That’s not really how you say it. The correct phrase or operational definition is actually transferring your blog hosted by wordpress.com to your self hosted webspace, wherein you install wordpress from wordpress.org to your own database.
Moving your blog from one host to another is quite easy if you’re just transferring it from blogger.com to wordpress.com, wordpress.com to xanga.com, and any sites which host blogs for free. But it’s easier said than done when you move from other host to your own hosted site. Like what other people said, it requires patience and you should be self-efficient and more resourceful.
I never thought it would take me 3 days to configure all these stuffs here. Anyways, I’m happy that I successfully managed to move all my contents from wordpress.com to my own server at 1and1.
I realize that it could have been easier if at the very start I already had my own domain and host. That way I can be saved from all the hassles in moving my contents. But, looking back I’m quite thankful that I went through those ordeals because I did learn a lot of things. And I will enumerate them below:
This is just a rough draft and not really a detailed procedure. Just check links for more itemized instructions.
1. The first thing you have to do in moving your blog from wordpress.com to your own host(assuming that you already bought a domain and webspace) is to create a database in you mysql administration in your cpanel. This database is where you will install your wordpress and also it is where you will put all your files for your blog.
2. Next, you set up your ftp account in your ftp administration in your cpanel. Then, install an ftp software in your pc. In my case a friend of mine recommended the fireftp add-on from mozilla. Fireftp is more practical because you just have to access it using your firefox browser, and it won’t consume space in your hard disc.
3. After setting up your ftp, you’re now ready to install your unzipped wordpress folder in your server’s root directory. I installed mine in the root directory for I preferred to access my blog site using my domain empressofdrac.com, instead of empressofdrac.com/blog(etc.).
4. When you’re done with your wordpress installation, you’re now ready to transfer your wordpress.com contents to your server. The first thing you will do is to export all your wordpress.com posts, links, categories, unpublished drafts, comments, etc., and save it to your local hard drive. All these contents will actually be saved in one xml file.
5. After exporting all your blog contents and have saved it as an xml file, you’re now ready to import it to your self-hosted site.
I actually encountered a problem in importing my contents. In my first attempt, not all my posts were being transferred. What I did was I deleted the already imported post in my Manage Posts dashboard area, and since wordpress has no bulk delete feature I have to delete them one by one. And that’s quite very tedious, and I really hate doing it. But I really have no choice. After that, I import my content again but the result was futile. And I deleted my posts again and reimport again and again, but my posts are still incomplete and I thought of just posting them again one by one(a very desperate thought).
Well, good thing my friend came to the rescue. What he did was he just reimported my exported xml file a few times, and when we saw the ALL DONE prompt message at the bottom page of the browser, he said that that’s the sign that all my posts have already been transferred completely. And it did!
My friend told me that it’s normal to have an incomplete transfer when you import contents. The only thing you have to do is to reimport it again and again until all the posts are transferred. No worries for post redundancy because the mysql function can detect a redundant file, that is, if a post already existed in the database it won’t be imported again. But this doesn’t really hold true based from my experience. After all my contents have been completely transferred, I found lots of redundant posts when I checked my blog site. What I did was I manually deleted all of them from my Manage Posts dashboard area.
6. The next thing you have to do is to properly index your site. In my case, I just deleted the default index.html file my host puts in my server’s root directory.
7. Now, you’ll be ready to set a redirection from your wordpress.com site to your self-hosted site, that is, if someone will click a link from your old wordpress.com blog he will be automatically redirected to your new website. This way your old traffic won’t be wasted. Wordpress.com charged $10 per year as a redirection fee.
I’m actually very thankful to this walk-through documentation written by those guys from blog-well.com. It is a complete step by step redirection procedure that would surely help you a lot. You just have to follow it religiously and I assure you that your site will be well-redirected.
8. Lastly, enjoy tweaking your newly self-hosted wordpress blog, and put any ads or java script goodies you’ve been wanting to grab(but are not allowed to by your host because of security issues) when you were still in wordpress.com!
Happy Blogging!
