Moving a Blog Checklist

Getting ready to move to self-hosted WordPress? Congratulations! You’ll never look back. That said, moving a blog (whether from Blogspot or WordPress.com) can be stressful, even if you’ve hired someone to do it for you.

I have several resources on this blog about moving, but here is a handy checklist to use as a reference! You can use it for DIY movers, or use it when talking with your designer.

Preparing your old blog

1. Clean out drafts. Sometimes drafts publish during an import, so it’s a good idea to clean out ones you aren’t using, or temporarily move them to a notepad or text edit program until your site is moved.
2. Clean out categories, tags, and/or labels. Less is always more. Go through your site and get rid of ones that are unnecessary.
3. Take out any custom signature code. This mainly applies to Blogger blogs. If you have any html code that contained a signature, get rid of that. I had a blogger once who had an image in her signature and when it imported, it stuck that image in the featured image slot of every post!
4. Export comments if you are using a third party system. This applies only to Blogger blogs with Disqus, IntenseDebate, or some other third party commenting system. It’s important to note that G+ comments DON’T transfer well. If you are using G+ comments, that’s to be noted. If you are on WordPress.com, you don’t need to do anything to prepare your comments.
5. Export your blog file for safekeeping. In WordPress.com, it’s under TOOLS > EXPORT. In Blogger, it’s under SETTINGS > OTHER.
6. Take away any extra plugins or coding (if you are on Blogger).
7. In a text program or note, copy and paste all your widget codes in a document for safekeeping.
8. Create a folder on your desktop that has all your header images, profile photos, and/or text documents with your content.

Setting up a new blog

There are one of two ways you’ll be setting up your new blog. If you didn’t own a custom domain (but instead had a site like http://mydomain.wordpress.com or http://mydomain.blogspot.com), you will buy your new custom domain and begin setting up your site on it. If you do own a custom domain (and want to keep it), you’ll have to set up your new site on a temporary IP address (which will look something like this http://23.567.543.23/~usernam). Here are the things you should have done before importing.

1. Install WordPress.
2. Install a theme (I recommend Genesis or Prophoto).
3. Set up your sidebar and copy and paste all the widget codes from your text edit document into your new site.
4. Create your menu bar. If you plan on using pages from your old site, you may want to wait until the import is complete to do this. However, you can set up the look of your menu bar (fonts, colors, placement, etc).
5. Install a spam filter plugin, backup plugin, and if you are moving from WordPress.com, you’ll need a jetpack plugin to make the transition seamless for your subscribers.
6. Customize your user profile by going to USERS and clicking EDIT on your user profile. Add any and all relevant information.
7. If you’d like your Gravatar attached to your site (many people have a Gravatar profile), you’ll need to make sure the email address you’re using for your user account is the same email address you used to sign up for Gravatar.
8. Customize your permalink structure. This is super important. If you are on WordPress.com, go to your old site and look at a URL of a post. What does it look like? Does it have the year, month, day, and then the post name? Or just year and month? Whatever it looks like, you need to make sure your new blog has the same structure. If you are on Blogger, the permalink structure is almost always (http://mydomain.blogspot.com/year/month/postname.html). You’ll have to make that your permalink structure in WordPress. To change permalink structure, go to GENERAL > PERMALINKS and choose the option. If you are customizing your structure for blogger, delete the percentage sign and slash and instead add .html
9. Customize any other fonts, colors, etc. that you’d like.

Importing your old posts to your new blog

1. Go into the dashboard on your new blog.
2. Click on TOOLS > IMPORT.
3. Follow the prompts choosing Blogger or WordPress respectively.
4. Depending on the size of your blog, this may take a while. Let it run.
5. When it’s done, it’s going to ask you to assign the posts to an author (which is usually you since most people only have one user on their new account).
6. When it’s finished, look at your blog from the outside and check to see if there are any broken images or poorly formatted text.
7. If you are coming from Blogger, you’ll want to convert your labels into tags (WordPress automatically makes them categories and it’s usually way too many). To do this, click on TOOLS > AVAILABLE TOOLS, and choose the Categories to Tags converter. Follow the prompts. Leave any unchecked that you want to remain categories.

Doing the redirect from your old blog to your new blog

If you are on WordPress.com and have a domain like this: http://mydomain.wordpress.com

1. Go into the dashboard of your old blog.
2. Click on the STORE.
3. Click on the option that says MAPPING (it should be approximately $13.00 a year).
4. Follow the prompts and fill out the information.
5. Within an hour or so, anyone visiting your old site (either directly) or through a backlink, should reach the new one.

