How NOT to Move to WordPress

After my little debacle in my migration to self-hosted WordPress, I thought it might be a good idea to tell you where I went wrong – so you don’t make the same mistake.

First of all, let me tell you why I moved away from Blogger. It was a design thing. I’m a blog designer. Obviously. And I felt my business was being limited by sticking only with Blogspot design. Other than that, I puffy heart Blogger. It’s my preferred format to blog on. And sure, they’ve had some highly-publicized glitches as of late, but they’ve also made some awesome leaps forward as well. Their dashboard is so user-friendly that a caveman could blog with it. Unlike WordPress’, which is as unorganized as they come – my own opinion, shared by many.

Blogger now features a mobile version of your blog (have you turned on your’s yet? – taps foot impatiently), super-easy design customization, extended custom font options, favicon uploading … I could go on and on … and on. The only thing I think they need to work on in a jiffy (and perhaps they already are) is to update their commenting system.

But, at the end of the day, Blogger owns your blog and all your content. Which bothers some. And that’s why they move over to self-hosted WordPress. Let me clarify what I’m typing about.

WordPress {dot} ORG NOT {dot} COM

WordPress{dot)com is very bad. Un-user-friendly (is that a word?) to the HIGHEST degree. If you don’t believe me, then perhaps you could read this chart. Cuz HowJoyful Studio explains it much better. (Sorry, she deleted her page). If you want a custom blog without the hassles of hosting it yourself, Blogger is the best choice to make. Hands down. But if you want to start controlling your own content, then WordPress{dot}ORG is your next step. But be prepared to learn letters like FTP & SQL and words like nameserver and domain registrar. Cuz your blog becomes YOUR BLOG – you own it, and if you break it, you fix it – all by yourself. And unlike Blogger, which comes with a built-in security guard (figuratively, of course – can you visualize their red sirens?) that prevents you from placing  a broken code in your HTML, WordPress will allow you to submit a wrong code and then, well, your website goes down. And perhaps you can pay someone to help fix it, but it becomes expensive, so it’s easiest (read: cheapest) to learn the basics yourself.

Now, if these things don’t scare you and you’ve already decided to make the move to self-hosted WordPress, let’s continue on with the point of my post: How NOT to Move to WordPress – in other words, where I went wrong.

The first thing you need to do when you decide to move is buy your own domain name. Blogger makes it uber-easy in their dashboard to do this. Which is what I should have done. But, alas, I listened to my husband and bought my domain name via GoDaddy and switched it over. Which wasn’t a big deal. HOWEVER, when I decided to move this site over to WordPress, I (read: my husband) thought it would be easiest to purchase my hosting through GoDaddy as well – you know, cuz I already had a working relationship with them.

BIG MISTAKE!!!

The mistake wasn’t that I chose GoDaddy as my hosting provider – it’s that they provided BOTH my domain name AND my hosting. Which leads to HUGE problems when you’re transferring a blog over. It’s not a big deal if it’s a brand new blog, but it is if it’s an existing blog. Also, it’s not a big deal when you don’t care about your design and you’re happy with installing WordPress’ free default template, Twenty-Ten. BUT, if you want a custom look on your blog from day numero uno, listen to what I’m telling you:

DON’T BUY YOUR DOMAIN NAME AND YOUR HOSTING FROM THE  SAME COMPANY!!!!!

Capisce? (Yes, that’s the right way to spell that word – I googled it ;p)

Yes, I know that when you buy a hosting package, it already comes with a free domain name included. I KNOW THAT! However, your domain name needs to be attached to your blogger blog LONG BEFORE you switch to WordPress. So, save yourselves a many sleepless night stressing over your blog transfer and

•  Buy your domain name via Blogger and link it to your blog.
•  Then buy your hosting package through your provider of choice.
•  Do it in that order.

And if you don’t, then I can’t do your blog design/transfer (cuz, yes, I will be offering those services in the near future). No offense. It’s just that I will NEVER live through this nightmare again and all the money in the world wouldn’t change my mind. Maybe another designer would help you, but not me. And I say that in the nicest way possible. I know that people make mistakes – I’ve made them too. But the stress isn’t worth it for me personally.

I totally deserve a spa day now. I’ve earned it!

Coming soon: WordPress themes – which one should you buy…