WordPress: Going from Blogger to WordPress

WordPress converts appear to be coming out in droves, lately.
First, Kent Newsome made comments about switching to WordPress from Blogger.  Actually, between the two of us, we managed to port his Blogger theme over to WordPress (pretty easy, once you get the hang of it).  I haven’t heard from him about this in about three weeks, so I’m not sure if he’s still going to switch.  There were a few issues that were keeping him from making the final decision.  I’ll discuss these, below, because they relate to everyone making the switch.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve heard more and more comments - in more and more places - about people wanting to switch from Blogger to either WordPress.com, or a self-hosted version of WordPress.  The latest to take this leap is Aurelius (Blog: The Lost Legionary).  He’s going to be trying out the self-hosted version of WordPress, and - if he likes it - boom, time to transfer the template.

Which brings me to my point.  Just what does it take to transfer from Blogger to a self-hosted version of WordPress?

The answer?  Potentially, not much.

Here’s everything you’ll need to transfer:

• A web host
• A domain name
• a copy of WordPress 2.x
• a little bit of time

That’s it, amazingly enough.  Well, that’s assuming you don’t want to transfer your Blogger template, too.  We’ll get to that, in a minute.

The steps are simple:

• Install WordPress 2.x
• Run the import system, availible from the WP control panel/dashboard

…yes.  It really is that simple to get all of your Blogger posts into WordPress.

There’s one. small. problem, though.

Blogger traditionally uses .html permalinks.  Your permalinks look like this:  http://domain.com/year/month/title-each-word-truncated.html

Domain.com will either be http://whatever.blogspot.com, or your own domain, if you use Bloggers FTP publishing ability.

The problem with that?  WordPress’s default permalinks (once turned on) are: http://domain.com/year/month/day/complete-post-title-no-matter-how-long/

Blogger truncates the title after a certain length, and does not include articles (”a,” “an,” “and,” “the”).  WordPress uses the entire title.  SO, if you have your own domain, your permalinks will no longer match up.  There’s a way around this, but it’s long, involved, and requires some pretty good technical knowledge.  If you really want to attempt it, you can view the instructions at Justinsomnia.org.  If this doesn’t bother you, you’re fine.  If you were using a .blogspot.com domain, then it won’t matter.

So… you’ve imported your entries from blogger.  Now you want your old Blogger template, too.  Well, that’s a bit different.  WordPress’s templates are made up of multiple files.  These files consist of:

• header.php - The header file, typically including the opening html tags, head tags, and header of your blog
• sidebar.php - The side bar/menu of your blog.
• index.php - The main index file, that shows multiple posts on one page.  Like your default blogger view.
• footer.php - Your blog’s footer and the closing HTML tag.
• single.php - Your permalink page/individual entry page.
• page.php - WordPress has a function called “pages”.  These are like static entries that do not show on your main blog.  They’re usually accessible via an URL like this: http://www.yourwordpressblog.com/pagename/
• comments.php - The comments template.
• style.css - Your CSS/stylesheet.

It’s pretty easy to seperate everything into the appropriate files… it follows a pretty logical progression.  The only major difference is that WordPress uses PHP code to display things/posts, whereas Blogger uses custom HTML tags.

Switching your template from Blogger to WordPress will require learning the way WordPress handles its templates, and the commands to output post information.  If you really don’t want to learn it, then I suggest looking around on the ‘net for a WordPress template.  Do a Google search for “wordpress templates“.

If you want to learn the WordPress templating system, then grab a big cup of coffee, and pay a visit to the WordPress Codex.  You’ll be looking for the pages dealing with themes and layouts.

If you’re using a template made by someone else, you must get permission before converting it to WordPress. (It could become a copyright issue, as the individual had only released it for use on the Blogger service, and not any others. Often, the majority of templaters are fine with your transitioning the template, so long as you keep in place any promotion links, etc…)

If you really, really want your Blogger theme transferred to WordPress, then you could contact me.  However, as a general rule, I do not do Blogger template transfers for free.  If you’re willing to send me a few dollars via PayPal (we’ll discuss the amount, once I see how involved your template it), then I can most likely transfer your template.  You would provide me with your Blogger index.html template file, and I will provide you with a .zip file containing your new WordPress template, along with installation instructions.  (Note: If you are already in conversation with me about a template transfer, and you are unable to pay anything, I’m sure we can work something out.)

Before you even ask, I don’t normally do template transfers for free, because it is a time consuming process.  It takes, for a simple template, a few hours.  For a complex template, it can take several hours.  Needless to say,  I don’t always have that much time to dedicate to things.

So, there you have it.  The above post gives you the basic low-down on switching from Blogger to WordPress.  If you’re just wanting to transfer the posts, you’re fine.  If you’re decidedly set on transferring the template, as well, then you have some work ahead of you.

As always, I’m here for your questions.  I’d also like to hear your success stories, or any tips you’d like to give someone switching from Blogger to WordPress.

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