After much deliberation I decided to make the move!
Moving a blog from Blogger to WordPress is kind of like moving house… it always seems to take longer than you think and there’s always more to do than you think.
I can’t say that I’ve been smiling like that the whole time LOL
So far this weekend instead of sewing I’ve been wearing my Computer Tech / Web Developer / Web Designer hat lol… nothing like being a independent woman trying to be and do everything my self. Sometimes I think I must be a little crazy but hey it’s all good fun and it’s a learning experience and at least I can manage my own website and not have to rely on others to do it for me or have to wait for the changes I want.
Yeh my websites not perfect but hey is anyone ever totally happy with what they’ve got. Like most of use we always would like to change something about something… if it’s not our website, it’s our body, or our hair, or our face, or our complexion, or ??… well the list goes on and on and I’m sure you know what I’m talking about too.
I was thrilled that I found a way to import all the blog posts I’d made so far and thankfully there weren’t that many as I only started the blog over the Christmas break. I managed to not only import the blog posts but most importantly the wonderful comments so many of you have left for me… comments really are special aren’t they?
To me comments seem to bring a blog to life… kind of like blog fertilizer being sprinkled around to help a blog flourish lol
The more comments you read on your blog the more inspired you are to blog. The other thing I love about people leaving comments is I can’t help myself but click on their link to see what they’ve been blogging about too. Maybe that’s just me but I love seeing what other people are sharing and if time permits not only do I like to visit but I also like to leave a comment… nothing like sprinkling a little bit of comment luv around.
Anyway… back to this chore of resetting up my blog.
Here’s what I’ve done so far:
- Exported Blogger files
- Converted Blogger files so as WordPress could read them. Tried the auto import plugin thing but Nah… didn’t want to work for me so found a way around it after doing a Google search… geez I love Google!
- Imported converted blogger files (it imported pic but only with links to the old site so…
- Found a plugin that automatically downloaded and uploaded all the images that were on my old blog
- Went into each blog post and had to check the images for sizes and adjust a few to suit the current layout I have on this site.
- Now… this has been my biggest time suck… finding a plugin that’s similar to Blogger’s Blog Roll as I can’t live without this feature… I’m addicted to it. It’s so super quick and easy to keep up to date with all the wonderful sewing blog I like to visit. I’ve tested and tried so darn many of the things… and still actually working on it but I’ve almost got this baby cracked or hacked either way I’m getting the latest posts coming up as you can see in my sidebar. Not yet exactly how I want them to look but soooo close 🙂
- Added Categories and Tags – not finished yet
- Sourced, activated and set up various Plugins (about 20 of the little suckers I think – not finished yet and some I’ll probably remove as time goes by)
- Changed Theme – still not right but it will do for now
- Oh and of course I wrote this blog post in between… hahahaha
Still so much to do but the site is up and it’s workable and I can live with it for now
I still need to add the rest of the links to my blogroll that I like to follow. I’ve got quite a few in there already but still a lot more to go… but like they say “Rome wasn’t built in a day” 🙂
There’s a new header to make, some fiddling with the theme colours and fonts but hey… this site doesn’t have to be perfect and I now it never will so I say leave it be for now as it’s not going anywhere.
Now it’s time to enjoy some fun time for the rest of the weekend!
I’m thinking it’s time to see what some of my sewing friends have been up to and will use my Blog Roll… probably add a few more in there as I go as well. Then it’s onto some sewing fun…. and I think it will be a great way to turn of my techie brain for awhile so it can recharge for the next session of playing computer tech/web designer LOL
Bye for now from Chris… “the wannabe tech geek”… I couldn’t help myself but put that one in as this computer techie stuff drives me a little crazy!
Congratulations! I know how hard it can be
Oh it sure is but at least the hardest part is now done and thank you for joining me here as well 🙂
Well done! (You’ve even inspired me to think about starting a blog myself).
I’m looking forward to seeing your next make. I love Sewaholic patterns.
Do it Fiona… even if it’s only for you as it’s a great way to keep track of what you make and the progress you are making along the way. I started my blog really for myself and it seems to be blossoming as I’m going along. Be sure to let me know when you do and I’ll come and drop by and say hello too 🙂 The Hollyburn skirt is the first of the Sewaholic patterns I’m about to try and really looking forward to it. I’ll be sure to share my next make… I’ve almost finished a skirt and hopefully will get it finished this week… shame work gets in the way… but it pays my sewing projects so can’t complain about that 🙂
Good for you although I can’t ever imagine being bothered to move mine. Also, I nominated you for the Liebster Award http://tigergirladventures.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/the-liebster-award.html
Oh WOW thank you… what a wonderful surprise… thank you so much for the award!
Moving my blog over sure did take a bit of work to do and if I had of had my blog going for a long time I probably wouldn’t have bothered but seeing as thought I only started it at Xmas and I already had my own domain I thought if I was going to make the move nows the time to do it. Your blog’s great and you’ve got so much content on there and a great little community spirit and I say if it’s working for you which obviously it is than I’d stay put too 🙂
Just letting you know that I have awarded your blog the Liebster Award. You can check it out on my blog.
Oh BeaJay… you are such a gem! Thank you sooooo much 🙂
Hi CHris.
Thank you for listing everything you did to move from blogger to wordpress. I’m seriously thinking of making the change but haven’t had the head space to attempt it.
Cheers.
Velosewer
You’re welcome and please feel free to let me know if you have any questions or would like to know anything else that I’ve done so far as I’m more than happy to share 🙂
I’ll bet you’re a cute purple steel toed shoe worker too. I can see from your blog and sewing projects, that after work you are quite a fashionable lady!
