At a certain time, every blogspot blogger faces a stressful situation where he/she realizes that it’s time to move on from blogspot blog. It takes months, in some cases a year, to come on a decision because you know that you’ve spent countless hours in writing and proof-reading and you don’t want to take risk of losing your traffic and search engine ranking. There are countless tutorials available on internet that can help you move your blogspot blog to WordPress without losing traffic but If you’re using custom domain on your Blogger blog and now want to move your blog to WordPress with a new domain name then such tutorials are hard to find. That’s why, I’ve picked up this topic to help people like you who are in such dilemma. After reading this post, you’ll be able to migrate custom Blogger blog to new WordPress domain without losing your page ranking and traffic.

Before that, let me tell you, why do bloggers switch to WordPress or share hosting?

There’s a misconception among some blogspot bloggers that if they move their blogs to share-hosting like WordPress hosting, then their Adsense earnings will increase. But, it’s not true. Your earnings depend on your blog niche. So, if I personally answer this question then I’d migrated from Blogger to WordPress because of lack of themes and customization and at the top, WordPress allows me to show ads where ever I want.

It’s indeed that WordPress offers you a bundle of SEO tools like Yoast SEO Plugin, to make your blog posts search engine friendly but that doesn’t mean Blogger is less SEO friendly after all Google owns it therefore how can we think of it. If you can write engaging and SEO friendly posts then you can succeed on Blogger also.

Once you decide to switch from Blogger to WordPress then following questions come into your mind :

How do I move my custom domain Blogger to WordPress or new WordPress domain?

Will I lose my traffic and search engine ranking?

How much it would cost if I move my blog to WordPress?

From whom should I buy web-hosting?

and the like.

Answer: It’s very easy to migrate blogspot blog to WordPress and you can know the process by reading the full post. No, if you’ll carefully follow the instructions given in this post then you will not lose your ranking and traffic. Nowadays, Web-hosting is available at very reasonable price for example plans start from $2.95 per month. There are many web hosting companies that offer WordPress hosting and you can choose any of them as per your needs. I personally recommend you Bluehost and Hostgator, both are reliable and fascinated among bloggers.

OK! If you’ve decided to switch to WordPress then just read on to know how to migrate Blogger to WordPress without losing traffic and search engine ranking.

This post will help you to –

• Buy web hosting and set up WordPress blog
• Migrate Blogger to WordPress (Custom domain Blogger to new WordPress domain)
• Redirect you blogspot traffic (Desktop and mobile) to WordPress

Steps to Migrate Custom Blogger Blog to New WordPress Domain –

Note: Steps can also be followed to move .blogspot.com blog.

1. Buy Web Hosting
2. Install WordPress
3. Save Backup of Your Blogger Content
4. Upload Your Blogger Backup to WordPress using Blogger Importer Plugin
5. Make WordPress Post Slug Similar to Blogspot as much as Possible
6. Redirect Blogspot Traffic to New WordPress Blog

1. Buy Web Hosting – 

As you may aware that to use wordpress.org, you need to buy web hosting. There are many web hosting companies who offer WordPress hosting. WordPress does not force you to buy web hosting from an individual company, however it recommends Bluehost; but you’re free to choose other hosting providers like Hostgator. I personally also recommend Bluehost because I’m using it and it is very handy to use even for newbie bloggers. Till date, Bluehost is the first choice of  majority of bloggers because of its reliable and trustworthy services. And Bluehost offers lucrative discounts to new customers.

Bluehost offers following services if you buy hosting from it –

It currently has three plans like basic, plus, and prime. Basic plans is recommended if you only want to run one blog and plus plan is recommended if you’re planning to run more than blog in future. Prime plan is somewhat like plus plan just you get extra services like free SSL, site backup pro, domain privacy, and dedicated IP.

Bluehost offers 30 days money back guarantee under special intro offer; if you don’t like its services then you’re free to get refund.

Out of three, Blushost Plus Plan is more fascinated among bloggers and I also have that one.

So, follow the steps given below to buy web hosting from Bluehost –

Go to Bluehost homepage and click on get started.

From the page, decide which plan do you want to buy (Plus Plan recommended in which you get unlimited domains, bandwidth, sub-domains, email accounts, space, and websites) and then click on the plan to proceed.

In the next page, you’ll be asked to enter a domain name under new domain box. After entering a desired domain name, simply hit next button.

Now, fill up the form, see screenshot below –

In package information section, choose term of plan, try to buy for 3 or more years because  discount can be availed once only and you’ve to pay full hosting charges upon renewals.

Note: I’ve unchecked extra services that I don’t think I should buy, however, you can select one or all; if needed.

In Payment Information Section, if you own a credit card then simply enter its details otherwise click on more payment options to pay your hosting charges through PayPal.

Upon filling the form, click on submit button.

In the next page, get access to your PayPal account by using your PayPal login credentials and then authorize the payment. That’s it.

After making payment, in the next page, you’ll see some other domain options, just scroll down and click on complete link.

