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You’ve made the decision that you want to move your blog from blogger to WordPress but now what? If you’ve already done it there is a huge sense of achievement behind it but if you haven’t there can be a lot of confusing information out there. I’m going to assume that if you’re reading this post then you know the differences between the two sites and what the benefits of moving to WordPress will be.
This post breaks it down into all the stages you need and which companies I recommend along the way. This post does contain affiliate links and a wee cheeky mention of my own services. Basically if you get to the end of this list and feel it’s all too overwhelming I can help you get it all sorted with as little stress as possible.
Choose a Host
The first thing you need to do is choose a host for your WordPress site. I moved to Lyrical Host last year when there was a certain blogger related debacle and I’ve never looked back. They have the best support ever plus they plant trees on your hosting anniversary. If you want 10% off your first payment using the code FROMFIONA10 when you make your purchase.
Once you set up your hosting account you get access to your control panel. Here you can set up a WordPress.org account as well as a dedicated email address or two for your blog (I have a post on why you need two coming soon). Other than setting up WordPress so it’s usable I would hold off on doing anything else until you’ve followed the rest of the steps below.
Download your content from Blogger
At this point you’ll have made a decision on who is moving your content to its new place. Most hosts (including Lyrical) will do this for you for free, you can hire someone to do this for you or you can do it yourself. If you’re doing it yourself it downloads as one file and I would keep this on your computer until you’re finished just in case you need it.
Add your content to WordPress and Install Your Theme
Technically this and the next step are interchangeable but I would upload your content before installing your theme. By uploading your content first you get the chance to sort your theme to how you want it with all your content in place. I find this is a much easier way of working than installing a theme onto a blank version of WordPress.
Theme Configuration
This is where you get to play with your theme and make it the way you want it. This could be an exact replica of a demo that you’ve seen or just making it yours. This is everything from menus, widgets and sidebars to colours, fonts and layout. You may find that you get the layout on your homepage to be exactly the way you want it but your blog posts need some work. This can be normal and I’ve had to resize images and re-format blog posts before.
Redirect your Domain
As well as moving all content you’ll need to repoint your domain to your new WordPress site. This is a basic thing of updating the nameservers wherever you bought your domain and deleting it from Blogger. At this point I would also delete your blog from Blogger too so that you don’t have duplicate content on the web. I redirected my domain myself as the info was easy to follow but I believe most hosts will do this for you. If you’re stuck this is also something that I can help you with if you pop me an email.
Install Plugins
Some themes come with necessary plugins that you must install for the theme to work properly. Then there are those that you can install to make your blog run better. I have a full list of the plugins that I recommend but I’d always check for plugin clash before installing something new. Basically do you need the plugin or does your theme already give you the options you’re looking for.
Start Posting
Now that you’ve moved your content and got your new theme sorted you can start posting new content on your blog. You can also set up your @yourdomain email address too.