Hahaha I should take a pic in my uniform. I’d have to cover up my company’s logo due to companies policies. I sure do look a little different when I go to work and the uniform is not very flattering LOL
Ok, it seems that the above section is for facebook commenting. For some reason, this wordpress account is different than the other ones I follow. Normally when you are logged into your WP account, you automatically generate a comment thru your account and also there is a ‘follow’ button you can click on to follow that person’s blog. So, neither of those things is working here. But, anyway, shall still follow your blog here! 🙂 (And, I know when I set up my WP account, it took a LOT of logical kind of thinking to figure stuff out….loooooong time running).
LOL… I’m one of your “Likers” on FB too… and don’t worry I’m not a stalker LOL. It is weird about the WP thing and that’s happened to me on some other WP sites as well. Mmmm might have to do a little investigating. I’ve still got more to do on this site and I’ve decided to give the Thesis theme a try… I’ve had it for quite some time but have never taken the time to learn how to use and make the most of it. I’m sure I’ll pick it up over time. I’m just thinking… there’s probably a Follow plugin I can find or something I haven’t configured properly yet LOL
Don’t worry, one can never have too many “likers” or “like” others too much 🙂 Yes, maybe for some themes, it is a separate ‘follow’ plug-in that you have to add. For mine, it just came up automatically when I started the blog, so not sure how to do it.
Good news… I finally found a plugin that does the trick. It seems as though if you set up a WP site using WP.com you automatically get all those things but if you sign up for the WP.org (self hosted) you miss out… but the JetPack plugin I found delivers all the options ( http://jetpack.me/about/ ) … so now there’s the option available to receive follow-up comments and/or notifications of new posts via email. Slowly getting things all set up… time now for a little sewing fun 🙂
Ohh, you are clever! That stuff is way beyond me!
I just hope this comment shows up, I have terrible trouble with leaving comments on WordPress blogs;they just seem to disappear into thin air. Apparently they go straight into people’s trash…. This will be a test :S
I found your comment and it had been picked up as spam… and we both know you are not a spammer that’s for sure! I too had that issue when I was leaving comments on WordPress blogs… I even tested it and commente on my blog and it happened here too so I did a little googling and someone had suggesting sending an email to https://akismet.com/contact/ to let them know and they fixed it for me within a couple of days and I haven’t had a problem since then. So it’s well worth spending a minute or two to contact them and let them know and they’ll fix it for you like they did for me. On their contact page you’ll see an option to select “I think Akismet is catching my comments by mistake”… select that one and make a comment about it in the box if you like (I did)… and thankfully I no longer have that issue and can comment freely again 🙂
Wow, I loved this post. I just found your blog and I love it. I recently did the same thing (moved from Blogger to WordPress). You’ve done a great job. I haven’t pulled over the posts from my old blogs & I actually combined a sewing blog & my papercrafting blog. I kinda just started new because of the directions I want to take things I guess. Anyway, I enjoy your blog & will be back again & again.
It’s a big task to undertake and to combine the two would be a much bigger task… lucky I didn’t have a lot of posts to move over and if I did I probably would have started from new again too. One thing I’ve found is Blogger is a great platform for those who like to keep things super simple. WordPress takes a little more work on our part but I have to say I don’t regret the move… I do miss my Blogger Blog Roll though. I’ve found a couple of WordPress Plugins but they just don’t seem to be quite the same and not as effective. I’m sure I’ll discover one that works just how I’d like it to eventually LOL
Chris,
I agree, it’s a lot of work but I’m also glad I did the switch. It takes a bit of getting used to though. I just wanted to tell you that I have the blog roll on my site for my favorite blogs. You can use the “links” function in the widgets. I think it’s available across the board, I hope it’s not just my template. Good luck. I’m sure you’ll get it figured out.
I’ve tested out the “Links” widget and a few others the only thing I wished they did was put the lates posts at the top of the list so we can keep up to date with the latest posts. I’ve tried one widget but it doesn’t seem to work very effectively at it as the dates of the posts shared are still out of order. And yes I’m sure I’ll find one that will do it how I like LOL
Hi Chris. I remember wondering if anyone would read my blog or if I was merely talking to myself when I was writing. I’ve found that consistency—even with large gaps between blog entries—seems to be the key. My blog visitors increase a lot every few months. I put the visitor counter on my blog. This counter gives me valuable information, like where each visitor saw my blog.
My visitors increased a lot after moving from Blogger. I was pretty impressed at how easy it was to upload or transfer my blog from Blogger to WordPress. I too enjoy the techie stuff, but I’m not immune to having the need to bang my head against the wall when I come across a big blunder that surely is not mine.
Can so relate 🙂 Sometimes I still bang my head on that wall LOL. But I’m so glad I have my own site on WordPress as I can modify and change things around (after a bit of head banging LOL) the way I like.
Ever since I turned my focus from sewing mainly for myself to sewing for my dolls my readers and comments have dropped quite a lot as no where near as many people sew or are as interested in sewing for dolls. I honestly don’t mind though as sewing for dolls is where my heart is and what I enjoy sewing the most.
I do find that when I do a blog post I get a pretty a much higher spike in view on my blog than other times. Sometimes I have quite a few things I want to share on my blog and other times not so much… or I’m just too busy sewing and drafting patterns that I just find there’s not enough hours in the day to focus on doing everything. So my blog writing tends to fall by the wayside.
I’ve got plans to share more blog posts over the next few months and most of those will be sewing and particularly sewing for dolls which I’m looking forward to sharing 🙂