you know it’s possible to migrate blog automatically. I used cms2cms converter. As far as I know it’s much cheaper than to hire a specialist. I payed $29 to move all my blog posts, images, tags and internal links and comments. It’s very simple, just several clicks in the wizard and that’s it. here’s instruction: http://www.cms2cms.com/blog/import-blogger-into-wordpress-unbeaten-solution/
I hope it will be useful:)
Leigh Powell Hines @Hinessightblog says
Your blog is great. I need to make the switch, too because I could use the SEO for more people to find me, but I’m scared of it. I write in wordpress for Skimbaco, and it’s hard. I just did the redesign of my blog so I may wait a year then do the next leap.
Gabbi @ Retro Ranch Reno says
Ahhh, all this technical stuff is super scary to me!! Thank goodness you had a good friend to help!!
michelle@decorandthedog says
I’m with the other fellow chicken commentors. Maybe someday I’ll put my big girl panties on.
daisy says
You make a lot of good points, although I’m not interested in having a million followers, so that’s not an issue. Some of us just can’t afford such luxuries, so I guess if I decide to make the switch, I’ll have to figure it out! Glad you are happy with the new freedom you have!
Rita Templeton says
I’ve been tempted before, but I’m scurrrred. I keep thinking something will go wrong and I’ll lose all my followers and all my stuff will somehow go down the drain.
Laura sounds awesome though – this could be an option for me …
Mindy@FindingSilverLinings says
I made the jump a while ago from free wordpress to paid wordpress. Which is very similar to the switch you just made. I lost a TON of followers and obviously my site stats dramatically dropped also because wordpress.com was like its own community. Once you go paid, they take you out of the loop.
I still occasionally have blips with plug-ins but, there are endless possibilities on my blog. If you have any questions, email me. I’d be glad to help (for free 🙂 )
anne fassnacht says
So glad you posted this. I have been thinking about it as well. I loved what you said about blogger having very little support. I have googled topics and never found answers it can be infuriating. Thanks for the friendly push to switch.
Christine @ Casa-de-Christine says
I’ve contemplated the switch as well. I don’t think I’m quite ready yet but I’ll definitely check out Laura’s rates!!
Kayla aka Kilo Bravo says
I’ve been researching making the switch for a while now…I thought I wanted to do it myself and look at it like a challenge (plus the hubby is actually good at this stuff), but I think this might be one of those things that is best left to the professionals! I’m going to reach out to Laura too!
Mrs Limestone says
Ive been thinking of making the switch myself but Im a bit frightened. I haven’t had an issue with blogger but the wordpress sites always look so much more polished. Anywho – i just dropped a quote request to Laura. Thanks for the recommendation.
PS: Your site no longer loads properly in old versions of IE. Not a problem for most but you would be surprised at how many people use an outdated browswer (especially those of us drones who work at a company that hasn’t migrated)
Kristen | Popcorn on the Stove says
I was intimidated by switching from wordpress.com to .org but I’m glad I did it. I have a lot more freedom now 🙂