I have recently transferred my other blog Money Saving Student from the hosted blog platform Blogger to the stand alone blog platform WordPress, however I have faced a few problems during this process.

Why Did I Do This?

1. Blogger limited the design of my blog

2. Blogger has recently updated its code which meant that some hacks were not allowed anymore

3. Wordpress has many more features

What Problems Did I Faced?

The main problem that I faced was that for some reason I was unable to import my blogger posts and comments to my new wordpress blog, because the wordpress import feature did not work. This meant that I had to copy and paste all my posts manually, which was a very long and tedious task. The other problem I have found is that in google and other search engines my blog is now indexed wrong, as posts in blogger have “.html” at the end of each post URL, however I hope that this will change soon as I have submitted a sitemap to each of the major search engines.

Was It Worth It?

Yup! I am very happy with the new look blog.

Content is the most important part of a blog, as it will keep your readers coming back.

Below I have composed a list of 5 important blog content rules that you should stick to:

1) Make Your Content Interesting and Useful - Interesting and useful content will keep your readers coming back.

2) Write Regularly - Beginner bloggers should post at least once every two days in order to build up an archive of posts.

3) Check Your Spelling and Grammar - Nothing annoys people more than bad spelling and grammar. It also helps to make you sound more professional and gives you more authority.

4) Write Concisely - This is an important one, as readers will get bored and leave your blog if they have to search through loads of unnecessary content.

5) One Topic Per Post - This ensures that readers can find what they are looking for.

Below are a selection of the best free blog templates available for blogger.com and wordpress.org blogs, enjoy:

Blogger.com Templates

Red Web 2.0 - A brilliant red themed template (also available in pink and blue), which is possibly the best free blogger.com template out there.

Polaroid - This ones a little tricky to set up, however it is definitely worth it.

WP Premium - A brilliant three column template that was originally designed for wordpress.

Blogging Pro Template - A professional looking template that is ready for adsense.

The Late Show - Brilliant for film blogs.

Note: In order to install most of these blogger.com templates all you need to do is download the template and copy the code to into the edit html section of your blogs dashboard.

Wordpress.org Templates

The Morning After - An excellent magazine style blog theme.

WP Premium - The wordpress version of a decent looking template.

Smashing Magazine Theme - I use an edited version of this theme on Learner Blogger.

Structure WordPress Theme - Another magazine style theme that looks excellent.

Insense - A nice professional looking two column theme.

Note: To install most of these templates you just need to download the theme and upload it to /wp-content/themes/ level of your blogs directory.

The design of your blog is very important if you want your blog to be successful. A good looking blog instantly creates a good impression. Your blog design should depend on the expected audience of your blog, which you should always bare in mind when designing your blog. The three most important areas that you should concentrate on are the header, navigation and the sidebar.

Header

The header is very important because it is the first thing that someone sees when they enter your blog. A good header should include the title of your blog (and possibly a very short description of what your blog is about), a search box and a navigation menu. It should also include your blogs logo, to create a brand for your blog. Examples of blogs with good headers include, Boing Boing and Blogger Buster. If you use the hosted blog platform Blogger.com you might find the following post by Amanda of Blogger Buster useful The Easy Way To Make A Great Blog Header.

Navigation

Your blog needs to be easy to navigate; otherwise people will become frustrated and leave your blog. Most importantly you must include a good navigation menu in your header that links to the main pages of your blog. It is also advisable to put links to the main pages of your blog in its footer, so that when someone reads your posts and gets to the bottom of the page they are less likely to leave your blog. Another good tip is to have a related posts widget at the end of each post, so that people will stay on your blog to read more posts on topics that they are interested in.

Sidebar

The sidebar is another important feature of blog design, as generally it appears on every page of your blog and should be a useful tool for people exploring you site. Below is a list of useful things to have in your sidebar:

• A brief “about” your blog sentence
• A search box (if you do not have one in your header)
• Recent posts widget
• Subscribe buttons
• Blog categories
• Blog archives

Summary

• Always consider your intended audience
• Make your blog user friendly and easy to navigate
• Make your sidebar useful to your readers

Choosing a blog platform is an important decision to make, as if you make the wrong choice, you may face difficulties in the future if you decide to change your blog platform. There are two main types of blog platforms, which are hosted and stand alone. Below I will go through the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Hosted Blog Platforms

Hosted blog platforms are most popular with beginner bloggers, as they are usually free to set up and very easy to use. The best hosted platform is Blogger.com, which is Google’s own blogging platform. Last year (2007) it won Best Blogging Host at the Bloggers Choice Awards. I use it for my other blog Money Saving Student.  Other good hosted platforms include Wordpress.com (which is different to Wordpress.org) and LiveJournal.com (one of the first blogging hosts).

Advantages

• They are usually free
• They are easy to set up
• They are usually a lot easier to use than stand alone platforms
• They usually get good search engine rank quickly because they are associated with an already popular domain name

Disadvantages

• You do not get your own domain name usually it will be www.YOURBLOGNAME.YOURBLOGHOST.com (however, you can now buy one with Blogger.com and Wordpress.com)
• Your design is restricted
• There is usually only a limited number of widgets available
• You don’t have complete control over your blog
• It may be difficult to change to a stand alone blog at a later date

Stand Alone Platforms

Stand alone platforms are usually used by more serious bloggers as they require more technical knowledge and you have to pay for them. The most widely used stand alone platform is Wordpress.org , which is what Learner Blogger is powered by. Another popular stand alone blog platform is MovableType.org. Both of these provide free open source software, however you have to pay for hosting and a domain name.

Advantages

• You get complete control over design
• You have your own domain name, which makes your blog look more professional
• You are not reliant on your hosted blog platform (although you may have problems with your hosting, which may cause your blog to be down for awhile)
• Many more widgets and plugins available than on hosted platforms

Disadvantages

• You have to pay for hosting and a domain name
• They can be complicated to set up if you are not very technical
• They can be difficult to upgrade when new software comes out
• It can take longer to get a good search engine ranking

Summary

Which blog platform is best for you depends on your individual needs and constraints such as budget, technical ability and time. I would recommend that if you are a beginner that you should at least try out a hosted blog platform first (such as Blogger.com) just to get a feel for what blogging is all about before possibly contemplating a stand alone blog platform.