Like I said a few weeks back, I’m making a switch from Blogger to WordPress. I’ve been busy packing things up and moving things around. You’ve may noticed a few of small things that is different here at the site already. Now, it won’t me a major, groundbreaking changes here. But the subtle changes can make a difference and those changes will reflect the new look and spirit of the new website.
Specifically, I’m finding that integration of plugins and the choices are vast. I was able to test out a few things that I simply can’t do in a productive and intuitive way. You have to jump some hurdles to get some hings done in Blogger. It’s not to say you don’t ever need to do that in WordPress. Depends on what you’re doing and what you’re using. However, the tools available in WordPress are more seamless in their implementation and integration. What that means is that it makes my job easier. Whatever makes my job easier is a good thing.
I feel I should mention that I’m not moving from one free platform to another. I’m moving from a free platform to one that’s self-hosted at WordPress.org. All those little quirks and perks come with a little bit of a price tag. Cost of doing business. That’s O.K. I don’t mind investing in this. Plus, it’s inexpensive.
Just to give you an idea of some actual numbers, self-hosting my site costs me $26.85 every quarter with Maiahost. That ends up being $8.95 a month. I know people who pay more for an online video game (me being one of them). Less than $10.00 a month is pretty good. There are cheaper options out there but in order to get the deep discount price, you have to sign up for one to three years and pay up front which ends up costing you over $80-$140 out the box. I wouldn’t go that route until you’re comfortable with your platform and you’re making a decent income from you’re writing. Don’t put the cart before the horse deal.
If you’re not savvy when it comes to website coding and maintenance, then you have two options really. You can start learning little by little so you can maintain your site or you can have someone do it for you. One is more expensive than the other. You can hazard a guess which is more expensive.
To be honest, maintaining your site is much simpler than you think if you know what you’re doing and doesn’t take a whole lot of time. Small, simple hings go a long way. Depends on your situation and what kind of time you have. It’s a great way to take a break from writing and do something productive. But if you don’t want to be bothered with all of that and it sounds to daunting, stay with Blogger. If you’re serious though, learn WordPress. It’s much easier than you think.
I’ll let you know when the move is complete. Now, time to get back to doing some more productive work.
Hi Easton, What features do you like more with WordPress than with Blogger? How do you go about migrating everything from one to the other without losing links? Thanks!
Hi Jill.
There are quite a few things I like about WordPress than with Blogger. The biggest is the ease of management. Blogger’s is very basic and many time cumbersome. I have to go into the code to change things on a regular basis instead of having a GUI that makes that easier. WordPress has much in the way of friendly user interfaces that make management better as well as more in terms of customization options.
An example of this on my site is the navigation headings. In WordPress you have a user friendly interface that allows you to change it with some drag and drop options. In Blogger, I have to go into the code, find the line I want, and change it manually. I’ve done it so much that it’s relatively easy but for someone who doesn’t like dealing with all that, it can turn them off. Not everyone is a geek like me and wants to learn code. They just want a decent looking website.
Again, this is for a self-hosted WordPress site, not the free version.
As far as the migration, it has been relatively painless. There’s a list of blog importers that WordPress has and at the top is Blogger. However, it does not import permalink formats and you have to set up redirection so you don’t lose link juice you’ve built up on Google. You also may have to import images that you uploaded to Blogger that the importer didn’t catch. Depending on your blog structure, you may have to change some code to make it look like you want. The easier the structure, the easier the import. It’s not overly difficult and there are guides online to walk you through it. If you’re changing the whole look with a new template, it may eve be easier. Just depends. But once you have it set up, you can’t beat the amount of control you’ll have over the site and the ease at which you can do things.