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1. kellyoneill
   Member
   Posted 8 months ago #

   Here's the deal:

   I have a non-Wordpress site: http://theartistoflife.com that has a WordPress blog on it: http://theartistoflife.com/blog.

   I just redesigned the whole site with WordPress (Anthology Theme) on a test domain: http://loveyourpixels.com. (I didn't do anything with a blog on it). I'm about to use Backup Buddy to migrate the new design to my current domain (theartistoflife).

   The end result I want is to have my current blog posts (no current navigation, styling, anything) to be available when my visitors click my blog link on theartistoflife.com. It would function like the blog setup here: http://authorjasongarrett.com.

   I'm lost on the best and least drama way to do it. Can I back up the old blog and then somehow import only the posts (stripping all the rest) to the new blog directory? Can I do what I need to within the admin area? I don't want to break links or mess with my SEO.

   Any guidance would be appreciated. Step-by-step is ideal, considering I've never encountered this particular issue, though I've built numerous sites. Thanks in advance!

2. Snat
   Member
   Posted 8 months ago #

   Just woke up so if this makes little sense, I will check on it later but could you not export your old blog using XML and just select posts. In your old blog wp-admin, go to Tools, Export and then it should ask what do you want to export. Export the post and comments or anything else you wish.

   Then on your new blog import them so that only the posts are imported. At this point create a new page called "blog", go to settings, reading and change it so that the post page is "blog". Make sure you have another page for your home page, which I believe you have already done.

   Once that is working, go to permalink and change it so that it uses your old blog setup but add /blog/ in front of it (so something like this /blog/%year%/%postname%.html) so that it matches your old URL setup and not mess up any back links. All pages will still look like yourdomain/page but your blog articles would look like yourdomain/blog/whatever-permalink/.

   Hope it helps a bit.

3. kellyoneill
   Member
   Posted 8 months ago #

   Thank you! I'll try that and report back. :)

4. kellyoneill
   Member
   Posted 8 months ago #

   Ok, now I'm ready to import the content from the existing blog - but I don't see a way to do just posts and comments.

   I only see two options, so do I export the full blog that has everything including navigation and pages I don't want, or just the posts? I would like to keep my comments, and I don't see a clear cut way to get them.

   Once I have the right exported file, when I import, will it wreck my site since it's a separate instance of WordPress? I have the blog page already set up (un-linked and no content so far) and I've set my posts to go there once they are imported.

   I hope I can get a little clarity from you, Snat, or someone else on here. I'm ready to get this rollin' today! Thank you. :)

5. Snat
   Member
   Posted 8 months ago #

   If your exported from your old blog only had the posts and comments - when you import it into the new one that's all that will be there.

   You should not lose anything as it just imports your post and comment content and that is it.

   But, making backups before you do anything is always a wise idea.

6. kellyoneill
   Member
   Posted 8 months ago #

   Snat,

   Thank you - my problem is that I didn't have the option to export just the posts and comments. I could either export everything including pages, navigation, etc, or export only the posts.

   Any ideas?

   I have backed up the blog and the site.

   Thanks!!

7. Snat
   Member
   Posted 8 months ago #

   Oh right, I see what you mean. Suppose an option is on your old blog delete everything you do not want to export and then export an "all" XML and then use that to import into the new site.

8. kellyoneill
   Member
   Posted 8 months ago #

   Ahhhh... that might work - Can I delete style sheets, strip the theme, delete pages, menus, everything?

   When I import, will I be able to choose that the imported content goes only to the blog area?

   Thank you!

9. Snat
   Member
   Posted 8 months ago #

   When you export, it will not export anything like the CSS - that's done via the theme files.

   Just delete all the pages, links and all that so that all you got left is the posts and the comments. Then, export. When imported into the new blog, it will put all that into the post section so wherever on your new site you have set to display posts - that is where they will be.

10. kellyoneill
    Member
    Posted 8 months ago #

    That worked like a charm! Lost a few pics and had to reinstall plugins, but not many, and I can re-add them. Thank you for taking the time to help.

11. Snat
    Member
    Posted 8 months ago #

    Not a problem at all, happy to help.

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