In the next step, click on ‘create your password‘  link and then create a completed password, make it as difficult as you can like @aqFWE&^6411. Subsequently, click on create.

Now, login to your email, that you’ve provided to Bluehost, to find your login id.

Congratulations! You have successfully bought BlueHost hosting. Just login to your cpanel using your login credentials.

2. Install WordPress – 

After buying hosting, now it’s time to install WordPress using Bluehost cpanel. For that purpose just follow the steps given below –

Login to your Bluehost dashboard and then select cpanel from the navigation bar and click on  install WordPress.

In the next page, just click on get started.

In the next step, select a domain name for installation then hit next button.

In the next page, enter your site title followed by a username (don’t use your site name as your username to secure your WordPress blog, enter a different admin username). Next enter an email address for your blog, thereafter enter an admin password.

Next, click on the checkbox next to “Automatically create a new database for this installation” and then press install button.

In the next page, click on here.

That’s it. You’ve successfully installed WordPress.

Note: By default, a free WordPress theme will be enabled on your blog. However, I suggest you to read following post “6 points to help you decide free or premium WordPress theme ” to decide which theme is best for your WP blog. If you already have decided to buy a premium theme for your blog then I highly recommend you to try StudioPress Genesis Theme for your blog. You can also read “why did I choose Genesis theme for my WordPress blog?”

3. Save Back Up of Your Blogger Content –

Are you enjoying? I did everything delightedly and I love to do it again and again. Now, you can take a sigh because we’ve almost done the difficult task now next parts are interesting and you can follow them readily.

Now. login to your Blogger dashboard and from the sidebar, click on setting then click on other. Subsequently, hit back up content button to save back up of your blog content.

Upon clicking on the button, a pop up box will appear on your computer screen, just click on save to save back up of your blog content.

4. Upload Your Blogger Backup File to WordPress using Blogger Importer Plugin –

Now, login to wordpress.org using your WordPress login credentials. To get access to your WordPress blog dashboard, you’ll need to type /wp-admin in the end of your domain address like yoursiteurl.com/wp-admin. By doing so, you will be landed to your WP blog login page where you can login to your WP dashboard using your login username and password.

Once you get access to your WP dashboard, go to tools then import. Thereafter, click on install now link under Blogger to install Blogger Importer plugin. After installation, click on run importer.

In the next page, click on choose file and upload XML backup file that you’ve downloaded from your Blogger blog. Subsequently, click on upload file and import.

Wait till WordPress uploads your XML back up file. Sometimes, WordPress Blogger Importer takes too much time if your file size is large therefore be calm and wait.

When it’s finished, you will be redirected to next page where you will have to assign an author to the posts. Just assign an existing or a new author to the imported content.

That’s it. Congratulations! You have successfully imported your Blogger blog to WordPress.

Now, it’s time to redirect your Blogger traffic to your new WordPress blog by using 301 permanent redirection but before that complete step 5.

5. Set Up Permalinks –

For smooth redirection, firstly we’ll need to set up our WordPress blog permalinks as closer as to Blogger. For that purpose, follow the steps given below:

Go to settings then select permalinks and select month and name. Thereafter, click on save changes.

6. Redirect Blogspot Traffic to New WordPress Blog –

Now, we’ve come to last but most important part. This step will help us to redirect our Blogger blog traffic to WordPress blog. For that purpose, I’ve been using Blogger 301 Redirect plugin by Sudipto Pratap Mahato. Here are some reasons why do I use this plugin –

Before using this plugin, mobile traffic had been going to my Blogger blog. It’s a very massive issue when you move your blog to WP and I’d been facing it too. After searching for hours, I landed to a page that recommended this plugin. This plugin is redirecting computer and mobile traffic to my WP blog. It’s 6000+ active installs which is a good social proof.

From WordPress dashboard, go to plugins then click on add new and search for Blogger 301 Redirect by Sudipto Pratap Mahato. Install and activate the plugin.

Now, go to installed plugins and then click on settings under Blogger 301 Redirect plugin.

 Tick last four boxes and save your changes.

Now scroll down and click anywhere inside the method 1 code area and copy the entire code.

Note: I’ve tried method 2 but that does not redirect mobile traffic.

We need to add copied code to our Blogger blog. Therefore, go to Blogger dashboard then Theme then click on Edit HTML. Click anywhere inside the html editor and press Ctrl+A to highlight the entire code area and then press Ctrl+V to paste the copied code (code that you copied from the WP plugin). After replacing the Blogger html code with copied code, hit save theme button.

That’s it. You have successfully done the job. Now, your Blogger traffic will be redirecting to WordPress.

I personally suggest you to use a premium theme on your WordPress blog. I’m using Genesis Framework on my all WP blogs and I would like to tell you that I’ve bought only one Genesis Theme and I got license to use it on my all blogs. If you’re confused between free WordPress theme and premium theme then read 6 points to help you decide free or premium WordPress theme and also read 10 reasons why I chose Genesis Framework for my WordPress Blog.