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Making the transition to WordPress can be one of the most important changes with your blog. WordPress has the flexibility to do almost whatever you want to do with it. I, myself, made the switch in December. It can be a scary process when doing it yourself. I do offer switching from Blogger to WordPress.
There are several things you need to think about prior to switching. First of all the effects. You will initially lose your page rank when switching from Blogger to WordPress. However if done correctly you should be ranked again the next time Google updates page ranks. You can easily transfer your Google Friend Connect seamlessly without losing a reader. You can also transfer your Feedburner Feed easily.
There are also things that cannot be transferred exactly the same. The way WordPress layouts are coded makes it impossible for you to have the same theme/ template as you do on blogger. You can possibly find one similar, or just get a whole new look. Also your design may need to be edited. If you previously paid a designer for your blog design, you may want to check their terms of service before switching and using the same graphics. Some designers do not allow other designers to move or touch their work.
If you have thought about the above items and are ready to move, remember besides the move there are a few costs included. First, you will need to purchase a domain name. I use NetFirms because they are usually the cheapest. I have paid as low as $3.99 for a domain for a year with privacy, which usually costs around $20. Next, you will need to purchase hosting. I HIGHLY recommend FatCow. I use FatCow and have never experienced any issues other than those that I caused myself. Even when I was first learning, and crashed my site, FatCow customer service was helpful and fixed everything. Not only did they fix what I did, they also educated me. And their customer service is US based. Which means a lot. Hosting with FatCow right now is $66 for the first year, and includes unlimited disk space, bandwidth, domain names, email addresses, and sub-domains. The regular price is only $88.
My services for moving from Blogger to WordPress:
- I will install WordPress on your host and point your domain name servers to your hosting
- I will install the theme of choice on WordPress
- I will move over existing graphics to WordPress
- I will make edits to the CSS files to match your graphics
- I will move your Google Friend Connect
- I will redirect your Feedburner feed
- I will redirect your Blogger blog to your new domain name
If you want a new design with the move I also offer a full redesign in addition to the transfer that includes:
- Custom Header
- Matching Button with grab code
- Matching Sig
- Matching sidebar titles (6)
- Edits to theme to match header design
- Installation and set up of 5 plugins (including those required for the theme)
Tags: blog help, blogger, blogging services, design services, wordpress
This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 at 8:37 am
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Couple of thoughts on this. You will only lose PR if you change URLs as well. If you owned your domain through blogger and use the same with WordPress, it shouldn’t be an issue.
Also, Google Friend Connect is pretty much pointless if you’re not using Blogger. I mean, people with regular, Non-blogger Google accounts can’t even see a list of people they follow. I’d scrap it all together.
You are absolutly right. You will only use your Google PR if you are coming from the URL to a new one. If you currently own your URL and move it you will keep your PR.
Most of my clients are mom bloggers. In this community the GFC is important to PR reps looking to advertise on their blogs. They usually want the numbers included in the media kits. For other blogs, like this one, I see no reason to keep it.
I wonder what you charge to help me move? I have a hosting package & URL, I just need to move my blog over… scared to do but I will, Just checking my options. Thanks for your time and information.
If I do move myself maybe you can help me with a new header?
Sorry, I just saw your side bar of prices- cool- they seem very reasonable- I suppose I’ll get back to you if I can get the green light?!
submit the form under a quote and I will email back and forth with you. Because everyone is scared after what happened today, I am getting lots of inquiries.
If I higher you for this service what is your time frame on getting this done? My husband can do it but also has a lot of work to do. We are really wanting this done by tonight, is that too short of a notice? We have a domain name and hosting just need the transfer done asap. thank you for your time.
The time frame kinda depends on a lot of factors. Is your domain with the same company as your hosting? If not after pointing it, the internet may take 2-48 hrs to recognize it. Then you need to have a theme picked out. And I would need to know about design. Fill out the form under request a quote and I will email you back.
I’ve heard so much about this and that it seems the best decision to move to wordpress, but all the details just boggles me and I also must come up with the $$