Any Wordpress Experts?

[mommycracked]

I currently blog at Blogger:

http://mommycracked.net

HOWEVER, I am having some issues with Blogger and am weighing the pros and cons of moving to Wordpress.

First, how hard is it to transfer a blog from Blogger to WP without losing subscribers and readers...and is it something I can do or will it require a professional?

What about my AdSense? I don't want to lose what I've already earned and hear that you can't have AdSense on a WP blog.

Do I need seperate web hosting or does WP provide hosting like Blogger?

I'm just sick of Blogger glitches (I lost my blogroll on my sidebar today) and want a more professional look.

[Nathan]

Here are the issues:

You can't have ads on a free WP blog. If you go Wordpress then you should go self-hosted, because then you will be able to have ads and you will be able to have a custom template. Sub-domian wordpress blogs don't allow you to change themes beyond a narrow subset of mediocre themes.

So what I'm saying is, if you go Wordpress, be sure to get your own domain and hosting.

Transferring the posts to Wordpress is an easy operation that only takes a few clicks and Wordpress automatically imports all your posts and comments. However, you are guaranteed to loose all your readers, subscribers, and PR. Basically you'll be starting over but with more posts than you had when you first started the blog, if that makes any sense.

In the long run Wordpress is better if you self-host. Blogger is better if you just one a free subdomain.

[Shopping4Coupons]

If your looking to host your own Wordpress blog I can take you under my wing and help you get a nice blog set up. All I ask is that once you decide on a good host you let me look for the best deal for you.

[Inhibitor]

At one point, there was a plugin for Wordpress (self-hosted) that allowed for an easier transition from Blogger; however, this guy has an interesting idea that he says could save your "Google Juice".

Also, here's a bit of info about keeping your PR when moving from Blogger to WP (keep in mind it's a year old, so your mileage may vary...or even suck.)

[jaypeeonline]

Migrating from Blogger to WP.com or a self-hosted WordPress is easy to do because WordPress has a built-in import tool and one of the blogging platforms it supports is Blogger.

Regarding losing subscribers/readers, unless you registered your RSS feed to Feedburner, you will lose your subscribers. But, if you do decide to move to a self-hosted WordPress, I'm sure you can get them back, just let them know that you're moving your blog and provide your new RSS feed.

Regarding Adsense, I dont think you'd suffer that much because you have your own domain. Meaning all your posts/links even those indexed by Google and other search engines would still have the same link as long as you keep the same permalink structure.

Your current permalink structure in Blogger is this Mommy Cracked: And We Were Thankful and you can specify that in WordPress in the Permalinks section Custom permalinks like these /%month%/%day%/%postname%/

You can also install a 301 Redirect plugin in WordPress that will divert traffic to the new posts/links.

As Nathan pointed out, WP.com is like Blogger it offers free hosting but its limited. If you want more features/options then you would want a self-hosted WordPress blog. Both sides have their advantages and disadvantages.