There seems to be something in the water lately. The Google Blogger water. Just this weekend I’ve been contacted by several bloggers inquiring about moving to WordPress.
I am really really happy about that! Kind of.
What I am NOT happy about is why they’re moving.
A few days ago, the lovely Travel Babbles had no choice but to make an emergency transfer to WordPress. Why? Good old Google/Blogger was redirecting her blog to a random, plain site. When I tried reading her blog, no sooner had I clicked on a post than I was on that weird website. This is what Kym learned after calling her Domain Registrar (the people you pay the $10/year for your nice .com name)
That story sounds ALL too familiar.
Remember my post about How to Back up Your Blogger Posts? That was in May of last year. Blogger decided that my medical spa website design site was spam, flagged it as so, and therefore scraped it off the interwebs. Night. Mare. Thankfully this was just a design site and all of my content wasn’t on there. Within a month, I came over to WordPress.
My headache didn’t end there. See, since day one of blogging, I’ve always ran my site on a shoestring budget. At first it was a hobby, so it didn’t make sense spending all of this money on a hobby. But as time went on and I found out how to monetize my site, I didn’t want to lose all that work. I tried to transfer myself, but I had no idea what I was doing and I gave up. So I hired the least expensive bid I could find to transfer me. Big. Mistake.
The most important thing to me was not the blog design. As a designer I could figure something out if transferring my old design was too hard. All I really cared about was retaining all of my Pinterest traffic. Even though I didn’t know a DNS Registrar from a web-host at the time, I knew that I had valuable content on Pinterest under two different domains: my old .blogspot.com subdomain and my current .com domain. All of those pins needed to find their way to my new site if I was going to continue monetizing my site.
Guess what happened? A good portion didn’t find their way to my site and I had thousands of lost pageviews and lost income. I had to learn on my own how to fix this. It’s taken me several months (literally, over 6 months of constant research and networking) to fix that.
Now, the process ISN’T REALLY AS SCARY AS YOU MAY THINK if you hire the right person. I’ve heard so many horror stories and people stating they want to move back to Blogger because blah blah blah that I knew I had to do something. So I started offering Blogger to WordPress migrations of my own. I didn’t want anyone to have my experience.
Last night I transferred Glam Hungry Mom to WordPress and it was a smooth transition. Andrea is a very DIY kind of person (much like I am) and attempted to do this on her own. By the time I spoke to her, she had already purchased web-hosting, and she also purchased the Genesis framework (a must IMHO). But she got stuck (and I don’t blame her) somewhere in the process and needed help.
It was at this point that I thought to myself, “Self, why don’t you offer a DIY transfer package?” The upfront costs of moving to WordPress can add up, and as a fellow blogger, I empathize. So the following was born.
Afraid of leaving your blog in the hands of Google?
Put your blog in my hands by placing your order on my design site, Mila Design Co.
Kelly Louise says
What if I use Disqus for my comments, will those transfer? Or would I lose those since they’re not “blogger”?
Lisette says
That’s an extra step. We would have to sync the Disqus comments with the imported Wordpress comments. Sometimes blogs with Disqus have problems importing the comments. It’s a little extra work but totally doable.
Rekita says
ohhhh snap, I am helping Kym with her blog now and she scared me. I am making my switch TODAY! smh
Lisette says
I’m here if you want to hire me. It’s possible to completely DIY if you’ve only been blogging for a short time. But if you have many posts pinned to Pinterest, you might need to hire someone to help you.
Rekita says
I think I might hire,, but I one question. I purchased hosting on Bluehost for my design site, is it possible to use the same hosting for my blog website?
Lisette says
Yes! You totally can!
Rekita says
I just realized my last comment was all jacked up with errors, lol. But yes I will be contacting you in a few days. I believe I can do it, but I’d rather someone else who has done it.
Jess Beer says
Thank you thank you thank you for this! I’ve been seeing the same trend and have been getting worried…and I’m so thankful you’ve published these prices! I’ll likely be emailing you this week – just have to clear all this with the hubs first and confirm he’s on board with the cost! I’m a little scared of the switch but it definitely seems like this is what I need to do!
