Comments on: Should I change Blog Platforms? Have Your Say

By: FERRY

FERRY — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:45:57 +0000

Thanks for sharing…. I have never tried wordpress.. I kicked started with blogger

By: ExpertQTP

ExpertQTP — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 12:54:09 +0000

I moved from Wordpress to Blogger (on my own domain) and it was an upgrade.

I am still waiting for my new pagrank.

ExpertQTP
http://quicktesthp.blogspot.com

By: Luis Rull

Luis Rull — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 08:49:53 +0000

There’s many ways of not losing a single links when you are in blogger or others and you move to WordPress. Many companies like ours can easily do it. You may see what we did with Enrique Dans (Spanish blogger)
(edans.blogspot.com to enriquedans.com)

By: Mike Panic

Mike Panic — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 15:59:12 +0000

My original reply was post #33.

Update: I spent about 5 hours last night tweaking a great WP theme from the people over at DoshDosh that is optimized for SEO and adsense and then proceeded to import the 11,005 total posts from my blogger account to WP. It didn’t take nearly as long as I had thought, I updated my RSS info at Feedburner and everything appears to be working without a hitch thus far.

I have left all the original blogger post articles on my server and probably will for sometime now, only changing the index.htm page (WP uses index.php). The change shouldn’t matter much because I have a custom 404 error page installed as well.

WP 2.2 imported all the Blogger lables I was using and everything. There is one small glitch in the system, so if you are on Blogger and looking to make the jump, you need to read this.

The WP import function will not work if you have your own domain name and are on your own FTP server. You need to login to Blogger, change the settings to point to a blogspot.com address (make one up), then save. Now you can import your posts.

I’m not looking back, only forward at this point.

By: Rob Witham

Rob Witham — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 16:13:38 +0000

I started on Blogger and then converted to WordPress on my own domain. I have a background in programming/web design so the conversion was pretty painless for me although the WP documentation is pretty straightforward. I agree with most of the others that if you are serious about blogging you will want to transition to serious software on your own domain.

As mentioned before you can use redirects to avoid URI change problems. Assuming you have a good stats program you should be able to identify which posts are even bringing you traffic. That may help you decide how much traffic is at risk.

By: James

James — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 00:15:48 +0000

I recently switched all of my sites from Movable Type to Wordpress and almost immediately saw difference not only in pagerank but in SEO and search engine traffic.

Wordpress is much friendlier and the plugins that are out there just make it a fantastic tool to use for a blogger.

Although, MT4 is in beta and is supposed to be pretty phenomenal AND open source. I don’t think I’d ever go away from Wordpress though. I’m kicking myself for not switching earlier.

By: Jen / domestika

Jen / domestika — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:52:19 +0000

Terry, I don’t know for sure about the others here but I mean WordPress the software – the blogging platform, not the hosting service.

By: Terry

Terry — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:10:28 +0000

I wanted to set up in WP but realized on WP.com I couldn’t monetize and I wasn’t quite ready to figure out the WP software and wanted to experiment with blogging to figure out exactly what I want to do to. One thing, as one of the other commentators has noted that I REALLY want to add pages to my blog and blogger doesn’t seem to have that capability. Are most people who use wordpress using the software and not the wp.com site?

By: SEO blog

SEO blog — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 16:18:04 +0000

For the people who are suggesting WP doesn’t offer enough flexibility or customization, I have to ask if we’re talking about the same WP. I mean for crying out loud, Guy Kawasaki built Truemors off WP. What more for customization could you ask for? It might not fit your skill set but there are PLENTY of people out there that will help you out and you can always hire it out for a decent price as well.

By: The Information Bank

The Information Bank — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 15:54:04 +0000

Oh my stars, I could tell you a tale about moving two of my blogs from subdomain to domain then from Movable Type to Wordpress. It was a dizzying experience. My best suggestion is to do what you can without interrupting access in the daytime of your dedicated users. Then turn on the coffee pot and pull an all nighter of data migration.

By: James

James — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 15:52:17 +0000

I have considered switching from Blogger, mainly because other people suggest it from time to time. Really though, my blog is just a hobby, so I am pretty happy with the Blogger platform. It is very easy to use, which is great because I only have a couple hours a week to devote to the blog. To me, that ease of use offsets any flexibility that I lose by using the platform. Maybe hosting the blogger blog on my own domain will make sense at some point, but for now I am happy with the current setup.

