making serious progress.
I am not even joking when I say moving to WordPress has been the most stressful and time consuming thing I have ever done for something that I truly enjoyed (blogging). In the past 5 days, I have put in at least 30 hours to accomplish what I have now. Although I am not even close to where I want to be, I am proud of what I see and can officially say I’m glad I made the move to self-hosting with BlueHost and WordPress.org. No pain, no gain right? Some of you asked why I would do such a crazy thing. I asked myself this a lot during the process, too.
Here’s why:
Why I Moved from Blogger to WordPress.org
- Professional – Yes, I realize I am not a professional. I make ZERO from blogging. It’s a hobby, blah blah. But, I am a perfectionist and anything worth doing is worth doing right, right? Self-hosting blogs simply look cleaner and more professional.
- Flexible – I am not restricted to Blogger’s platform. On WordPress, I can literally do anything with my blog (once I learn CSS, that is).
- Bye bye Google Friend Connect – I admit, I was devastated when mine crashed, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It became a numbers game I no longer cared for. Yes, some of those on GFC read, but others just follow expecting followers back. I love blogging for the relationships, not my GFC count.
- Resume - one of these days, I’m going to need to get a real job. CSS knowledge will be a great addition to my resume that’s been collecting dust for the past year.
Yes, I still have lots to learn about CSS and the WordPress platform. Yes, I have tons left to fix from my move (e.g., so many of my old posts lost all formatting during the transfer), but this can occur in time. For now, I am beyond happy to have time again to read your blogs and start blogging about things besides CSS hell again.
This move came at a good time though because I have no pictures because my camera I got a month ago busted last weekend. Today, I ordered a new one. Did I want to spend the money? Absolutely not, but my SLR is messed up and I have a trip coming up. I need a camera. Photos are my favorite thing in the world. So, this puppy should be here soon:
Off to catch up your blogs, weee!
It looks really good so far! I’m not going to lie, I’m super impressed on what you’ve done!
It looks great so far! There is so much I need to learn, I wish I could make my blog look like this!
It looks great so far, and I hear ya on CSS being a royal pain in the butt.
Mike knows a lot about it, and he’s the only reason I can do anything.
I’ve thought about moving to WordPress, but just haven’t decided to take the plunge yet. Maybe I will eventually!
If you do take the plunge, do it before you start your grad school stuff because I’m telling you its WHOA time consuming. Yay for part time jobs… haha
it’s looking good so far! I really love the little icons up in your nav bar – so cute!
I am with WordPress.com but I really want to go self hosted. Only prob? I know nothing about css!! Maybe I will have to take a couple of classes! Anyway, your blog looks great!
I actually did all of this without typing any CSS code – so don’t let it turn you off too much. I would like to learn more to improve this design immensely, but I’ve got time
It looks great so far! I have thought so many times about switching simply because of the better look! Does all your old blog posts move too?
Thank you! It actually has an easy import from blogger tool that moves, posts and tags – but the formatting did get funky on some of them.
Looks GREAT! I may have you show my the CSS ropes one of these days
Diggin’ the new look…doesn’t look amateur in the least! Kind of inspiring actually!
And I actually have learned like zero CSS along the way… so with a little trial and error I guess anyone can do it!
I’m scared to death to move to wordpress… but I know it’d be better. you’re braver than I am! good luck with it all
Amen to the GFC thing! And it looks like you’re doing a great job with WordPress. CSS is a pain, but also very fun and creative. I totally agree that the self hosted blogs look cleaner and nicer!!