How to Migrate a Website from Blogger to WordPress on an Existing Hosting Package?

[Nonbeardedman]

I currently operate 3 sites. One is hosted on a basic WP package, the second one is on an advanced hosting package, and the third one is hosted on Google Blogger (I started it a long time ago, and never made the move to WordPress due to fearing loss in content, etc.)

My advanced hosting package allows me to create up to 3 databases and multiple domains, but the problem is I have no idea how to add a domain thorugh that. I have access to the Cpanel and tried to add my Blogger domain through the "Addon Domain" feature in Cpanel, but it either shows up as a subdomain (bloggerwebsite.mainwebsite.com) or gives an error.

Some questions I wanted to ask:

1) How can I migrate my Blogger website to this new host? I have the domain name registered but just the hosting is provided by Blogger - till now I've only figured out how to back up my content but not actually point my servers/IP to the new host

2) How can I make the shift in a way that minimizes content loss? I'm running a blog on my Blogger account and have around 90 posts. The only option Blogger provides is to backup my content and download it as an XML file. Do I just then import that file into WordPress and I'll start seeing my posts?

3) Can I use this advanced hosting package which allows me to create 3 databases to host all 3 of my accounts rather than buying a separate hosting package for each domain? If so, is there a step-by-step process I can follow?

With the last question I'm mostly struggling with the technical side of things. Does having the ability to create 3 databases mean I can host 3 different site or just scale my current site if I run out of data on the main database? Any advice is highly appreciated!

 

[Ryuzaki]

How to Migrate Using XML Export & Import
You're asking a giant main question which isn't going to be answered in one shot. To transfer from Blogger to a self-installed Wordpress, it seems as if you can export your Blogger content in XML format and import it to Wordpress with the help of a plugin to map the data. I haven't used this, but I did check to see if any plugins existed. You'll also need to edit the Blogger site to 301 redirect from the homepage and each post to their new locations on your new domain. I'm sure you can search for tutorials like "migrating from blogger to wordpress.org" for guides.

Fear of Losing Content
You don't have to fear losing content. Just make sure the new site is working correctly before you alter the original one. Save a backup of the XML export. Make sure images are newly self-hosted on your new domain and not hotlinked back to Blogger. It'll be fine. Site migrations are done constantly and you can do it too. If you don't have a ton of content you can even do it manually if you're concerned, but you should get used to doing it with the tools available to save time.

How Addon Domains Work
Addon Domains do act as either a sub-domain or a sub-folder. You only get one main folder hierarchy per cPanel installation, so this is how it's done. The new folder or sub-domain is treated as the root for your addon site installation. cPanel will manage the c-name records and all that crap so that your new root domain points to the sub-folder or sub-domain without revealing that fact, and everything will work out perfectly. I'd say that most people pick up one hosting package, usually shared hosting, and slap all their sites on one package with addon domains. It's very routine and works fine. I've done it a 100+ times with zero problems. Yes, you can have multiple databases and sites using the addon domain functionality. It's what it's there for. You can find documentation online, though it's going to be like a 2 step process of clicking the icon in cPanel and adding the addon domain. Then install Wordpress as usual.

Nameservers & IP Addresses
You'll point your new domain (or existing one if it's pointed to Blogger) to the site's new home by going to the registrar that holds the domain for you and adding in the provided nameservers given to you by cPanel. The domain will then point to the nameservers, which has A Records that say what the IP address is and the C-Name records that point the browser to your addon domain's slot in the folder hierarchy using an alias (your desired domain name). This is very simple as cPanel sets it up for you and gives you the nameservers. If you have the nameservers on hand it could take you less than a minute to complete. It can take up to 24 hours for these changes to propagate around the globe, though.

 

[Nonbeardedman]

Thank you for the detailed response

I've managed to redirect all the content from my Blogger site to the Wordpress site using a plugin called Redirection. Also, I managed to create the new domain on the existing hosting using the "addon domain" you mentioned but it was giving a "critical error" in WordPress. Talked to my hosting provider about the addon domain thing and they guided me through that.

I guess now I'm just thinking about the next steps to take with my site to ensure there isn't anything slipping through the cracks.

Firstly, I wanted to add that even though all my posts and pages are redirecting to the new site, the homepage is still facing some kind of issue.

Basically, what's happening is, is that my website is now showing in two places. 1) as a domain.blogspot.com domain and 2) as a domain.com domain - the latter being my new wordpress site which is showing perfectly.

So, I was wondering, do I delete my blogger blog now? I've redirected the posts through WordPress rather than from blogger, and all my posts have been imported into the WordPress site and are hosted there - so, is there any point in having the blogger domain now?

