SHHHH....
I AM SO EXCITED!Wordpress is on the way.
I love blogger don't get me wrong and I'll still be thrilled to help anyone out with their blogspot issues.
But.
I'm dying to try out something new... see if I'm missing anything on the wordpress side of the fence. SEO plugins, A NORMAL comment section, A WHOLE new blog look....
Reminds me of my camera. I pushed my little point and shoot TO THE LIMIT. I was SO ready for a Digital SLR.
It's time for a NIKON kind of blog I tell ya.
And since this month is my 2 year Bloggavurshury..... !
MY blogspot-switch-to-wordpress is brought to you with the help of some friends of mine..
@dotatdabbled
{All the artwork and the coding and adjustments of my free theme: Vigilance}
@telling_dad
{Helped me upload the database and the Wordpress.org files}
@scrappinmichele
{Helped me upload the theme initially}
@theworkingmom
{Jen does amazing work, and has answered a lot of questions and says she will help me on my Wordpress journey... I intend to keep picking the Wordpress knowledge out of her brain in fact...}
It's not impossible. But sheesh, it's taken me a long time WITH all this help.
Really quick... What you are going to need to do get your own Wordpress Switch.
- Step 1: Purchase your own URL. (I used GoDaddy.com about $10/year)
- Step 2: Find hosting. Cost is usually from $5-10/month (Note: make sure it comes with database support. You will need MYSQL to upload the Wordpress files.)
- Step 3: Upload the Wordpress Database to your server. (Here's where I needed help... huh??) But when I asked around several ppl were willing to jump in on this process.
- Step 4: Find a Theme you like... Free or otherwise... What's a Wordpress Theme you ask? Just Google it and go find one you like. I wanted a really clean layout. And a lot of people go with Thesis, but you pay for it. I found Vigilance, and part of what I liked besides it was clean, was that it's free initially and then when you need to you can upgrade for a whopping $40.(So Far Vigilance is working great, and the upgrade is more about getting support in the forums.)
- Step 5: Upload Your Theme into the Wordpress files. (Again, I have no idea.. that part magically happened when Michele Stepped in...)
- Step 6: If you need new artwork now is the time to get it, please people DO NOT keep going to iStock and purchase the same dang cartoon mom face EVERY other mom blogger already has.
Here are 2 artists THRILLED to take your money and make a better (even semi-custom) header for you... @dotatdabbled @napwarden, or ask around, believe me there are graphic artists out there!! - Step 7: Figure out how to FTP files. Filezilla.com for a free software program. (You could do this step at the beginning if you think you'll be uploading any of the files initially.)
- Step 8: Here's where I broke down and paid someone to tweak the theme I liked into the website I was going to LOVE. I found prices from $300 to $1200. So prepare yourself a budget. You can only ask your friends to do so much for you for free right?
- Step 9: DO a ton of research on wordpress plugins, once your wordpress site is up teach yourself how to use the backend: posts, categories, media content control etc. Get help again to migrate your old posts and content over to the new site, new server. If you have paid someone to help with the coding, they likely will help with the migration.
- Step 10: Attempt not to loose all of your feedreaders and followers. Ask them to please follow your current feed in case they were following your Blogger feed. Leave the old blog up with links where they can find your current schtuff. And redirect your feedburner account to your new URL.
I kept thinking all of this could be done for under $200. And no matter what I did or who I asked. It just wasn't possible.
I'm dreaming that the handful of coders I know will get together with the fun graphic artists I know and make mommy blogger wordpress babies... ones that are birthed with-IN a mom blogger's budget.
Either that or maybe we need bloggy insurance for upgrades?
