Ahh, it’s been two months since I’ve moved to WordPress (the self hosted one) and I thought I should share of some of my findings with you. On you know, how different (and sort of beneficial) making the switch was for me.
The SWITCH
The switch was actually a lot easier and smoother than I thought it would be. The hardest thing I had to do was activate the plugin that would import all my old Blogger posts to WordPress. So far, I haven’t seen anything that went wrong with it – all my posts and pictures appear to be attached, but if you discover something, let me know. 🙂
$Cost
Okay, so I’m pretty sure I already mentioned this in one of my previous posts about switching to WordPress, but I feel like I have to say it again. This is probably the main difference between Blogger (the platform I used to use to host this blog) and WordPress.org. Hosting was pretty expensive per year when you’re used to paying nothing. Add in a premium theme and I can almost guarantee you that you just spent as least $100 (USD).
Design
One of the reasons why I was a bit hesitant to leave Blogger for WordPress was that I knew that Blogger offered more freedom with design. What I mean by that is that on Blogger, it’s easy for anyone to edit the design, even with limited HTML and CSS knowledge. On WordPress, however, it’s a different story. Now the WordPress theme I purchased is called Tweak Me and it’s very… tweakable. But adding additional CSS was a bit of a chore. Especially since I was too lazy to make a child theme and every time the theme was updated, I would have to readd the CSS to it. But still, I think this blog looks better now than it did on Blogger…
Plugins
So one of the reasons why I really wanted to make the switch was because of the plugins WordPress has. Blogger didn’t have any of those. Now with the Ultimate Book Blogger reviews are so much easier to format. And I don’t have to worry about updating archives. And I’m just getting started. Plugins make my life so much easier. Ah, who I am I kidding – I mean lazier.
SPAM COMMENTS
Back when I was on Blogger, I hated seeing all those blogs with CAPTCHA. Soooo annoying to leave a comment on those blogs. And seriously, I never got a spam comment while I was using Blogger… Unless you count “Great haul!” as spam… But on WordPress, EVERYDAY. EVERY frickin DAY, there’s a new spam comment. Now thankfully, I sort of fixed that problem and spam comments never get published (it’s like spam email), but the problem is that sometimes WordPress thinks a perfectly fine comment counts as spam. Face, meet palm.
Stats
I don’t know if this is true for everyone that switched to WordPress, there are a lot of other factors that could have caused this, but after I switched blogging platforms, my pageviews went up. I got more comments and traffic and everything. (But it could also be I finally sort of figured out a system to posting more regularly so…)
Followers
I honestly haven’t seen an influx of followers from the past few months (but thank you to everyone who followed! :D) But one of my biggest regrets of switching from Blogger is that I couldn’t take GFC with me. Technically, this blog will still appear under your feed if you were a follower before the switch. Only thing is, I don’t think anyone new can follow that way. I tried a bunch of different methods to move it, but no luck. So sorry to everyone who prefer to follow by GFC. 🙁
OWNERSHIP
With WordPress I don’t have to worry about waking up one day to discover that my blog has disappeared from the face of the Earth, like I did with Blogger. With Blogger, Google has the right to yank you blog off the internet if they don’t like it (for example, if they think it is spam). WordPress isn’t like that at all. You own the content you create and if your blog is going to be yanked down, it would probably be at the hands of your host and only if you violated some law or something (forgot to pay for hosting…)
Final Thoughts
I honestly don’t know if I could ever switch back to Blogger. Even though it costs more, it’s really only hosting that you need to pay for (WordPress itself is free). I haven’t had any problems with my host (yet) and I can’t imagine life without plugins. No seriously, if Blogger had plugins, maybe I would switch back. But because it doesn’t… Plugins aren’t only life savers, they’re time savers too. Which is very helpful when your in high school and blogged bogged down with loads of homework
I made the switch earlier and I’m so glad I did too 🙂 Your costs are right about where mine are at too, for the first year. I spent around $85 for a year of hosting/domain name and then $35 for the Tweak Me theme and $12 for my simple custom made side header.
The costs from here on out should be less than $100 a year for the hosting/domain name. I don’t plan on ever switching from the Tweak Me theme because it’s so customizable. I may change my header image in the future, but that won’t be a frequent thing/cost 🙂
Hopefully, I won’t have to spend anymore money for the sake of this blog, besides of course, renewing hosting.
Thanks for stopping by! 😀
I’ve been thinking about switching to WordPress, but I just haven’t decided yet. There are definitely a lot of upsides. Namely with the plugins because (let’s face it) I’m always looking for excuses to be lazy. My biggest thing is whether or not the pros are worth paying a hundred dollars a year. Also, there’s the inevitable learning curve that comes with a new platform. I don’t know. There are so many choices! Thank you for the recap. It was really interesting to hear your thoughts!
Honestly, for me, WordPress wasn’t too difficult to get the hang of. That being said, I do have some (very little) experience with WordPress.com, the free version. WordPress.org (the self hosted one) and WordPress.com are pretty similar when it comes to format, so if you’re worried about that, create a new random blog on WordPress.com and test it out.
Depending on the hosting company you choose, the amount of money you pay varies. And sometimes it’s easier to look at it as paying $6 a month, compared to paying $75. Buying a theme and plugins are what makes the cost seem so high.
Thanks for stopping by Catherine! 🙂
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