If you are on WordPress.com and have a domain like this: http://mydomain.com

You have already bought and customized a domain for your WordPress.com blog so you’ll have to unhook it so it can attach to the new one!

1. Go to STORE > MY DOMAINS.
2. Click EDIT DOMAIN.
3. Click on NAMESERVERS.
4. You’ll need to change the nameservers to reflect your hosting company. For example, if you are using hostmonster, your name servers would be NS1.HOSTMONSTER.COM and NS2.HOSTMONSTER.COM.
5. Then hit save changes.
6. At this point, you’ll need to wait at least 24 hours before you can go to the next step.
7. Proceed to the UPDATING YOUR NEW WORDPRESS instructions.

If you are on Blogger and have a domain like this: http://mydomain.blogspot.com

There are a few things you have to do.

1. Turn off the mobile site on your Blogger blog. Click on templates and hit the gear under the mobile and choose the option that says, NO- Choose desktop on mobile devices.
2. Revert your template to the classic version. Click on template, go to the bottom of the page and choose revert to classic template.
3. Go into your new site and install the plugin, Blogger 301 to WordPress Redirection.
4. Follow the instructions in this post. In summary, you want to create some code (which the plugin generates for you), then you copy the code, and place it into your old Blogger blog template. The redirect should happen immediately.

 If you are on Blogger and have a domain like this: http://mydomain.com

1. First, you must change the nameservers on that domain name. To find your nameservers, contact the company that you bought the domain name from.
2. If you don’t remember (or went through Google apps), you’ll want to read this post to help you find your account.
3. You’ll need to change the nameservers to reflect your hosting company. For example, if you are using hostmonster, your name servers would be NS1.HOSTMONSTER.COM and NS2.HOSTMONSTER.COM.
4. Then hit save changes.
5. At this point, you’ll need to wait at least 24 hours before you can go to the next step.
6. Proceed to UPDATING  YOUR NEW WORDPRESS instructions.

Updating YOUR NEW WordPress instructions

If you are reading this part of the post, you’re at the step where you’ve waited 24 hours after changing the nameservers. Once that’s complete, here’s what you do.

1. Log into your WordPress site.
2. Go to SETTINGS > GENERAL and in the Home and Site fields, type in your domain name.
3. Click Save.
4. Your site will break. Don’t panic.
5. You’ll need to clear your browser cache and log in again.
6. Once you’re back in, download and install the VELVET BLUES plugin.
7. This will help you update all those temporary URL links to your new one.
8. Go to the settings and type in your old temporary URL and then your new one.
9. Click all the boxes and hit update URLs.
10. Go into the permalink section of your blog and change the option to post-name (just for a moment – this is like hitting reset button). Click save changes. Then put it back to the structure you had (make sure it was exactly as it was before). Hit save changes again.
11. If you moved from Blogger, you’ll need to log into your old blogger account and take off the redirect in the SETTINGS > BASIC area.
12. Then, follow these instructions (only if you’re from Blogger)

• Turn off the mobile site on your Blogger blog. Click on templates and hit the gear under the mobile and choose the option that says, NO- Choose desktop on mobile devices.
• Revert your template to the classic version. Click on template, go to the bottom of the page and choose revert to classic template.
• Go into your new site and install the plugin, Blogger 301 to WordPress Redirection.
• Follow the instructions in this post. In summary, you want to create some code (which the plugin generates for you), then you copy the code, and place it into your old Blogger blog template. The redirect should happen immediately.

Post-Import Checklist

1. Once you’ve moved, click on some old backlinks to make sure they are redirecting properly. If they aren’t, a few things could be the problem.
   -It could be that your permalink structure wasn’t set up properly
   -It could be because sometimes Blogger drops the word “a” in a URL and WordPress doesn’t. If this is the case, you can edit the permalink on the post in WordPress and the backlink will work
2. If you are coming from WordPress.com, contact support (through their forum) and ask them to transfer your jetpack subscribers.
3. If you had a feedburner email subscription, log into feedburner and change the ORIGINAL feed details.
4. If you are on Bloglovin’, contact support and make sure they can update your profile.
5. If you had third party comments from Disqus or Intense Debate, you’ll need to install the plugin and then begin importing your old comments.
6. Customize your 404 page on your new blog so that anyone who clicks on a backlink that doesn’t work, will have a 404 page with an explanation, search bar, and archives.

Final tip: I have another post about moving from Blogger to WordPress. There is more explanation, so if you need further resources, check it out!