By: JHS

JHS — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 14:02:10 +0000

I have been on Blogger for more than two years, but have my own domain name. I’ve been toying with the idea of switching to Wordpress for some time, the primary reasons being 1) the ability to have multiple pages easily (which I haven’t figured out on Blogger so if anybody can point me to an easy explanation, please e-mail me at jhsesq@comcast.net) and 2) the timestamp function which lets you draft posts and specify a time in the future when they will publish. I do that with my Write Stuff columns and sure wish Blogger had that feature because it would make my life a lot easier. With Blogger, you can draft in advance but you have to actually hit “Publish” and that is a big pain in the backside. The only reason why I haven’t switched so far is the fact that I am not comfortable enough with Wordpress, but I plan to rectify that when I’m on vacation in 3 weeks by reading about it. If anyone can recommend a great book on Wordpress, please e-mail that info., too. Thanks!

By: vijay

vijay — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 12:51:03 +0000

I am in the process of switch from Blogger to WP.. I have not completed the switch yet.. Imported the posts now and optimizing the theme on http://softwaretestinghelp.com
I optimized my current blogger theme quite well and still not convinced for the switch!

By: Richard

Richard — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 07:58:45 +0000

Since asking this question to Darren a few weeks ago. I set up a new wordpress site for blogging and SEO related topics http://www.netwriting.co.uk/

The reason was both for getting better blog software, but also to concentrate on a certain niche. (Rather than try to have several topics on the same blog)

The blog featured by Darren I just use for entertainment.
I like wordpress so much I am going to convert my several blogger blogs into wordpress. If you publish by FTP on your own site, you cannot take advantage of the new blogger features.

It’s a bit of work now, but I’ll regret it if I don’t get the best blog software now.

Thanks Darren for advice of concentrating on niches.

By: Jaganath

Jaganath — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 03:42:54 +0000

I was originally blogging at Blogger. Then I switched to Wordpress.com, which happily imported all my blogger posts. I added a script to my blogger template to redirect only if somebody types the URL directly in the browser. This way, I kept all the incoming links to my old blog intact.
After switching to wordpress, I noticed a huge jump in traffic. I think it is mainly because of the tags and tag surfer feature in Wordpress.com. Surprisingly, Google seems to like Wordpress more than Blogger.

Now I host my blog on my own domain. I switched to Drupal. While Drupal may not be as much user friendly as Wordpress, it is highly customizable and very powerful. I am not looking back.

By: Brad

Brad — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 03:15:56 +0000

I started off using Blogger, which is always a good platform, especially for beginning bloggers. Then, once I realized I was into blogging for the long haul, I switched to Typepad because it offered more flexibility and I now own my domain name – which goes a really long way in adding credibility to my blog.

But I’m still very much a “beginner” so I’m concentrating on writing quality posts that will benefit my readers!

By: Darnell Clayton

Darnell Clayton — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 03:03:53 +0000

I switched from my Blogger account to my “Custom Your Domain” Blogger account and have not looked back since.

I personally feel WP is over rated (and lacking in “user friendly customization”) while Blogger gives you 100% whether you host with them or on your own server.

I have tried WordPress, Xanga, Vox, etc. and have dipped my toe in self hosting. Since I prefer writing than mucking in too much web coding (although it can be fun sometimes) I decided to stay with Blogger (on their custom domain platform) and let Google do the hosting.

By: redwall_hp

redwall_hp — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 02:37:30 +0000

I once switched from Blogger to Wordpress. I never went back. WP is so much better.

By: Angela

Angela — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 01:29:23 +0000

I faced limitations on my primary writing blog, it’s on Typepad, and is almost three years old. I didn’t want to move it, because it’s well established, and because I like Typepad despite the limitations.

My challenge was getting targeted traffic to specific categories of the big blog – lots of pages were supplemental, and I couldn’t see any way of getting enough backlinks to the pages. (The new Pages facility on Typepad makes this easier.)

So instead of moving the entire blog to WordPress, I decided to hive off new blogs from that one, all on WordPress on their own domains. Essentially I took the biggest categories of the primary blog, and started new blogs with them. I haven’t moved any content, just created new content.

It’s working really well, because the traffic I get to the new blogs is highly targeted. All the little blogs are newish, but are pulling their weight.

This hiving-off strategy might not work for you, if you have limited time to devote to blogging, but it’s working for me.

Cheers

Angela

By: Jen / domestika

Jen / domestika — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 01:05:17 +0000

I’m reading a preponderence of votes in favour of Wordpress on self-hosted domain, here, it seems. Already a huge fan of WP from my other blogs, so this discussion has pretty much convinced me to make the leap with this last blogspot blog. A lot of great tips for making the switch without too big a headache or losing too much traffic, too… Much appreciated, this wisdom of wider experience!