Blogspot commonly referred to as Blogger is an awesome online publishing platform for those who want to start blogging. However, many people who use Blogspot eventually realize the importance of blogging in self-hosted platforms and would want to migrate to these platforms. This guide highlights the steps you need to easily transfer your Blogspot blogging site to WordPress (WordPress.org blog).
Step 1: Preparation
To get started with the transfer of Blogspot to WordPress, you will need to register your domain name and choose a good WordPress hosting company. The next step is to sign up for WordPress hosting and link your domain name. Once you have done all that, you can then proceed to install WordPress on your new hosting account. Some hosting companies have 1-click WordPress installation applications.
Step 2: Exporting Your Blogger Blog
The next step is to export your Blogspot’s content. The steps for exporting your Blogspot content are easy to follow. You will need to log into your Blogspot Dashboard and go to setting option, then to Other Page. Navigate to the tools and then click on the Export Blog link. Immediately after clicking the Export Blog link, a popup will show up. The next step you will need to follow is to click on the Download Blog button on the popup. After doing all these, the content of your Blogspot will be downloaded into your computer in the form of an XML file.
Step 3: Importing Blogger to WordPress
Once the content download is complete, you can then proceed to import the XML file into your WordPress site. To start importing process, go to the WordPress admin and click on the Tools and then Import. Once you are on the Import page, proceed to click on the Blogger. Immediately a popup will show up asking you install the Blogspot into WordPress importer. Proceed to click on the Install button.
WordPress will download and install the Blogspot Importer Plugin for you. Once the installation is complete, activate the plugin by clicking on the Activate Plugin and Run Importer link. You will be prompted to a page where you will be asked to upload the XML content file that you downloaded. Continue by clicking on the Choose File button to locate the XML file on your computer. Continue with the uploading process.
If you site is large, you get an error telling you that the file is too large. If you get this large file error, you will need to correct it by increasing the maximum file upload limit. WordPress will import your Blogspot posts one by one. Once importation is complete, you will be asked to choose an author of the imported Blogspot posts.
After successful transfer of Blogspot blogging site to WordPress, your next step is to make sure your search ranking is maintained and visitors who visited your old blog continue to visit your new WordPress site.
Step 4: Setting up Permalinks
If you didn’t know, Permalinks is the term used to describe the URL structure of individual pages. Unlike Blogspot, WordPress is supported with a feature that allows you to set up SEO friendly Permalinks. Since you are importing content from Blogspot, it is recommended to make your WordPress Permalinks as close to your Blogspot as possible.
To set up the permalinks (URL structure), you will need go to the Settings section and then to Permalinks screen. Proceed to choose Name and Month as your permalink structure.
Step 5: Setting up Redirection
The most important process of transferring Blogspot to WordPress is the setting up redirection. Redirection ensures that your visitors are redirected to your newly created site. You want your website visitors to land on exactly on the same page they used to access on your old site. Another aim of redirection is to notify search engines that you have moved your old site to the new platform.
Successful transfer of blogger to WordPress requires setting up redirection on two levels. First, you will need to redirect your Blogspot visitors to your newly set up WordPress blog. The second level is to make sure your visitors are redirected to the exact post once they reach on your newly set up website.
To set up redirection on Blogspot, you will need to log into your Blogspot account. Under the Blog’s Settings, click on Template and then scroll down to the bottom of the page. Here, proceed to click on the Revert to Classic Template link to switch to classic template. Once you are on the classic template, you will need to ‘Edit Template HTML’ text area. Make sure you have replaced the code to reflect your own domain name. Save your template.
Step 6: Redirecting Feeds
If you had RSS subscribers on your old Blogspot site, they will not be able to notice the transfer to WordPress. This is the reason you will need to redirect your old site’s feeds to your new site’s feed. To proceed with feeds redirection, you will need to login in into your Blogspot account and then click on the Settings. Under the blog dashboard, proceed to click on the other page.
Step 6: Importing Images from Blogspot to WordPress Media Library
Transfer of Blogspot to WordPress also involves importing images from the old site to WordPress media library. During the transfer process, the WordPress importer will download all images from your old site and import them into your new site’s media library. However, some images may fail to upload when uploading all images at once. In this case, you will need to upload images one by one.
We hope this article has or will help you transfer from Blogspot to WordPress site without losing your search engine rankings. If you have fellow Blogspot bloggers who want to transfer their blogger sites to WordPress, just feel free to share this guide with them.