After Kyla Marie Charles grew a successful blog on Blogger for 10 years and made her mark as an influencer, she realized her website was no longer able to support her needs. She began the search for her next platform and discovered WordPress.com. 

“I started to become limited by the features that Blogger offered since starting my own podcast and my growing community with #MomChatMonday,” she writes. When she started out, she needed a platform that was quick and simple to navigate: her own corner of the web for her sporadic recipes. As her site and audience grew, she needed a better solution for her blossoming online community, as well as ecommerce options to help her expand even more. “After all that time and hard work, I didn’t want to keep stifling the ideas that I finally felt capable of taking on professionally.”

Leaving her old platform, Kyla transitioned to WordPress.com — on the WordPress.com Business plan — and discovered she now has infinite possibilities. She has a home for an official #MomChatMonday community, her podcast, and a variety of blog content from recipes, DIY projects, and posts on motherhood. As she ponders her future, she isn’t certain what her next steps are, but she’s excited to do it on WordPress.com. “My new blog,” she writes, “is up for the challenge.”

Photo Credit: Kyla Marie Charles

Building and launching your website can be an incredibly exciting time, whether you’re a blogger sharing your ideas and establishing your brand or a business owner selling your products and services worldwide. But what happens when you’ve outgrown your current platform? Here’s how you can make the switch to WordPress.com, and a few features to consider as you build your new online home.

• Import your content: People come to WordPress.com from different places on the web, and we have various importers that do much of the heavy lifting for you. Coming from Blogger like Kyla? Here’s the Blogger importer guide.
• Set up essential pages: Have some fun drafting a new About page like Kyla. Find inspiration from pre-designed page layouts built with blocks to build other evergreen pages like a Services or FAQs page, or a simple Contact page to connect with your audience or start generating leads immediately. 
• Take advantage of our ecommerce features: Collecting monthly payments? Offering writing workshops? Thinking of setting up a premium service? Kyla, for example, has pondered the idea of launching a book club, offering exclusive access to members. Once your site is migrated and you’re ready to earn money, you can use the Payments block on a site with a paid WordPress.com plan.

Is it time for you to make the switch? Let’s get down to business.