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Archive for the ‘Hosting’ Category

My most recent wordpress project was one that required a move from Blogger’s Blogspot to Wordpress. Check it out www.rungranolarun.com

Many bloggers often start out with Blogspot.com and then wish they were using Wordpress instead. The move is actually not too difficult.

Depending on the hosting solution that you use for your Wordpress, you may or may not be able to upload the Blogger’s blog directly. I use Bluehost (found it’s limitation) and had to use a workaround. Wordpress.com actually did the trick.

Here are the steps you want to follow:

1. Log in to or create a Wordpress.com account. Once logged in you want to find the “Tools” tabAfter selecting the tools tab click on “Import.” Within the import section you then select “Blogger”, then authorize. This section will take you to your Google Account for which the log in is the same as your Blogspot.com log in. If you are already logged in then this won’t be prompted. Google will then ask you again to authorize the connection so click “grant access”.

Once you have finished this connecting process. Your Import > Blogger access will now show you all Blogspot.com blogs that you have with that respective account. Select the one that you want to transfer to Wordpress.

Click “Import” and the process will proceed automatically. This however is where (if your Wordpress setup won’t allow it) you could get stuck. What happened to me was that I’d select import and each time only one post would import and then the process would stop. The workaround is to use Wordpress.com as I mentioned.

After the import is complete and you verify that indeed all of your posts and comments are uploaded you can then do the reverse (unless you are not self hosting, in which case you’d be done now). For those who are self hosting follow the steps under “Tools” > “Export” now. It simply exports Wordpress to a file that can then in turn be uploaded to your hosted wordpress account.

2. Before you proceed with the final import make sure that you have installed the Wordpress Plugin Blogger Redirector and that your permalinks are set to /%year%/%monthnum%/%postname%.html which is the same format that Blogger uses. This way when you set the final redirect from Blogger all of your posts will redirect as well.

3. Test, test, test

4. Log in to Blogspot.com under “Settings” > “Publishing” > “Advanced Settings” and enter your new Wordpress domain address. Then save those settings.

Your final product just may look something like this

Hope this helps. I’d love to know what your experience with blog migrations has been.

Actually before you can even get to the point of “getting things done” you need to get started…while it took me awhile to get my own blog started, I have been working with blogs, custom designing etc. for several years now. Wordpress is my blog (platform) of choice. I have made and continue to make custom themes (designs) for others through Wordpress. It’s easy to get started, set up, and either host on Wordpress directly or through another source. Personally I prefer Bluehost because of their seamless integration and quick setup.

So once you have all of this figured out, it’s important to have an idea of what you are going to be blogging about. You don’t just want to launch with an empty blog and no direction. While I am a big proponent of – learn on the job – kind of mentality when it comes to blogging, it’s still important to have some sort of theme, just as you did with your design.

First you need to decide what you are using your blog for…is it for you personally to share your thoughts and experiences, or are you using it to blog about business related stuff. The two are in fact quite different and will as a result draw different audiences. The choice is ultimately your depending on what your goals are.

I recommend you sort through the following; (1) establish clear, definitive goals and determine what desired actions convert visitors into leads (Do you plan on using your blog to capture leads? etc.), (2) make sure to keep the HTML coding clean (if you are not familiar with these practices I advise that you consult a professional, (3) don’t forget your users and site usability, (4) remember that a blog redesign is a project and should be managed as such, (5) set up a realistic schedule and manage expectations (Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your Wordpress blog won’t be either).

Good luck on your start. The hardest part is really getting started…well really it’s not even that hard. Just do it, and you’ll see how easy it is to get things done.