When I posted a couple weeks ago about the biggest accomplishments I made in 2018, one of the ones most people were curious about was how I transitioned my blog from Blogger to WordPress. Before I dive into the details, here’s a little background. I started blogging in late 2013 about 11 months after Ryan and I first started dating. Blogger was familiar to me, and it was one of the easiest platforms to use to start blogging. I’d used it back when I was a book blogger, and I knew there was always the opportunity to transition when the need arose. I was content with it, but by late 2016, I had this initial desire to switch over to WordPress – just had no idea where to start.
I started at the beginning. I did a lot of research on the process, and I put in a lot of time and energy in regards to learning about the switch, carrying links over, keeping comments, and maintaining my archives. At the end of the day though, I wasn’t fully confident in my ability to transition from Blogger to WordPress by myself. Then I stumbled upon a business called PipDig. Specializing in implementing pre-made Blogger and WordPress templates, they also boasted WordPress migrations, so I did a little research, and their testimonials were solid.
For $95, they’ll transfer all your Blogger content to WordPress. Essentially, that means:
- You keep all links for SEO value
- They install one of the WordPress themes of your choice on your blog – not an added charge
- You maintain all content including posts, links, subscribers, readers, redirects, and more
- You have access to their WordPress 101 tutorials
- Your site remains active the entire time you go through the blog transition…it looks a little wonky while in progress, but it’s active the whole entire time
- You get spam shield protection, they submit your sitemap to Google, you get Yoast for SEO value, expert security, etc.
So, with all that included, I was sold…terrified but sold. I purchased the migration, and within three days, the swap was underway. I did have to buy site hosting with SiteGround, and my URL was already purchased through GoDaddy a long time ago, so once that was set up, PipDig got to work.
By day four, my site was up and running with a new look and feel, all links worked, and there were zero hitches. As you can see by the image above, I chose the Etoile Theme, and I modified it ever-so-slightly to just include my instagram feed at the bottom. Other than that, I made only one change on my own. One of my biggest pet peeves with WordPress is their comment system. I think Blogger’s is much more user-friendly. So, I added a widget to my site with Disqus, and I imported all my past Blogger comments and now all site visitors can use Disqus going forward. It’s easy, simply, and much more user-friendly (in my humble opinion).
Essentially, I didn’t really do any of the legwork besides research and forking over a little bit of money, and I’m so glad I did it. PipDig was worth every single penny to handle the migration and all its moving pieces for me. If you’ve been thinking about it but have been hesitant, let me assure you – WordPress has drastically improved my ability to view back-end statistics, manage my content and structure, and optimize my content. It’s extremely easy to use, and it offers a touch of authority my blog just didn’t have before, which I’m obviously partial to.
Do you use Blogger? What’s your biggest concern about moving to WordPress?
