Switching Your Blog from Blogger to WordPress

Did the title send your brain into a tizzy? Good; If you want to switch a Blogger blog into a WordPress blog, and then place it on your own domain and webhost, you're in the right place. Chances are you're using Hostgator as a host for your new domain, because you can't import a Blogger blog using Hostgator, but you can import a WordPress blog. Therefore, this article will be written assuming you use Hostgator as your host.

First, if you haven't done so already, go to a website like godaddy.com and purchase a good domain name, and then switch the nameservers over to your Hostgator account.

Next create a new WordPress account. The URL of the blog won't matter because it will ultimately go straight to your domain. Don't forget the username and password you created, as you will need these in in Hostgator's cpanel.

Now, export your Blogger posts and them import those old posts into a new, empty WordPress blog. First, your Blogger blog must be using the new XML mode, and not a classic template, so if you still used the classic template mode, your design will go out the window until you take the time to recreate a unique theme for WordPress.

Once you are in the upgraded to XML mode, go to the basic tab in settings, and hit the export button at the top. This will export your entire blog into an XML file, and will not delete your blog. It's important to mention that none of these steps will delete your Blogger blog until you physically hit the delete button. The old version of your blog will remain on the Blogspot domain.

Once you have downloaded Blogger's XML export file, go to your domain's cpanel and click on a blue smiley face icon called Fantastico De Luxe. Inside of that program, on the left you will see WordPress. Click on it, and it will create a MySQL database for your new WordPress blog, and install the software. The steps in Fantastico De Luxe are pretty easy to follow, but when you come to the "install in directory" box, if your entire domain will be the blog, leave this blank. If not, write a path to a new blog directory, and it will be created for you.

Now that WordPress is installed onto your server, it's time to import your Blogger blog into your WordPress account. Go back to your WordPress dashboard. On the left side of your dashboard, select tools, import and finally Blogger. Here you will import that Blogger XML file you saved. Your posts, comments, and pictures will all be imported into your new WordPress blog.

Now your Blogger blog will be up and running on your new domain under WordPress. Here are your few final steps. First, find a good starter template design. You can create your own later. Next, rename any posts that imported without a post title. Next, create categories and quick edit each post to assign a category to it. While you're in quick edit mode, you can also add tags. Only create categories and tags if you are concerned with search engine optimization.

Switching your Blogger blog to WordPress on your own domain and hosting is an easy but time consuming task. It will take a couple hours to complete, but in the end, you will have better control over your search engine rank and potential ad revenue.