As the most popular website blogging tool, WordPress offers users a simple, free and attractive way to host a personal or professional site. The endless opportunities to customize your web space trounce nearly all other competitors. But what if you already started somewhere else, like Blogger, Joomla or Tumblr? If you’ve decided it’s time to move over from another blogging tool, regardless of which one, there are several things you’ll need to know to be successful. It’s not difficult to change content management systems, but doing it correctly the first time will save you hours of frustration down the line. Here are some great tips to help make the transition smooth, even if you’re using WordPress for the very first time.
Choosing a Host
If you’ll be arriving via Blogger, Tumblr or another free blogging platform, the first change you’ll contend with is hosting options. With the former two examples, you get free hosting from the site. That’s also an option with WordPress. WordPress.com allows you to publish content on their site using their software, all for free. If you prefer your own hosting site (of which there are too many to list here), you can head to WordPress.org and download the free software and run it on your website, which is hosted by another company that you pay to do it.
Why would you choose to pay for a separate host? WordPress.com does not allow you to monetize your site. If this is a commercial enterprise, and not simply an opportunity for you to express your ideas, dreams and thoughts to the world, you’ll need a website that runs ads or lists products for sale. Plus, the paid version has a greater variety of customization options.
The Great Migration
Moving all your articles, pictures, comments and information over to a new site can seem incredibly intimidating. And many people choose to pay a professional to handle the work, though not everyone can afford that luxury. There are easy methods to make the transfer. If you’re coming from WordPress.com it couldn’t be simpler. All you have to do is click on the export tool and choose the free export, which creates an XML file of all your media. You can even choose which pieces of information to keep. Once on WordPress.org, click Tools: Import: WordPress. Install and activate the plugin and the upload your XML file.
Moving from Blogger, however, can be a bit more nuanced. There are elements that will not follow you to your new home at WordPress, most essentially your theme. Don’t worry, though, WordPress has thousands of templates, some free, some paid, so you’ll never run out of options. You can transfer blog posts and comments by clicking Manage: Import: Blogger. This doesn’t import pictures, however. But as long as you keep your blog on Blogger too (don’t delete it!), users can see them just fine on your site, because Blogger will still be hosting them.
Holding Onto Subscribers
Most folks switching from BlogSpot blogs to WordPress notice their traffic dip tremendously. This is because the RSS feed has changed, and most subscribers won’t bother re-subscribing at your new location. Fortunately, there’s a very simple fix. Click Blogger: Settings: Other, search under Site Feed and click on Post Feed Redirect URL. Type in your new address at WordPress and boom, your feed is transferred.
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Beyond the act of migrating content to a new site, there are innumerable ways to customize, enhance and design your website using themes, colors, plugins and more. WordPress is an essential tool for bloggers who want to reach a broader audience, make money and have the freedom to personalize a site down to the code, while still being user friendly. Though not all blogs, whether they’re on Blogger, Tumblr, or some other site, will necessarily require a move to WordPress, if you’ve decided to make the switch, there’s an infinite list of options to play with and in order to start, you’ll have to migrate your content over. Follow these tips and execute the change with ease and assurance.
Ready to move to WordPress? Check out these awesome themes to make the transition go smoothly. You can customize these incredible themes to match your own style and personality.
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I'm a recent graduate of the University of San Francisco with a degree in Biology and a passion for the creative arts. I love building websites, trying new things, and I have a passion for social media.
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