Lisette says
No problem! I know people are a little tight on money and it became clear I needed to offer a lower cost option for some of us. I know I couldn’t have forked over a lot of money when I transferred, but I also didn’t know anyone reliable that was within my budget. Looking forward to talking to you soon!
jackie says
I know we’ve chatted before about it and I SO need to do this soon. so scary that you can possible lose everything. I’ve just been so busy lately and I know it’ll take some time to learn Wordpress so I keep putting off. Hopefully I’ll be contacting you about it soon!
Lisette says
Jackie, it actually won’t be that much of a learning curve if you are transferred properly. Writing posts in Wordpress is a breeze! Can’t wait to hear “I should have transferred sooner” from you ;)
Kristyn says
Just in case anyone reading this is on the fence for hiring Lisette. Don’t be. She transferred me and I have had NO issues what so ever with my blog. No broken links…nothing went wrong. She really does know what she is doing when she transfers you.
Lisette says
Thanks Kristyn! I’m happy you’re in the WP club. Blogger is great for many reasons, but the possibility of losing your content is risky!
Kristyn Monaghan says
I’ve been thinking about transferring for a while now! Unfortunately I’ve had a lot of other costs come up lately but this definitely has me inspired to put this at the top of my “saving for” list!
Lisette says
I totally understand. It took me several months of thinking about the switch before I bit the bullet.
You won’t regret moving to Wordpress. It’s only helped my pageviews!
Tiara says
It’s time I make the switch. I keep telling myself I’ll find the time to do it, but I really should just hire you!
Lisette says
I honestly love doing transfers. I’ll take care of you!
Kenzie ♥ says
I’ve been hearing quite a few blogger horror stories lately, and am really wanting to make the move to Wordpress one of these days. I loved reading this post by you! As soon as I am ready you will definitely be hearing from me :D
Jana says
I’ve actually been thinking about switching for awhile (and thinking of using you!). I’m going to save up the money and take the plunge, so you should be hearing from me about that soon. :)
hallie says
I am DEFINITELY coming to you, and very very soon!
Lisa @ Sorority Life to Army Wife says
So I literally just backed up my blog. This is one of my next blog goals. I won’t lie, WordPress seems so scary and grown up, haha.
Lisette says
I don’t think Wordpress is scary. I think Blogger is scary for it’s shadiness. I know it sounds cliché but I seriously <3 Wordpress
Chloe says
This is awesome. I think I want to switch to Wordpress eventually, but I’m broke right now, so it’s not feasible. I do really like Blogger though, but have had my fair share of annoyances. I changed my blog name and URL last month, but haven’t been able to do a redirect because Google will no longer allow me to sign into my old domain. So until it expires next month (I’ve already bought it on another domain hosting site), my stats have dropped like 80%. I was getting 800-1000 page views per day, and now I’m lucky to get 200. It’s been extremely frustrating.
Kelly says
This is awesome, I am seriously considering the switch and I will be emailing you!
xx Kelly
Sparkles and Shoes
Liza says
I’m not a blogger, but have been thinking about starting one. I feel like I’m reading another language in this post! What’s the learning process behind becoming more familiar with all of these terms/ programs/ etc? RSS, Domain, DNS. How much did you know about these things before you started blogging? It all seems so intimidating & is scaring me off!
Lisette says
Liza don’t be intimidated! I didn’t know a THING about any of this before I started blogging. Nothing. Google will be your best friend in learning all of this. It has been for me!
Rebekah @ Living Lavender says
Is it possible to keep my current blog design? I’m considering making the switch but not if I will lose my current design.
Rebekah @ Living Lavender says
Ignore my comment, I just saw your second option! I will be contacting you shortly!
Sanne says
Very insightful! I am still using blogger, but I’ve been thinking about switching as well. What has been holding me back is exactly what you described – I don’t know the consequences of switching. Besides my content, I would like to keep my google ranking, my bloglovin followers, and my blogger comments. Do you think this is possible?