Ta-da! If you haven’t noticed yet, things look a little different around here. After 5+ years of blogging on Blogger, I made the terrifying & exciting switch to WordPress. I spent a lot of time thinking about, dreaming about, and planning for this journey but there comes a time when you just need to jump in! So I jumped.
I totally hyped up the transition in my head like a crazy person (PS: I have a tenancy to be a little dramatic and emotional at times #thesearemyconfessions #usherthrowback ) but it wasn’t as scary as I thought and getting some things set up beforehand really made it all flow so well! Since now I am a pro (WINK FACE) at all of this, I want to share with you some things to keep in mind if you are moving to WordPress or making any kind of blog transition!
HIRE A DESIGNER
First things first, figure out who is going to do your new design. There are so many great designers out there to chose from that have a variety of price points to fit so many budgets. In fact, you may be the designer you hire on for your redesign! Figuring out who will be your designer and what you will be paying is the first step in this whole journey. When you hire a designer, you may not be able to launch next week – it may have to be in a couple months when it is your turn for the designer to focus on your project. Once you get your designer signed on, you now have a time table to work with and plan on.
Whitney of Heart & Arrow Design came to my rescue when my initial designer fell through. I went on a mad hunt for a new designer and knew Whit was the one for the job within minutes of our Twitter conversation! She is pretty much an all-star and was able to throw all my crazy dreams, ideas, and inspiration into one beautiful site!
TIP: When you are looking for a designer, keep your personal taste and blog content in mind. Each designer has strengths & a style they tend to create in. Pick someone who has a website you love and has a portfolio filled with designs that fit you! It is always best when you and your designer are on the same page and working in each other’s strengths!
SET UP HOSTING / PLATFORM
This may have been the most intimidating process to me – all those opinions, reviews, stats, and programs. I decided to go with WordPress because it felt the most grown up and filled with potential room for growth! I went to the familiar and what I saw people recommend over and over and signed up for Bluehost. Then I just started forwarding all the emails to my designer and even got her to help me transfer my domain over from Godaddy. It turned out to be a really simple process (thanks mostly to my rock-star designer and the seriously friendly people over at Bluehost.) If you are freaked out like me, have no fear- a great designer and friendly customer service will get it all settled fast and stress free!
SCHEDULE A PHOTOSHOOT
Okay! So this is one of the most fun parts about this all and I highly recommend you do it! Work with a local photographer (or your husband) to get a set of photos that you can use all over your new blog! It will help create a theme, identity, and cohesive feel! I worked with Allison, a local photographer who I love and adore at Stellar Propeller Studio. You can see how they turned out since they are all over my site plus I have a pile of extra post that I’m trying to sneak in everywhere!
You don’t need to pay the big bucks to set up something like this – in fact, many photographers have pretty affordable packages for headshots. Also, don’t be afraid to reach out and find a way to collaborate! Some newer photographers may be willing to do a trade since they are looking for exposure and some more established photographers may offer a discount in exchange for a feature post. You never know until you ask!
WRITE COPY (AND/OR HIRE A COPY EDITOR)
When you are launching a new website it is always good to get someone else’s eyes on your work! Especially if you are creating a launch page (like my New Consultation Page!) or writing an about page you will want someone to at least read over what you have written. I love working with Copy Editors for things like this. They are great because most have a large range of services for affordable prices. If you are looking for someone to write a good chunk of your copy you can hire one or you can pay significantly less to have someone read over what you wrote and make minor changes.
I used Katlyn of Kincaid Editing to help finalize things for this website. She is so sweet and helpful and I highly recommend her if you are looking for any help with writing!
PLAN THE TRANSFER
The last thing you need to do is set a final date for the launch and figure out how you are going to go about the transfer process. I was switching from 5 years of blog posts on Blogger to WordPress and I wanted too keep all that content! I am not super confident in code or any type of blog foundations so I wanted to make sure I had someone help me so it all would go smoothly! When I was picking a designer I asked if she was able to help with the transfer process and what the extra cost would be. It was totally worth it to have her switch it all over for me! If you are not wanting to hire your designer or someone else to help with that, you need to do your research so that you know what you need to do and can plan for it.
