Making the move from Blogger to WordPress, was something that I knew was coming. Having used blogger for almost 5 years I knew what the limitations of the site, it wasn’t until I got my audit from Nele and delved more into her SEO For Bloggers , I decided that I needed to do it. Unfortunately, I knew that my blog wouldn’t continue to grow without it. I did the transfer myself, and in this post I’ll go over all the detail and costs in case there is anyone out there considering doing the same.
Where I Started
I got my audit back the evening before I decided to embark on my move from Blogger To WordPress. I got in touch with one of Nele’s previous clients Bárbara she helped me by sharing her experiences and some useful resources.
The first thing I had to do was get in touch with my current domain provider to switch my domain to the host I wanted to transfer too. This is where I had my only issue which I will go over later in the post. I did the bits I needed to do with them to get my certificate of transfer and then I popped to bed, knowing I’d need to wait for this to be done to do anything else.
Picking A New Host
The next big move was picking who I’d host with once I got to WordPress, I’m not going to lie some of the quotes for hosting made me want to die inside. Blogger is relatively inexpensive because you only really pay for your domain. I settled with Blue Host as I had seen some positive reviews, the tutorial I used to transfer recommended it, and for the first year it cost me £58 for the hosting + £12 for the security and privacy. Obviously, I already owned my domain – and I had actually recently re-purchased it for another 4 years so this isn’t a cost I had to include.
Blue Host helped me out so much – my previous provider ran into issues with my domain transfer, thus meaning I was without a domain for six days, so they sorted me with a temp domain and then chased up my previous provider and got the job sorted in just 6 days (my previous host quoted 14 days to fix the job). This was an unfortunate issue – but for the most part won’t be something that you’d run into if you transferred yourself.
The Content Transfer
Now this is probably the trickiest bit of the Blogger To WordPress transfer, making sure all your content arrives safely. I followed this tutorial as recommended.
The tutorial walks through a step by step process of how to move everything over. I recommend reading it over multiple times, and then decide am I confident enough to make the transfer myself? Or would I prefer to pay for migration? I felt comfortable enough to do it myself, and so I transferred everything across just fine. My only issues came from my host as mentioned above.
How The Transfer Affects Your Content
I knew I was looking at a mammoth job because during isolation I reached 425 posts on my blog.
When you make the move – every single post becomes unformatted. Yes, you heard that right, every single post. All your pages from blogger will need to be re-created with WordPress as they won’t transfer either. This can be done using the handy copy and paste – but it still needs doing separate to your transfer.
Unfortunately, due to the large volume of content I have, I’ve completed maybe 20%, and this also left me with 100s of broken links to fix. I think if you’re about to make the move it really is worth considering. Do I have the time it will take to do this?
A friend politely calculated that if I did 5 posts a day without editing the actual content, it would take me 4 months to complete editing all my content.
Using WordPress
The WordPress editors are so violently different to the editor on Blogger, I really recommend taking some time before you make the transfer to have a look around the WordPress editors. Try to write up some content on it, that way when you actually make the move you won’t be so confused. It also gives you the time to see which you prefer, which could be the block editor or the classic. It genuinely took me 3 days to realise how to swap one editor for the other.
When you transfer over, you can no longer use your blogger theme, and will have to purchase and install a new one, mine cost just over £35. You then need to learn which plugins you need and install them. It can be a really lengthy process if you don’t know what you’re doing. So having someone to install and migrate for you might be handy if you don’t have the time.
Is It Worth Paying For Migration?
I didn’t, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth it. I think if you want a stress-free time and you have the funds for someone else to do it, then by all means I think you should.
Personally, I found migrating by myself allowed me to learn things and why some elements were frustrating, I think I’m happy I did it myself. It would have taken me a-lot longer to get to know how to use WordPress if I’d got someone to do it for me.
If you’re looking to make the move, I know that lyrical do have this service, and it is very popular amongst bloggers for hosting and migration. I was actually going to use them myself, but I was inpatient and didn’t want to wait for three weeks for their next available migration date. One of my close blogging friends has an affiliate code from them if you do decide to use their service – the code is SOPH10.
Did It Affect My Domain Authority or Page Authority?
This is something that I’m asked a-lot, your DA is more to do with backlinks so if you make the move and you keep the domain you won’t see any change in your DA.
I’m actually very lucky with the help of Nele’s courses SEO For Bloggers (af), Keyword Research for Bloggers (af) my DA has gone up 4 points to 28 and my PA went up 3 points ( meaning I’m so close to 40 on PA). WordPress gives you more options for SEO so it can actually be really helpful for improving if that’s what you’re looking to do.
Was The Transfer Worth It?
In the past few months I’ve been trying to make my blog as business, and for the most part we’re getting there. Moving to WordPress has allowed me do be able to do so much more with my blog and I think it’s actually helped with my traffic.
It has definitely helped me improve my SEO and I really wish I’d have done it earlier and not spent so much time on Blogger because it really does have it’s limitations.
Most of my traffic comes from Pinterest, I’ve been using Pinterest Perfect (af) which is a 100 page Pinterest Guide with so many details, some free pin templates and more – and I’ve seen more Pinterest users stay on my page, making my bounce rate lower.
I’m really happy with my blog now, I’m still learning and improving with WordPress but I think I’m getting there. If you have any questions about the move leave a comment in comment section and I’ll reply as best I can!
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Congrats on making the move! I transferred from Blogger to WordPress last November and like you said, I wish I’d done it sooner. I love the flexibility with WordPress and my traffic has also increased! x
I love WordPress, I’m SO glad I started there and I’d never change. If I did, I’d have to pay someone to do it for me because I would not transfer 1000+ posts by myself haha. Really helpful post!
