A few weeks ago I made a move… no it wasn’t as stressful and overwhelming as moving to a new home, but it was one that made me nervous every time I pondered it.  I moved my blog from Blogger to WordPress.

This was not a move I made quickly.  I’ve been thinking, debating, asking questions and seeking wisdom from other bloggers who had made the move and researching every possible article/post on how to make the move on my own.

The main reasons I decided to move… issues with Blogger this last years (days down, disappearing posts and comment issues), knowing Blogger really owned my blog as it sat on their server and the overwhelming positives I heard from everyone who had made the move… no one regretted it.

Why I made the move on my own… no $$$ and even if I did, I’m cheap… if I can do it on my own I will or at least I’ll try.

Now, I’m no expert at this!  I’ve done this once and I think I’ve done it pretty well (from what I can tell logistically), but if you want to make this move on your own too… make sure you do your research too.  There were moments I was freaked out and wishing I had the money to just hand over to someone to figure it all out for me.

One piece of wisdom I’ll share. I wish I had done this earlier.  The fact that I had so much to lose (# of blog post, # of comments, followers, subscriber #’s, etc) made this even more nerve-racking.  If you LOVE blogging (like I do) and want to secure and control your blog then you might want to consider the move too.

First step… you need to have your own domain and you need a host.    I already had my own domain (domestically-speaking.com) but I purchased hosting and moved my domain over to my host. 

I chose Bluehost.  I have to tell you I’ve been thrilled with Bluehost.  In the weeks of all the behind the scenes chaos, every time I chatted online with someone from Bluehost they were so helpful and quick!

I also chose to purchase the Genesis framework and the child theme Pixel Happy from Studiopress.  I’m still working on learning the new language of wordpress and how to customize it to how I want, but I’m thrilled with what I’ve learned so far.

OK… so the details.  Here are a list of the sites I found most valuable as I made the move.  Some have the same info, some give more details, but they were all a vital part of me being able to make the wordpress on my own.

Blogging with Amy ~  Great place to start to help you evaluate if you want to make this move on your own, plus I’ve found a bunch of other great wordpress tips & video tutorials on her site.

Beautifully Invisible – a great step-by-step… this one is a great hand-holding tutorial

Rosalilium ~ a great overview to show you what is involved

My Pregnancy Baby ~ great steps to not lose any friends/followers

Nanny Goats in Panties ~  used for maintain permalinks and redirecting traffic

I’m pretty quick at learning computer stuff, but a month plus later I’m still in learning mode.  If you feel pretty confident at computer stuff, I’d say you could make the move on your own.  The actual steps are not difficult, it’s the worry that you haven’t done something.  All of the sites above do a very thorough job at going over all the steps I used.

Overall blogger was great to me.  It was a great place for me to start, but as things grow, things need to change. 

I hope this helps you if you are considering making the move.