As you know I have a blog at wordpress http://santus.wordpress.com I decided to migrate it to a new self-hosted blog at  http://krisantus.com. Well, one of the main reason was it is not possible to use javascript at blog hosted on wordpress according to wordpress.com faq: can I used javascript on my blog?.

I just wanted to explore google adsense by adding it to my blog because I can’t think of any reason why I shouldn’t. The code for adsense uses javascript. Placing the code in a text widget would not work because WordPress just strip it off when you save it. Furthermore, blog hosted on WordPress .com should not contain any advertisement according to wordpress.com faq: adsense. In addition to that, I have been thinking about buying a domain for a while, so I guess this is just the right time to do it.

What I’m going to write in this post is just a documentation of what I have done yesterday so that it might be useful for anyone who want to do the same thing, or correct me if there were a mistake.

day 1

buying a host and domain

I bought the domain and host from montir hostfor only IDR 125,000/year based on Ronald’s suggestion. So far so good. It supports cpanel and fantastico deluxe which I use to install wordpress 2.6. Fantastico deluxe is great with only one click wordpress has been installed.
fantastico-deluxe

day 2

Importing post,page,comment, categories, custom fields from old blog

In my old blog I just need to export its content into an xml file (manage -> export)


in the new blog I just import the old post. It is that simple.

suggestion: Before importing the content to a new blog you should set your Permalink option. It is like a

naming rule for a link in your blog. By default it would be like this:

http://krisantus.com/?p=123 which is not pretty. The second option is much better

http://krisantus.com/2008/08/25/sample-post/

When changing permalink (permanent link) if you have already had an old post you might lose a back link from other site. In that case you might want to use permalink redirect plug in which automatically redirect the old post to the new link.

Adding theme and plug in

By default, WordPress classic and default themes have been available for use. In addition to that, you can find thousands of plug ins and themes from WordPress.org  website. In order to use them just upload the file and extract it to plugins or themes directory below the wp-contents folder. Hmm, there are so many interesting things to explore here.

Well, I notice that there are many themes, which are available for blog hosted on wordpress, can’t be downloaded from  WordPress.org. Currently I’m using StudioPress template which is available in red, green,orange and blue color. Well the advantage from this themes are 3 column ( 1 for content, 2 columns in the sidebar), simple, and adsense ready. Yeah, in this themes there are 3 places has been set to place adsense from googe (160×600,336×280, and 468×60).To place adsense code you just need to paste in on theme editor. However, Off course you can always add other type of ads in a text widget.

Advantage & Disadvantage of self-hosted wordpress blog

The advantage is clear it is very flexible  you can add any themes and plug ins. However it becomes the disadvantage too since it requires more efforts whereas in the self hosted blog most of them has been ready, (but of course you can’t add more plug in).

In a self hosted WordPress blog you can freely add javascript or use advertisement on your blog.

what about the stat in my previous blog?

Well, you can inherit the history of your old blog, but your old blog must be deleted because only one blog should be associated with WordPress.com Stats plugin. In a self-hosted blog you have to install WordPress.com Stats plug in first. This plug in will enable WordPress to track your blog so that you can view the blog statistic. This plug in must be associated with one WordPress.com API key which can be retrieved from [your blog].wordpress.com/wp-admin/profile.php.

If you don’t want to delete your old blog just create a new wordpress account, but the blog stat will start from zero. However, you can map your old blog in wordpress to your new self hosted blog. In order to do that you have to add the new domain in your old blog. Unfortunately, this require you to have 10 credits per year and registration fee (which can be bought though pay pal).

Adsense

In order to use adsense you just need to register and submit your web. In order to be approved the blog has to be written in supported language. At the first time I register about 50% of my posts was written in English and the rest was written in Bahasa and told me to reapply using Bahasa instead. After I translate some of  post written in Bahasa into English then it is approved (this is what I’m talking about it my previous post).Once your adsense account approved you can add it to any web as long as it conforms google adsense policy.

Adsense available in 4 options, adsense for content, search (just like the search box on the top-right of this page), and feeds and referrals. More information about them can be found here.

Current problem

  • Smiley in a box (this should be fixed with css modification)
  • Avatar. I have set my new blog to use Gravatar as the picture.  For some user who has comment previously the picture is missing.
  • My friend sad, the third column, appear under the second column when this blog viewed using IE6. However I’m not sure about this problem.

That’s all for now. Well, if you have link http://santus.wordpress.com in your web, I would really appreciate if you update it to http://krisantus.com. In addition to that, I welcome any comments or suggestion you might have :)