Glad to hear that you found the switch to be beneficial so far! It sounds like a mammoth job but it also seems like you’re really enjoying using WordPress! I’ve been on WordPress since I started my blog and I absolutely love it 🙂 x
https://www.femaleoriginal.com
I’m so glad you had a sort of easy transfer to WordPress from Blogger Kayleigh! You’ve got guts to do the transfer yourself, I’d rather save up and let someone do it for me! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
It’s great you managed the move to WordPress It can be confusing at the beginnig to learn all the stuff (i started my second WP blog last month), but it’s so worth it !!
Great post! I felt the same way with my blog when I went from Blogger to WordPress. It was time consuming and irritating at times because I’m not the best with web designs and stuff. But I was able to figure it out. It increased my knowledge and appreciation for those with website and what they have to go through to create/maintain it.
That was an interesting read! <3 I've used Blogger, as well but only for a short period of time. Realizing that WP is so much better for serious blogging made me buy a domain name and hosting and that's when https://thealexandrablog.com happened, lol. I can't imagine transferring sooo much content! Thank you for sharing this, love. Btw, I love your blog design it's so minimalistic and sweet! #inspired
Congrats on the move – WordPress offers so much more in terms of functionality and the wonderful world of plugins that make life even easier! I like your point about doing it yourself and learning about the new platform on the way. If you can do that I think it’s so valuable, especially if things don’t look right as then you know how to tweak them. And I love your new theme, I might have to head over to Blog Pixie myself as I never liked my replacement theme from the one I originally had from P-who-must-not-be-named! xx
Lisa | http://www.lisasnotebook.com
Well done on the move, you’re site looks great. I swapped over almost 2 years ago and I’m so glad I did.
I just wish I’d realised how important self hosting was early on. That is my biggest blogging regret by far x
As someone who has always used WordPress, it was really interesting to read about the differences between the different hosts. It does sound like a complicated process so make the switch but something that seems absolutely worth the while. I’m glad you’re DA has improved since making the switch. Good luck as you get to grips more with the new format!xxx
Congrats on making the move. WordPress is fab you’ll have so many more options at your fingertips now 🙂
Congratulations for your move! I love the WordPress so much. You’ll find lots of cool things on WordPress for your blog.
Thanks for sharing this. Keep it up!
I was literally on the hunt for guides like this earlier this week as I was contemplating switching over! This is super helpful!
This was a very informative post. Thank you very much.
I have been meaning to do this for the longest time but I just find WordPress a bit of a minefield to use and I just don’t have the time right to do it especially after you said about the post thing – I have 1.1k blog posts *Cry*
I might have another think about it xx
This is something I have been thinking about doing for about a year… I’m really nervous to do it especially as at the moment I’m only paying £10 a year to google for my domain name and my DA is only 12 so I don’t know if I worth paying so much more money for the move and hosting?
It sounds like you made the right choice for your blog! I’m learning more and more from you about blogging each day – I hope one day I can be half as successful as you are x
I remember when I first started blogging and checked out both blogger and WordPress and WordPress for me was the easiest to use. It’s great you have moved over to WordPress. That’s a great achievement to do the whole transfer yourself. You have explained the steps really well and so helpful for other people who would like to make the move also. Thank you for sharing Kayleigh 😊
I am in the middle of trying to transfer my blog over to WP. Thanks for the advice.
Welcome to WordPress!!! I absolutely love WordPress and can’t recommend it enough! Ince you get the hang of everything, it really is a breeze, and there’s nothig a quick Google can’t fix! Plus I use the live chat all the time and they are super helpful x
That sounds like quite the undertaking! I had a Blogger blog way back when and it seemed like a clunky platform at the time. WordPress was definitely a whole new world, but I am so glad that it’s the platform I chose for this blog! I hope you enjoy using it! I migrated to a new hosting service this year, but I let them handle the transition. I didn’t lift a finger except to give login information! Great job!
Who made the banner for the blog? It’s great. Moving a blog can be a difficult task. Thanks for sharing.
Congrats on the move! I moved from blogger to WordPress when I only had a few posts thank goodness! Sounds like you have quite a task on your hands but definitely worth it. I love WordPress
I once considered moving from WordPress over to blogger! I know! What was I thinking! I found it so hard to get to grips with WordPress to begin with but I’m so pleased I persevered with it! Great blog! Thank you for reconfirming my decision to stick with WordPress! Kirsty x
I am happy to be already with WordPress!
Thank you for sharing this post 😇
It is really needed for me at this time 😇
JENISH | https://knowafactfromj.blogspot.com
Changing from wordpress.com to wordpress proper has been even harder… nice to read this and know I am not the only one who is working at this.
One of the best decisions I made from migrating from blogger to wordpress! Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I’ve heard a lot of good things about Bluehost so I might have to check them out!
I will add another vote for Lyrical Host. Over the years working with different businesses and individuals, I’ve had the opportunity to work with a variety of hosts. I have yet to find another host that offers the level of customer service offered by Lyrical Host. I am SO impressed since switching my blog over to them earlier this year.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience with this! It’s something I’ve been contemplating for ages and you’ve answered every question I would have had about it xx
http://www.dellalovesnutella.co.uk/
We made the changeover on December 26, 2020 (a few weeks ago). I also dreaded going through and re-formatting, re-doing the links, and even re-adding pictures to posts because the media gallery with my new hosting company ran out of space after maybe 10 or 15 posts when I used the migration plug-in. I think my blog is way more attractive now and I have more control over what I can do, so it was worth it so far.
http://www.retirestyletravel.com