Have you made a big transition before? Are you planning on making one soon? Tell me what your top tips are!
That’s awesome, thanks for all the tips! The first thing I noticed is that your posts maintained the .html at the end of the url and I thought it wasn’t possible to do on WordPress. It was one of my biggest fears since it might cause broken links all over your past posts. That proves I should do even more researches 🙂
Alice, you also can set up a redirect so that your old Blogger structure (with the .html at the end) redirects to a post structure without it 🙂 It’s a personal preference of which style you like but for my clients, I always drop the .html 🙂
Oh I didn’t know that! Thanks, Madison. 🙂
So fun! What is the point of doing that? I would have never even noticed the url difference.
Personal preference really 🙂 The URL just looks a bit cleaner if it only has the post name instead of the year, month, post name and .html at the end 🙂
Totally! I get that. That is fun 🙂
yep – hahah I know nothing about that but I am glad everything worked out okay! haha
I am right there with you with thinking the switch to WordPress is a lot more terrifying than it really is! Seeing your sight all up and running gives me confidence that mine will get there to.
YES! So close! One day! Are you working with a designer?
I’m working on learning WordPress right now and feel so thankful that my husband’s dad does coding and website design so I can just email him all the questions I have. haha. Also, for some reason when you were describing choosing a designer all I could think was how similar the process is to choosing a tattoo artist – how you want someone that already designs with an aesthetic that meshes with you so you’re more likely to be thrilled with the final result. haha
YAY! That is so wonderful. Bruce does some coding too so he helps me do little things (like formatting) when I need help. He also reads forums for anything weird that happens on my WordPress 😉
And yes! That is so true!
Husbands that understand the technical side are wonderful! 😉
Love this post, Beth! I loved getting a re-design a while ago, and I should have done a new photo to go with it! Your design is beautiful and I’m loving the look of the whole site!
Yes! Having a photographer do head shots was one of the best decisions I made!
Lots of good advice on here! We decided to the design ourselves (insert monkey covering eyes emoji here) and it was probably the most challenging part of the whole entire brand launch. So much time and research is involved! I’ve already decided our 1 year anniversary present will be paying for a redesign. But, I’m so glad we decided to get a local photographer to take our business photos! We’re actually introducing her on the blog today!
Yes! Oh I love that so much! and I love that you hired a local photographer for your photos! I’m so glad I did because it has made a huge difference in the consistency and the flow of this new brand!
I’ve totally been contemplating and planning a redesign/rebranding of my own blog so this post is very helpful! 🙂
YAY! I am so excited for you! I’m glad this was helpful! Feel free to reach out with any questions or comments!
These are super great tips, Beth! I was so highly anticipating your new blog design and I’m so glad it’s live now 🙂
Madison! Thanks so much for your sweet words and encouragement!
I also use Bluehost and they are great! I haven’t had any trouble and they are extremely helpful! I recently redesigned my blog and I’m still making tweaks, but I highly recommend having a plan first!
Yes! I so agree, Bluehost has been great and plans are always important to make sure you get to where you are trying to go!!
Great tips! I’m currently using Blogger and been thinking about switching to wordpress, glad to hear your transfer was smooth!
Yes! I highly recommending lining some things out before hand ( like I talked about) but it is way easier than I thought it would be! I am so glad I made the switch!
So so good! I have been wanting to make the switch but it’s kind of intimidating, no? Thank you for this post, it’s quite inspiring. Now I just need to find the time to take the plunge!
Xo, Tiffany | http://www.sunshinedaydreamphotography.com
It is so intimating! But you got this! I totally think it is one of the best things you can do for your brand!