Is it possible to...

Great Elephant · #1 (**permalink**) 06-03-2008, 04:52 PM

Hey everyone,

On top of my other website which is a few months away from being completed. I’ve decided that I’d like to create a blog about my current struggles in my life. To be more specific I’m going to cover topics such as:

Paying for University on my own – Dealing with my change in lifestyle, learning to budget for the first time, trying to live a normal life while extremely broke

The Day to day happenings in my life – Dealing with a new job, stressful moments, my social life

And anything else that comes up along the way…

I guess if I summarize what this blog is about it basically covers my struggles to pay for my own education while maintaining a somewhat regular life.

I want to make it clear that I don’t care too much about making money off the website. Although those options may be open months from now if I start getting decent traffic. Right now all I’m concerned about is putting out a quality blog and maybe inspiring a few people who are in the same predicament that I'm in.

I’ve read most of the debate over which blog host is better and currently I’m trying to decide between Blogger and Wordpress. I’m leaning towards Wordpress because it has so many add ons and great templates but at the same time I’m attracted to Bloggers ease of use.

What I plan on doing initially is just creating a blog with the blogs host until I find money in my budget to purchase a domain and a host.

My questions right now are:

Would it be possible for me to have a blog and maybe a few months later transfer the blog to my own host and domain name?

If I use Blogger is it possible for me just to purchase a Domain name? I read somewhere that I dont need to get a host for Blogger

Any additional comments are welcome.

lisa · #2 (**permalink**) 06-03-2008, 06:25 PM

Someone else will have to answer the hosting part of Blogger. When I used them I used the free Blogger domain. I know you can publish your blog to your own domain with Blogger but I'm not sure about how the hosting part works. Maybe someone else can answer.

As far as transferring your blog to a website, I think it's best to decide upfront if you are going to use a blog or a website. And if you do start with a website perhaps introduce a blog later or vice versa. Instead of transferring content from one to the other just use both. But I would start with one or the other.

The reason is a blog is structured a little different than a website. It has a lot of dynamically generated content. In English, that just means there are scripts that tell the content how to display automatically (by date, by category, etc.) A website generally has more static pages and it would be a challenge to try to setup a website to function like a blog.

Now of course you could copy the blog content and create web static web pages but that's a lot of work. It's better to take the time to plan and launch the one you think is best for how you plan to deliver the content.

Great Elephant · #3 (**permalink**) 06-03-2008, 06:46 PM

Thanks for the quick reply lisa

I definitely know this is going to be a blog. I think I should maybe better clarify myself

For example let say I decide to use Wordpress.

I plan to start my blog right away but I'll keep the default url (myblog.wordpress.com). Maybe in a couple of months if things are going well and I might decide to host my blog so that I'll be able to have my own unique identity on the net plus to open up the possibility of adding add ons like adsense.

But that’s where my question comes in.

Do I have the luxury of being able to transfer my blog intact to a host months after I’ve started it?

Does that make better sense?

lisa · #4 (**permalink**) 06-03-2008, 07:41 PM

Oh I see! Yes, it's pretty easy. All you do is import your files (WordPress has this option in the control panel) And then when you move to your new host you can export the XML file that contains all your posts. It's pretty easy to do.

Just keep in mind if you are already getting traffic at myblog.wordpress.com and then you switch to your own domain you will need to setup some kind of 301 redirect so you don't lose your rankings. Remember your posts will now have new addresses (URLs). Another reason it's just best to start off on your own domain rather than worrying about switching later.

James · #5 (**permalink**) 06-03-2008, 11:15 PM

Just a thought but I think it would be ok. If not someone can point out the problem. It just popped into mind and sometimes after I think things over I find conflicts. Anyway...

You could get your domain name and register it for very little. Then set up with the free site for your blog and redirect the domain to it. Promote the domain name you own.

This would not solve the ranking issue I suppose, but it would get around people losing track of you when your real domain name changes and deal effectively with the cost issue.

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