If you are thinking about migrating from blogger to wordpress, then congratulations on the best decision you have made as a blogger.
Though Blogger is a perfect platform to start, it isn’t the greatest one to continue with as you grow. However, if you have some money, it’s always better to start with WordPress since Blogger doesn’t provide the same level of functionality and customization.
In this blog post, I will teach you how to migrate from Blogger to WordPress without losing any of your content. And also the basics of what WordPress is, and why it is a better platform than Blogger for your blog needs.
Why WordPress is better than blogger?
WordPress is the most preferred platform for blog making even when compared to other platforms like Blogger or Tumblr. You can consider it to be a perfect blend of blog and CMS (Content Management System) in terms of development, performance, scalability, SEO friendliness, and many more.
You might think why not choose something which is free?
Blogger might be free but highly restricted. Moreover, WordPress is also technically free but you have to pay for hosting and domain. I’m talking about WordPress.org and not WordPress.com.
Confused? Don’t be.
WordPress has two versions. One is free (self-hosted) and the other is paid (hosted by WordPress). While both are the same, there is still some difference between them. This is really off-topic to this blog post, so check out the article by WP beginner to better understand the difference between WordPress.com vs WordPress.org.
There are multiple benefits that you get with WordPress which is not with blogger. For instance, the design and customization options for a WordPress website are far better than any other platform. In addition to this, you can use the drag and drop functions as well as a number of plugins which make it really easy for anyone to create a website.
Another benefit is the fact that you can choose from thousands of themes and templates and use them as per your requirement. At the same time, there are tons of plugins that can help you build a website without writing a single line of code.
On the other side, Blogger is also user-friendly and customizable similar to WordPress, so you may do it without knowing a single line of code. However, these features are severely restricted when compared to WordPress.
You heard me right, very very limited.
WordPress is really easy to maintain, edit and update. As a blogger, you will be able to do all these things on your own without having to hire any developer or external expert. However, when starting with WordPress, there are a few things that you must follow to maintain a rich and healthy site.
How to migrate from Blogger to WordPress?
Most people think that migrating from blogger to WordPress is a difficult task, but it’s really not. There are many plugins available that will let you transfer your entire data to WordPress securely and easily. Follow the steps below to migrate your entire blog from Blogger to WordPress in minutes but however, but there are a few things that you must be aware of before starting the migration.
- Migration will migrate everything from your Blogger site to WordPress including posts, pages, comments, and images.
- Once the migration is complete, you have to still keep your Blogger site running to redirect the visitors.
- Sometimes, the migration process will fail to import pictures and I have outlined the issue in this post to fix it.
- As soon as your WordPress site is completed, you unlock a ton of customization options and features. Make sure to read our tutorial on how to start a blog which will guide you from scratch to run a successful WordPress blog.
Step 1. Buy a good host and domain name
The first thing you must do is to purchase a good host. Hosting is a place where your website is stored. So, you need to choose a good hosting company that has servers that are fast and reliable.
I personally recommend using Hostgator for your WordPress website. It’s pretty cheap and offers reliable support.
A domain name is the name of your site, for example, blogginer.com. Most of the hosting companies including Hostgator offer a 1-year free domain with their hosting plans. So while purchasing the host, you will get a domain name with it.
Step 2. Install WordPress
Now you have successfully bought the hosting and the next thing you have to do is to install WordPress in it. With just a few clicks, you can install WordPress on Hostgator.
- Go to the Cpanel on your Hostgator dashboard. Cpanel can be found under your hosting packages.
- In the software section, click WordPress manager by Softaculous. This will allow you to install WordPress on your hosting account.
- Enter the site name, username, and other important credentials. Make sure to leave the PHP version as it is. Finally, click quick install.
- So now WordPress will be installed. You can visit your WordPress dashboard from the link given on your Cpanel account or by just simply adding /wp-login at the end of your site’s URL. For example, examplesite.com/wp-login.
- Enter the credentials and you will be taken to the WordPress dashboard.
After you’ve installed WordPress, you’ll need to install a good and fast theme. There are tons of themes to choose from but only plenty of them offers blazing-fast speed. You can go with Blocksy, GeneratePress, or Astra. These themes are lightweight which results in faster page load times.
Installing the theme is pretty simple. Go to appearance -> themes and click add new. Search for the theme you would like to use and install it.
Step 3. Migrate your site from Blogger to WordPress
The migration process is really simple and only takes a few minutes to do. Just follow the steps below to export and import your site safely and securely.
Export your site from Blogger
Blogger has the option to export data from the site. The export includes posts, pages, images, and comments. You have to export them from the blogger and then import them to the WordPress site.
- On your Blogger dashboard, go to settings and click backup content. This option can be found under the manage blog section. You got to scroll down a bit to find it.
- Click download to begin downloading your content.
Import your site to WordPress
- On your WordPress dashboard, go to Tools -> Import and you will see a bunch of options to import your data. Since we are going to import from Blogger, click install now under Blogger.
- It will take a few seconds to install the importer. Once the installation has been completed, the install now option will be turned to run importer.
- Click the importer and browse the file
- Finally, click Upload file and import
- Now WordPress will ask you to assign the author for the posts. You can either create a new one or assign it to an existing one. Do this as per your choice. For better SEO, make sure to keep the author name the same on WordPress as on Blogger.
- Click Submit.
Now all your posts, pages, comments, and images will be imported to your WordPress site.
Step 4. Set up URLs
The WordPress URLs of your blog posts will look different than Blogger. As a result, you’ll lose traffic and have a negative impact on SEO. To fix this, you have to change the permalinks on WordPress to match those used on Blogger.
- Go to settings and click permalinks from your WordPress dashboard.
- Select custom structure and enter the following
/%year%/%monthnum%/%postname%.html - Finally, save the changes.
Step 5. Implement redirects from Blogger to WordPress
Permalinks were successfully updated to match with Blogger. Now it’s time to set up redirects that send all the Blogger’s traffic to WordPress.
- Install and activate Blogger To WordPress plugin. This can be done by going to plugins -> add new. In the search field, enter the plugin name. Click install and then click activate.
- Once activated, head over to the tools and go to Blogger To WordPress. Click start configuration.
- Now, the plugin will list your blogger site. Click get code to generate a bunch of code that has to be copied to your blogger site to implement the redirection.
- Go to your Blogger dashboard and click Theme. Under My Theme, click the down arrow next to the customize options. Click edit HTML to open the theme editor but before that make sure to take a backup of it.
- Delete everything on the editor and paste the code generated by the plugin.
- Finally, save the changes.
Redirects must be implemented and operational at the moment, but they only apply to desktop visitors. For mobile visits, you have to change a simple setting.
Go to the mobile settings under the same down arrow. Select the desktop and save the changes.
If the Image failed to import, here’s how to fix it.
While importing, images might fail to import at some point. Instead of serving images from your WordPress directory, the image will be pulled directly from your Blogger site. This will happen occasionally and is easy to fix.
Install and activate the Auto Upload Images plugin. Upon activation, the plugin will save any external images to your server.
You can edit the settings to modify the base URL, image name format, and more if you like.
Conclusion
If you are looking for a tutorial on how to migrate from Blogger to WordPress, this is it. We hope that the steps we’ve outlined will help make your website migration as easy as possible and allow you to enjoy blogging in WordPress! Did you find this tutorial helpful? Let me know below by leaving a comment so we can continue providing great content like this one!
Affiliate Discloser: This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase anything using these links, I will get a commission for the referral at no extra cost to you. Moreover, I only recommend things that I have personally used and always offer my honest opinion.
Featured Image by freepik
