How to Move From Blogger to WordPress

Many first time bloggers start out with a free blog from Google’s Blogger service. But somewhere along the way, they decide that a third party hosted blog is just not cutting for them and decide to move to their own domain where they have more control over their website.

While fairly easy, switching from one blog platform to another does require a little bit of work and effort. Here are the steps you need to take to successfully move your blog from Blogger to a self hosted installation of WordPress.

How to Import Your Posts From Blogger to WordPress

So you’ve been using Google’s Blogger and have decided that maybe it’s time you got your own place on net. Or you have thought about moving for awhile but just haven’t gotten around to it because the thought of manually transferring each post from your Blogger blog to your WordPress blog makes you want to curl up into a fetal position and suck you thumb.

Well don’t fret. WordPress makes it easy to switch to your own hosted site. All you need to do is get WordPress installed on your website and then follow these easy steps to import your posts from your Blogger blog to your WordPress blog.

How To Install WordPress

WordPress is notorious for being simple and easy to install which contributed greatly to its popularity amongst bloggers. While the install itself takes only five minutes (literally) there are a couple of things you need to do prior to installing WordPress to make sure things go smoothly.

How To Get Your Website Indexed With the Search Engines

Search engines are the librarians of the internet world. Every day they send out their interns, called Robots, into cyberspace to forage for information. Each piece of information that is returned to the library is filed in a digital catalogue. To access any piece of information in this catalogue, all one needs to do is go to their library of choice (Google, Yahoo, MSN or ASK), type in a few search words and wait while the librarian (the search engine) serves up sites matching the query.

As a webmaster, you may be wondering how to get your brand new, still in the bubble wrap, website listed in these giant cyber catalogues. Well, there are two ways robots find new websites. Either by following links from other sites or from the queue of direct submissions.

How to Buy a Domain Name

A domain name is your address on the web similar to the street address of your house. Just as you can pretty much live wherever you want, you can register any domain name you want provided that the name is not already being used by someone else.

While there are no hard and fast rules to choosing a domain name, for maximum effectiveness, I do recommend keeping these tips in mind when buying one.

How to Set Up a MySQL Database

Most blog software, such as WordPress or TextPattern, will require that you set up a MySQL database in which to store all of your posts. When you sign up for web hosting, your web host will provide you with an administration panel (usually located at http://www.yourdomain.com/cpanel) where you can set up the different parts of your website. The only backend I’ve ever used has been Cpanel so if you are using something else then you’ll need to consult your web host for the equivalent functions.

For Newbs: Making Money With Your Blog

Ever since the top earners in blogging revealed that it was possible to make six figures and beyond blogging, everyone has been pursuing this dollar filled dream. Whether you a looking to build an empire or to pull in a little extra cash every month, here are some ways you can make money with your blog.

Ad Sales

The first experience most bloggers have with making money online is the selling of ad space on their website. Most bloggers start out with contextual advertising such as Google Ads but eventually branch out and include other sales venues such as banner and block ads, link sales and paid reviews.

For Newbs: How to Market Your Blog

You hear about this awesome new invention called blogging. You decide to give it a try. You get a free blog at Blogger or WordPress.com. You pick a template. You start cranking out posts. About a week, month or year later it finally dawns on you.

No one is reading your blog.

Don’t feel bad. About 90% of the blogs on the internet are standing shoulder to shoulder with you on this Dock of Shame. The good news is that with time, focused effort and a few of these suggestions, you can overcome your no-traffic nightmare and turn your blog into the rockin’ place to be.

Win a Domain Name at Namecheap

Namecheap is currently hosting a trivia contest on Twitter. Every hour on the hour they will tweet a trivia question and the first three correct responses will win a credit in their Namecheap account for $9.69, the cost of a new domain or domain name transfer.

Pownce Finds a Home at Six Apart

Pownce, a microblogging tool, is set to close on December 15th, 2008. Pownce was started up by Kevin Rose (Digg Founder), Leah Culver, Mike Malone, Daniel Burka, Ariel Waldman, and Shawn Allen as a way to tap into the success of Twitter. It offered many of the same features as Twitter except you can send files to one another and upload video.