Migrating blog from Blogger to WordPress

Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

Twice before I have migrated blogs from Blogger to WordPress. Easy as pie, quick and efficient. Done. Thank you Google. Thank you WordPress. Last week I wanted to move my other blog from Blogger to WordPress. It said the file had imported successfully. I watched it upload. I tried again and again. No. Nothing. I googled. There are some convoluted workarounds which I did not want to try. It also said there was a plugin for importing. I searched on WordPress and it wasn’t available.

2020 and it is all different. Things have changed. Internet companies have put in some clear rules. Some of it is to do with the huge upsurge in mobile technology. Some of it is to do with intellectual property and boundaries. Some of it is to do with it is 2020 and things just are not like they used to be. Bit like we are never allowed to justify text again in our layout.

I have no complaints about Blogger. If my blog has to stay there then so be it. At this point in time it would be more helpful to me to have all my blogs in one spot now. Before I kept them separated for professional reasons and then I aggregated  them for professional reasons . The lone Blogger blog was very much my own personal blog to keep track of my textile work and journey. I’ll give it another go next week but one of my new year resolutions is not to get caught up in technology bunkum. If it is not going to happen easily or straightforwardly I shall do something more productive with my time.

Normally, the migration follows the process explained on bloggingspark. There have been issues because that is on Google so this is a wait and see one.

New WordPress blog editor

New editor

I was thinking I ought to blog about the new WordPress blog editor because I have been using it for over a month now on a blog I am curating for a group I belong to. The template automatically came up with the new editor and threw me off track into a new learning curve and I have since been able to access the old editor when I need to. The blue colour of the new editor is pleasant and easy in the eye. It would suit tablet and phone blogging and be an improvement over what was previously offered by WordPress for mobile blogging. It would be easier for a lot of people to use but because it operates on progressive disclosure it would be easy to overlook how you customise blogs, change categories, annotate pictures and some other basic things. The pictures on the new editor shift around if you click to annotate them so you have to learn to annotate first and then place. On the old editor it is all done on one screen. The old editor has a dashboard which gives you blog information about comments, posts, stats , events and news. It is a very comprehensive and important overview which is missing in the new blog editor. The appearance option in the old editor also helps you to customise the blog better and there is a separate menu item for the categories which are important if you want your posts to reach the right areas.

On the new blog I am running I use the new editor most of the time and have little difficulty with it now because I know how to use it and where to find things. It is a very clean and clear interface. On this blog I can switch between the old and new editors on the click of a button and that is very handy. Old habits die hard. I have used the older editor for a long time and see it as more functional. There will be people who are accustomed to the new editor and would maybe be hunting around for things on the old editor. I like the ability to be able to use both according to my needs. That’s technology done right.

Old editor

Blogging isn’t dead

Image: 10 amazing blogs about blogging – Corey Wainwright 

 

The internet can be capricious at times and come up with rumours and thoughts which, if you do not pay attention, will lead you astray or confuse you. Half the time it’s to create a thing and then that thing is discussed , reported, highlighted, memed. It’s artificial content creation stimulation. There has been this thing about blogging being dead. There has been a belief that individual bloggers are a thing of the past. Not if you go by the WordPress reader. That alone is sufficient indication there are plenty of individual bloggers who are confident, successful and clear voices. There are a lot of new individual bloggers because a number of people are connected from home for their own purposes. There are artists, writers, musicians, tech people, UX and UI designers, game creators, cooks, chefs, foodies, fashion followers, sports people and  gadget creators and so on. Etsy has had a big impact and a number of Etsy shops have their owners on Instagram to make that personal connection with their potential clients. They often build their network on Instagram or Facebook and then their blog offers more insight into how they produce their items. It’s the personal touch.  People want to meet and know real people on the internet these days. Blogs can also provide documentation and journaling capacities so that people can trace their personal growth in an area. People want to explore their creativity and ideas more and even Instagram posts are increasingly becoming more like blog posts. It’s the social and emotional involvement which has increased and so blogging offers that way of individual processing of events , creativity and information.

That is not to say group blogs don’t exist and aren’t a vibrant part of the internet. Blogs are part of mainstream  internet content. They are no longer the blogosphere. Group blogs can operate like modern day newsletters. They can allow a group to develop an image and history and allow everyone in that group to participate even if they cannot be at every meeting or activity. They allow a group to have an online presence and image with the group members can tap into but also the wider community.

MotherJones has an interesting look at current blogging practices . Blog Tyrant looks at some of the statistics and analyses some of the trends.  Neal Samudre has an article  on Huffington Post about allowing your blog to prosper.  Blogs have changed and they always will change. These days they tend to document and share information in a way which is connected to our need for information in context.

Ready for 2017

Plenty to celebrate already with my blogging! WordPress just put up my 10 year anniversary celebration of blogging on WordPress. I started on Blogger in 2003 and this year I have had a chance to really focus on what I want to achieve through blogging. It is worth thinking about. It helps me clarify my ideas , get feedback, look at ideas and think about them. Blogging is always a journey of discovery and growth. The reflection and ideas building are intrinsic to blogging. My top post for the month and this year continues to be the MiniMac OS shortcuts.  That was a good find and helped me a lot at the time.

I found the 2017 Windows 10 desktop theme at winaero. I really like it and the graphics are very clear and well thought out.

I’d like to thank all my followers on WordPress, all the people who visit my site, all those who connect with me on Twitter from the tweets about the posts and those of you who just come and look. I get a lot of really helpful support and feedback which has enabled me to blog on.

I wish you all a really happy , positive and productive New Year.

Grow social media

Growing social media sites isn’t really hard. You don’t have to be a business or an entrepreneur to build your online social media image.  There is a knack to it , though. It is important to be yourself, or at least, a genuine part of yourself. You are projecting an image so it’s a case of deciding which part of you you wish to project. There are also images which always work. Yes, the adorable kittens and puppies, but also images and videos which strike a chord in humanity or which make people see things quite differently. When you are on social media sites then the social is important. It is also important to connect your social media sites to a blog /blogs/ Facebook page. A lot of people now have a public Facebook page which is not their original /personal Facebook page. That seems to be working well. When you make a blogpost you can advertise it on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat/Pinterest. Some people also email content too. Social media and blogging can be part of creating a very solid online presence and image. I don’t connect my own Facebook page to anything else and am currently thinking about whether to make a public Facebook page. So what are my tips?

1. Be friendly
2. Make positive and genuine comments
3. Follow a variety of people
4. Make sure your images are clear (400 x 400    pixels approx)
5. Work methodically on the image you want to project
6. Get the right hashtags and notice what is current popular hashtag format
7. Post regularly
8. Link your sites to a blog
9. Look carefully at what you like and you react to and use those ideas
10. Be helpful

Helene inbetween has some detailed and very helpful ideas for building social media sites.