I've also removed my custom domain from blogger and pointed it to the new servers which is why the links on blogger switched to blogspot.com

Secondly, you mentioned this:

>Make sure images are newly self-hosted on your new domain and not hotlinked back to Blogger

How do I do this? Currently, what I'm seeing is that the images are there as it is but when I view the post and click on one of them the URL in the top shows something like: blogger.usercontent... (The images still display and don't get corrupted or anything) followed by a bunch of numbers.

The only solution that I've thought of till now is to remove all my existing images and add new ones (which is somewhat needed as I tried to over-optimize them to compensate for the slow blogger hosting - and now they're pretty pixelated) Is there a tool to automate this process or would I have to go through each one of them manually? The Redirection plugin and other plugins I tried aren't really redirecting the images, just the posts and pages.

Finally, some questions regarding Ezoic. Although Ezoic states that they don't offer their service for blogger blogs, I was able to show their ads on my site as I had a custom domain.

I integrated Ezoic ads through nameservers, and my hosting provider told me that the nameservers were one of the things that were blocking my domain from properly showing when I tried the addon domain feature in cPanel.

Currently, I've temporarly disabled Ezoic, by turning it off from the dashboard (haven't removed or deactivated my site from there) and I have two questions regarding that:

1) How do I start showing Ezoic ads on my new WordPress site? Is there some ideal way to do it or would I have to mess around with the servers again?

2) Will I see a dip in earinings due to my new site design? Ezoic does say that a major site design would cause the placeholders to be all over the place so I might have to set them all up again from scratch. However, what I'm thinking is what the earnings impact would be? For example, I had a right sidebar on my blogger blog and it was a high-earning ad but on my new site I'm using the WordPress Twenty-Twenty Theme, which goes great with my brand image and loads fast (managed to clock in under 1 second after following some optimization tips from the Page Speed Optimization day in the Crash Course) but it doesn't have a side bar - just two big margins on the left and right side with content in the middle (kind of what most mainstream blogs are looking like today)

I guess you could give me a pretty good answer on this as I've followed your Eternal Grind and Surrender & Supremacy threads and you were able to monetize them pretty well with display ads

You also mentioned in the start of your Eternal Grind thread:

>There was a vision about what this would be, and I've been emailing with a specific display ad network about their requirements and how to build a theme optimally set-up for their system

But you didn't mention what kind of design/layout you were using with the site or I might've missed it. Do you think I'll be able to see any good earnings with just the header and in-content ads? Or should I change up my theme to accomadate a sidebar - would it be worth the headache to redesign the site? Because I'm more than willing to do so if it means higher earnings in the long-run.

Don't know if this is important for the above point but I'm mostly monetized with Amazon affiliates and Display Ads

 

[Ryuzaki]

So, I was wondering, do I delete my blogger blog now? I've redirected the posts through WordPress rather than from blogger, and all my posts have been imported into the WordPress site and are hosted there - so, is there any point in having the blogger domain now?

Once you're sure you're done with the migration and everything works fine, you'll want to delete the Blogger (or set it private or whatever the options are). You want your content to exist on your domain and domain only.

Currently, what I'm seeing is that the images are there as it is but when I view the post and click on one of them the URL in the top shows something like: blogger.usercontent... (The images still display and don't get corrupted or anything) followed by a bunch of numbers.

As I feared, your images are being hotlinked, meaning they're loading images from the blogger servers instead of your own, meaning you aren't in control of them and they could go bye-bye at some point and you'd be in a bad position.

I don't know if there's going to be some easy way to migrate those images that won't require some coding. The best thing to do would be to fire up a pot of coffee or grab a six pack and do it manually, which would be easier to track where you're at. You could create a spreadsheet of all the post URLs and go through the original blogger site and grab them and re-upload them one at a time.

Blurry or not, you'll want some images. Trying to find all new images might take forever for 90 posts, especially if you have more than one image per post.

1) How do I start showing Ezoic ads on my new WordPress site? Is there some ideal way to do it or would I have to mess around with the servers again?

I don't think you have to use their nameservers. I think that they think it's faster and a better loading speed for you. I'm sure that there's other ways to do it. There were in the past, for sure.

2) Will I see a dip in earinings due to my new site design?

Not having a sidebar will mean not having sidebar ads. Even with 70% of my traffic being mobile these days, I get a healthy RPM from sidebar ads on desktop and would want them. But yes, Ezoic will need to relearn your placements. There will be a disruption, and possibly one in your traffic too since Google has to relearn your site, too, for ranking purposes.

In the last 30 days of low February RPMs, my "Top Sidebar" slot earned $2.38 CPMs ($0.47 RPM on sessions) while my "Sticky Sidebar" slot (that scrolls with the user and refreshes) saw a $2.50 CPM ($2.70 RPM on sessions). So that's an extra $3+ per thousand sessions from having the sidebars. It gets much higher in Q2, Q3, and Q4. Last November it was $5.59 RPMs for the two of them together. That's easily thousands of dollars just for those slots, even per month let alone over time.