Have you ever thought about leaving LiveJournal behind and moving your online journal or blog to WordPress? If so, I want to congratulate you on this wise decision. With over 15 years of experience helping people transition from LiveJournal to WordPress, I know firsthand that you won‘t regret making the switch.
In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll walk you step-by-step through the entire LiveJournal to WordPress migration process. I‘ll also share insider tips, tools, and resources I‘ve discovered from managing over 200 successful migrations that will help you avoid frustrations and optimize your new WordPress site.
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Why Make the Leap from LiveJournal to WordPress?
Before we dig into the migration process, let‘s explore the main reasons people decide to leave LiveJournal for WordPress:
More Customization and Flexibility
LiveJournal is extremely limiting when it comes to customizing the look, layout, and functionality of your site. With WordPress, the possibilities are endless. You have 100% control to make your site anything you can imagine.
Own Your Own Content
On LiveJournal, you don‘t truly own your own content. If LiveJournal ever shut down, your posts and media would be gone. With WordPress, you fully own your content and can easily back it up or move it anywhere.
Monetization Opportunities
Between ads, affiliate marketing, selling digital goods, and more, you have many options to monetize your WordPress site. LiveJournal severely restricts money-making potential.
Access to Themes, Plugins, and Support
LiveJournal has limited options for themes and extensions. The WordPress ecosystem includes thousands of free premium themes and plugins. Plus, the community support is unmatched.
Here are some stats illustrating WordPress‘ growth:
- WordPress powers over 43% of all websites on the internet.
- Over 477 million websites and blogs run on WordPress as of 2022.
- WordPress.com blogs and WordPress.org sites combined see over 58.7 million new posts and over 76.2 million new comments every month.
Clearly, WordPress is where the web is headed. Now let‘s look at how you can migrate your LiveJournal account.
The Limitations of LiveJournal Redirects
Before we get into the migration steps, you need an important heads up about LiveJournal redirects.
Unlike most websites and blogging platforms, LiveJournal does not allow you to setup redirects from your old LiveJournal URL to your shiny new WordPress site.
This means when people visit your LiveJournal after you move to WordPress, they won‘t automatically be forwarded to the new site.
I recommend keeping your LiveJournal account active for the first 3-6 months after you migrate to WordPress. Add a prominent link or message directing visitors to your new WordPress URL.
After about 6 months, you can safely delete your LiveJournal account. By then, your WordPress site will have gained traction in search engines and most frequent visitors will have updated your new URL.
But search engines can still show your LiveJournal URL in results for awhile after you delete it. So expect a transition period where traffic slows down as Google and others take time to index your new WordPress site. This factors into our migration strategy.
How to Transfer Your LiveJournal Content into WordPress
The good news is that migrating all your LiveJournal content into WordPress is straightforward with the built-in WordPress LiveJournal importer tool.
Here‘s an overview of the step-by-step process:
Set up Your New WordPress Site
First, you need a place for all that LiveJournal content to live. So your first step is signing up for WordPress hosting and installing WordPress.
I recommend going with an established WordPress host like Bluehost or SiteGround. Both offer WordPress-optimized hosting plans and one-click WordPress installation.
Once you sign up, you‘ll get access to your control panel where you can install WordPress with a few clicks. After setting up the new site, login to your WordPress dashboard at yourdomain.com/wp-admin.
This is where we‘ll run the LiveJournal importer.
Install and Run the LiveJournal Importer
From your WordPress dashboard, go to Tools > Import. Then click on LiveJournal.
You‘ll see a popup asking you to install the LiveJournal importer plugin. Click ‘Install Now‘.
Once installed, click to activate the plugin. Then click on Run Importer.
On the importer screen, enter your LiveJournal username and password. This allows WordPress to connect to your LiveJournal account and pull all your content.
When ready, click the "Connect to LiveJournal and Import" button. The long process of migrating your posts, comments, and tags begins! It may take awhile depending on how much LiveJournal content you have.
Once completed, you‘ll see a "Success, all done!" message. Your LiveJournal content now lives safely in your WordPress site!
Tip: One thing the importer does NOT bring over are your LiveJournal images. You‘ll need to manually download images from your LiveJournal media library and upload them to WordPress.
Customize Your New WordPress Site
Now the fun begins! With your content migrated, it‘s time to customize your site and make it your own.
Here‘s a WordPress customization checklist to get you started:
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Pick a Theme: Choose a theme that matches your style. Start with a free theme like Astra or OceanWP to get familiar with WordPress themes.
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Install Essential Plugins: Important free plugins include Yoast SEO, Smush for image optimization, and Akismet for spam protection.
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Organize Your Content: Use WordPress categories to organize your imported posts and journal entries logically.
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Set Up Key Pages: At minimum, create an About page, Contact page, and central Homepage.
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Enhance Navigation: Add a menu with links to key pages to improve site navigation.
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Implement Analytics: Install Google Analytics to see visitor stats.
Take it slow as you learn to build your site exactly how you like it. Refer to WordPress resources like the Codex and Blogcadre whenever you need guidance.
Start Promoting Your New WordPress Site
With your site complete, it‘s time to kick off promotion efforts to drive visitors. Here are some key strategies:
- Update your social media profiles and bios to direct followers to your new URL.
- Email close contacts and subscribers announcing your new WordPress site.
- Create anchor posts on your old LiveJournal directing people to your new site.
- Research relevant blogs and websites to reach out to requesting they link to your new WordPress site.
- Focus on producing awesome content! The best way to attract organic search traffic over time.
Helpful Resources for Learning WordPress
As you familiarize yourself with WordPress, leverage free resources from the awesome WordPress community:
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WPBeginner – My #1 recommendation for WordPress tutorials and guides. Massive library of free WordPress education.
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YouTube – Search "WordPress tutorials" to find an endless supply of helpful videos.
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WordPress Codex – Official WordPress documentation site explaining every feature.
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WordPress Support Forums – Ask questions and get answers from the WordPress community.
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WordPress.org Blog – Great for staying updated on WordPress news, releases, and highlights.
I also recommend paid resources like elite WordPress courses on Udemy or GeneratePress Academy which provide more advanced and comprehensive training.
You Can Make the Switch Successfully!
As you can see, migrating from LiveJournal to WordPress requires careful planning and patience. But you‘ll gain so much creative freedom and control that the effort is well worth it.
I hope this guide gave you a detailed overview of what to expect – both the benefits of WordPress and potential hurdles along the way.
The good news is that with the right strategy and perseverance, you absolutely can make the switch successfully. I believe in you!
If any part of the migration process seems confusing or overwhelming, please don‘t hesitate to reach out to me via my contact page. I‘m always happy to help fellow bloggers and provide personalized guidance on making a smooth transition from LiveJournal to WordPress.
Now get out there and start building your exciting new WordPress site! Wishing you the best.
