In February 2013, I switched my blog to be self-hosted. I bumbled through the process, relying on 527 different Google searches as well as my computer-savvy friends and family to save me from some sticky situations. Because of their help, I was really happy and proud of the results, and I want to share the tips and advice I learned along the way with you.
*Disclaimer: Some of the links below are affiliate links, and I’ll earn a commission if you sign up for the service after clicking on the link. I included these because I love the companies and have used them myself, and I would highly recommend them regardless of the commission I may earn.
By the end of this tutorial, you will have made a flawless and seamless transition!
(Note: If you’re interested in starting a self-hosted blog, this post will walk you through that too! Simply skip Step 5 since you won’t have any previous content to export.)
Steps in This Series…
Step 3: Pick a Website Builder
Step 5: Save, Export, and Upload Your Content
Step 7: Add Email and RSS Subscription Options
Step 8: Reach Out to Old Readers
Bonus: 4 Features of a Successful Blog
received some sort of automatic replay to my message which obviously was not read. I explained I DO NOT HAVE ANY TYPE OF WORKING BLOG. The entire thing must be from something pertaining to the class I took at the local school. I am not doing a blog for fun. Am not doing anything of any sort. Am asking that since somehow I have a wordpress.com which I do nothing with and know nothing about, do I then need to be switching or cancelling the .com.
I am attempting to have a blog in which I intend to do some advertising and hope to eventually generate some income. How do I proceed?
Roxy, I assure you that my response to your question was not “automatic.” You included the URL “http://incredibbleliving.wordpress.com/” as part of your name in your previous comment, which indicated to me that it was your blog. I spent a while browsing that site before answering your comment and wrote my response based on that information you included. If that is not your blog and you do not own any sort of website, then skip Step 5, as both the cheat sheet and detailed guide state, and follow all of the other steps. Best of luck to you!
I appreciate your kindness in offering the helpful guides for us. I so want to get to this. Thank you for all you do.
Thank you for responding. I’ll be thinking about this awhile.
The idea that the response was automatic came from something at the bottom of the response I received which said, “This email was sent automatically. Please don’t reply to this email.”
That must mean something different than what I interpreted it to be.
When filling out your form, it asked for a URL. I’ve done so much in an attempt to get a blog going and wasn’t sure about how the things we did in the class I took or when a group signed me on to their page as administrator. I tried entering incredibble living and up came the wordpress.com.
I have searched for “http://incredibbleliving.wordpress.com/.” The response was that no such site could be found. If you went there and found something to look at, I”m going to need tech guidance.
We shall be looking into this. Thanks for the alert.
well, that’s interesting. I clicked on the URL as given above. This is the site we built at the class I took. We were told it was on their system and would not be going any further. Oh my.
Yes, that URL does exist, and it sounds like it’s your blog Roxy! 🙂 If you visit wordpress.com and click on “Log In” in the upper right corner, you should be able to enter in the same username and password information that you used to create that blog in your class. Since your instructor does not own wordpress.com (at least, that’s what I’m assuming!), you will still be able to access that blog you created because s/he cannot delete it without your login information.
I highly recommend that you spend the next few weeks or months become very familiar and comfortable with the software you use for your wordpress.com blog. It’s very similar to the software that you’ll use when you switch to a self-hosted blog, but the wordpress.com blog is free. (You have to pay a monthly fee when you switch to self-hosted!) Once you feel extremely comfortable with everything in your wordpress.com dashboard (the menus, posts, pages, categories, tags, media, themes, etc.), then you can use my guide to switch to self-hosted and try making money with your blog.
As for the notification at the bottom of the emails you received from me, that phrase simply means that an email is automatically sent to you as a courtesy when I type out a response to your comment on my blog. That’s all!
thank you so much for the help.
I’ve been amazed all day at the fact that I have the thing even if it isn’t the topic I would be wanting for my blog. It’s there. I just need to learn how to manage and change it around. Whoo hoo, off on an adventure. I’ll be doing as you suggest for awhile and do the switching later. Definitely will be using the links you are recommending that way you should be benefiting eventually.
I will be remembering this day, July 4th for a long while. This is the day – technically – the blog was born. Oh happy day. Sending big hug to you.
It’s my pleasure Roxy! Happy birthday to your blog! 🙂 I’m so glad we figured out that you still had access to it, and I’m excited to see where your blogging journey takes you. Best wishes on this fun adventure!
Hi Amy,
I’ve been toying with the idea of having my own blog, but haven’t had the knoledge or gutts to start. Does having a blog also bring in a sustainable income? If so, how many hours need to be dedicated to it? Maybe, this is reason I haven’t started yet!! Having 3 children and a fulltime job, I feel that I don’t have the necessary time to dedicate to a blog. Thanking you in advance!!!!
I’m really touched that you’d ask me for advice Cathy! For my blog to bring in a sustainable income, I work about 60 hours per week on it (baking, photographing, editing, promoting on social media, answering emails/comments, etc.). It took about 2-3 years for it to grow enough to bring in the equivalent of a “full-time job’s” income. If you mainly want to get your feet wet and see if you enjoy blogging, I highly recommend starting a blog on WordPress.com because it’s free and uses the same software that you’ll use if you switch to a self-hosted blog and pursue blogging full-time. 🙂