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" The decision to move from Blogger to WordPress is a bit like moving from an apartment to a house. You don't just decide today and move in tomorrow. This article series looks at the short and long-term planning it takes for a successful move." - part one of series
Now that you have a custom domain name, let's look at the next step in the series. You need to checkout WordPress for yourself and not just rely on what you read. As with moving to a new house, you want to get the feel of what it would be like living there -- don't you? So you go to an open house, look at detailed photos and measurements. You even visualize your furniture in the new house. You start to dream about what you can do with the extra space and the backyard!
How can I experience WP before I migrate?
If you followed the first step in the series, you bought a custom name and use it on Blogger until you decide to move to WP. So how can you also use that name for any sort of self-hosted WP test? Well you can't point your name away from Blogspot until the actual migration move. But fear-not, there are ways around this.
Until now the best you could do is sign up for a free WP account just to learn the dashboard and test drive a few free themes. In that test environment, there are no ads, no plugins and no way to (easily) make free WP look like your current blog. But you can learn a great deal. So setup a free account at WordPress.com. I have one that I use to help readers with wp.com grab button code, called ubloghere.wordpress.com --- take a look. The default theme is TwentyTen, on both free and self-hosted WP! You can gain experience in setting menu options and writing posts, etc.
Since that's only a small taste of the power of a self-hosted WP blog, we're offering temporary use of our web hosting space (separate subdomains) so you can install and test-drive self-hosted WP! Using your 'private' dashboard, you can add other themes and plugins to see how your posts might look. A real test-drive!
Get your own self-hosted test blog
What will the test dashboard have?
1. Self-hosted space with basic WP already installed.
We will set up WP and provide you with Admin access. You'll start with the default plugins and the default WP theme, TwentyTen.
- For self-hosted you need to have a domain name point to the web hosting space. Since your name may already be linked to Blogger (as suggested in step 1 of this series) you'll get a sub-domain (see - Wikipedia ). The blog name will be something like AllisonM.bloggingwithsuccess.net.
2. An informal help forum for all winners.
- We will enroll you in our development forum with a few others so you can learn from each other. There you can also ask basic questions about WP.
What are the terms?
- Free use for 3 weeks, giving plenty of time to make a decision or develop plans further. You also know more about what questions to ask!
- You must agree to use for testing only, and have no more than a a couple of dozen posts and pages. The test blog must be marked as not indexed by search engines.
- You are responsible for learning WP by doing it yourself, using the Codex help documentation or reading our tutorial and videos.
- You blog about your test drive experience in a guest post here on BWS or on your own blog.
How do I sign up?
Subscribe to BWS tips
by email delivery.
Leave a comment below this post, indicating your interest and why.
Please state when you subscribed.
As you can imagine, we have to limit the number of test rides at any one time. So we'll select two drivers by August 30, notify you and start the test drive setup for September 1, 2010! Selection will be based on your comment. We will put others on the 'waiting list.' Please spread the word to your Blogger friends who might be interested!
UPDATE: This offer is closed at the moment --- no one signed up as of 9/1/2010. You may still leave your comments or questions in case we reactivate...
photo by Ramon, letmestayforaday.com
Happy Driving!
If you've used the free WP.com to test your blogger blog, then leave a comment on your experience! Any questions are welcomed as always!
This article is part of the series Preparing to Move from Blogger to WordPress:
Part 1, Get a Custom Domain Name. It's never too late to do this while still on blogspot.
Part 2, Test Drive WP. Use free WP to experience your future blog neighborhood.
Part 3, Bring Your Readers. Have Blogger forward old url hits to WP blog.
Part 4, Keep Search Engine Traffic. It's all about avoiding 'page not found' errors!
Addendum: Using the Blogger to WordPress Redirection plugin.
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{ 9 comments }
I plan to move from blogger to wordpress but when it comes to the try out on wordpress.com, i want to use a premium theme so that won't work.
Hi Peter,
You're right, the free WP environment does not allow you to upload premium themes. However you can learn a lot about how WP operates.
The advantage of our test-drive offer was to allow access to self-hosted WP where themes could be uploaded. Some Premium Themes, like Woo Themes, have a playground where you can install and workout the theme options they provide. I just installed one for a client — impressive feature!
I do like your Blogger theme — very professional.
I moved from Blogger to Wordpress some 6 months ago. I really loved that change
Hi Kharim,
I was sort of dragged into WP by my teammate! But I now can't see how we did without it! Would you have signed up for a test drive if one were available?
How long did it take you to really learn what WP is all about?
Did you start with a free theme or go directly to Thesis?
Thanks for your input. Be sure to use our commentluv box to show your most recent post!!!
Thanks for sharing this SBA. I am sure it will help everyone…
Wecome and thanks for the encouragement.
Moving your blog from Blogger to Wordpress isn't easy, especially if you're changing the theme to fit Wordpress, as you'll have to tweak your css file and h1 tags. At least, that's what I did with my blog Cash Campfire. It took several months until I was truly happy with the theme. I also made sure each post validated on W3C, which took up most of my time.
Great post on moving a blog from Blogger to Wordpress! I would recommend the move for everyone who wants to create a professional blog that they have more control over.
Hi Christina,
I agree it takes longer when you have a theme 'look' that you want to retain. I don't know what you had before but the current theme is 'elegant!' I used it for a client and added a custom widgetized footer. I like your homepage setup, the header fits nicely. I find that Elegant themes force you to use code (often provided by the support staff) but you learn quite a bit from what others do in the forum. Boy, you're good about the W3C checking! It's not an important site ranking factor but it never hurts to be ready!
Thanks for joining the discussion.
Thanks! I'm glad you like the theme. I've always enjoyed the themes on the Elegant Themes. They provide some pretty good ones, and I like tweaking them to better fit my blog. I agree – I've definitely learned a great deal about code since adding themes to my blog.
Validating with W3C took a lot of work initially, but now it only takes a few seconds after each new published post, since I've already corrected a majority of the problems and most new posts validate successfully. I just figured that keeping the code clean was just good to do, even if I may not need to do so.
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