Blogger to WordPress converts – Beginner Questions

WordPress is better and different than Blogger. This article answers common questions asked by people who moved from Blogger to WordPress.

WordPress is better and different compared to Blogger. This article answers common questions asked by people who moved from Blogger to WordPress.

Where is my Dashboard?

See Site admin under Meta section in the right side bar of your blog.

Can I edit my theme?

If you have installed WordPress software in your own site, yes. If you are using WordPress.com then you need to pay 15 USD to edit your theme. Alternatively, you can choose from different themes given at Site Dashboard -> Appearance -> Themes

Do I have facility like edit layout->page elements in Blogger?

Yes. Check Site Appearance–> Widgets. You can re arrange the order of widgets in your side bar.

How to import my blog posts, comments from Blogger?

Tools–> import–> blogger and follow the directions. It is easy, quick and automatic.

What is the difference between page and post?

Pages are more important and permanent posts that you would like to show to all your readers. For example, you can write about you, provide contact form, list archive of posts. These pages will always visible in navigation menu.

How can I change the long post URL-s?

WordPress.com automatically keeps your post heading as part of the URL. So, go to write post or edit post. Below the post title field, you have an option to change the URL. For who have installed WP in their own sites, go to Settings–>permalinks for changing settings for all posts.

Tamil in WordPress?

See relevant links for Tamil in WordPress.

How to Troubleshoot WordPress?

 If you have a problem with WordPress, these simple steps and resources will help you troubleshoot.

Whenever you have a problem with your WordPress website,

0. Don’t Panic. So far as your WordPress database and wp-contents folder is fine, you are fine.

1. Switch to the default WordPress template and deactivate all plugins. If you are fine now, switch to another trouble free template or activate the plugins one by one to find out the culprit.

If you still have problem, it is possibly a WordPress problem. Then, there are few places to ask for WordPress help:

* WP support forum for How-To and Troubleshooting. Check other WP help forums too.

* Frequently asked questions for WP troubleshooting

* WP documentation for troubleshooting.

* Tweet your question with the hashtags #WordPress and #help

2. Ask your friends using WordPress for help.

3. Create a test installation of WP in another server and make sure it isn’t a hosting problem.

4. Try all new WP upgrades at the above test installation before you try with your regular blogs.

5. If nothing works, time to hire a WordPress consultant

WordPress Tips

Collection of useful links for WordPress Tips and Tricks. Includes tips for WordPress page speed and bulk deleting spam comments.

WordPress tips which I personally found useful:

* Bulk delete spam comments

* How to fix if your stats plugin keeps showing zero visits?

* WordPress page specific header images

* To speed up WordPress, add the following to your wp-config.php:

// Enable the WordPress Object Cache:
define(ENABLE_CACHE, true);

WordPress.com Vs WordPress.org

WordPress.com is good for having reliable hosting, site security, community and best suited for tech novices. WordPress.org gives you complete freedom, branding, value for domain name, more than blogging for an affordable cost.

Which is good? WordPress.com or WordPress.org? Both have their pros and cons.

WordPress.com advantages
Reliable hosting:

A WordPress.com blog gets world class free hosting. So your blog is always fast. A WordPress.org blog in own domain, if not maintained well, may become slow. Also, some hosts have problems with some of the WordPress.org features. So, you need to choose your host carefully.

Technical Expertise:

In WordPress.com you need not worry about anything except writing. But, in WordPress.org you need to have mimimum technical skills atleast. Or, you need to find someone who can maintain it for free or cost.

WordPress Security Tips

Easy and common sense tips for better WordPress security. Keep WordPress themes and plugins update. Use a strong and unique password.

WordPress security tips:

* Keep your WordPress installation and plugins up-to-date always and immediately. Many attackers try to take advantage of loopholes in outdated software. So, do not hesitate to upgrade WordPress fearing it would break custom made themes and plugins. Security should be the top priority. Use only trusted sources for WordPress themes and plugins. Please be aware that most of the pretty looking free WordPress themes may be having malware.

* Use a strong, unique and different password each for WordPress admin user name, WordPress MySQL database, FTP user account and the web hosting control panel user name.

These two steps are the most important WordPress security measures as recommended by Matt, the WordPress founder.

Slow WordPress?

Is your WordPress site slow? Try these simple steps to increase  your page loading speed:

1. Upgrade WordPress software, current theme and plugins to their latest versions.

2. Use W3 Total Cache plugin. This will increase page speed for repeat visitors and non-bouncing visitors.

3. Deactivate and delete as many unnecessary plugins you can. Check the remaining plugins using P3 (Plugin performance profiling plugin). If you can implement a function by directly modifying the theme without using the plugin, then do it.

GPL Premium WordPress themes reselling

Premium WordPress theme designing is a small and growing community. The more we support it the more we can get from it. The success of the current GPL theme providers is very important to encourage more designers to release their themes under GPL.

I saw a site reselling Premium WordPress themes released under GPL. This is legal but I am not convinced it is ethical. I strongly discourage anyone buying from such resellers or venturing into such business model.

I recommend StudioPress.com

Why should you buy from the original theme designers?

I have bought developer / membership licenses from iThemes,WooThemes, Thesis Theme,StudioPress and Elegant Themes.

Buying from the original theme designers gives you not just the theme but access to support forums, knowledgebase, tutorials and theme documentation. I have found these resources invaluable and saves you loads of time spent in understanding and customizing the theme. I am also guaranteed to get the latest version of all themes and instant access to new theme releases in future.

Premium WordPress theme designing is a small and growing community. The more we support it the more we can get from it. The success of the current GPL theme providers is very important to encourage more designers to release their themes under GPL.

Why you should not buy from resellers?

Theme resellers don’t respect the spirit of GPL but take unfair use of it. This is equivalent to leeching. They neither add any value to the theme nor do any work to deserve the money they charge. I am not naming the site here so as not to give it free advertising. Also, this may be just the first of many sites to come. The site I saw don’t even have a name / face. What is the guarantee that they will stay for long?

Not safe

Cheap resellers / free download sites may host malware that can hurt your website and PC very badly