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Noel Worden
Noel Worden

Posted on • Updated on

Thoughts on bringing over an old(er) blog?

I have a wordpress blog that I started while going through a bootcamp and then continued through my first year on the job. I haven't updated it in almost 2 years, but I do think it has helpful articles. I'd like to drop the hosting service and just push the articles to this platform, probably manually.

First question: is there a more efficient way to bring over already-formatted wordpress blog posts? (I've dug around, but haven't found anything)

Second question: is it weird to basically re-post old blog postings? I do genuinely think they could be helpful to people, but I don't know if there are unsaid rules or practices when doing something like this?

I'm open to any and all feedback, thank you!

Latest comments (1)

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Glenn Stovall

Here's one way you could automate it: Dev.to has a publishing from RSS feature. You could point that towards your current site's feed, and pull the content in that way. If you are looking to remove your old blog entirely, you'll want to remove the canonical_url tags from the new posts.

There are also WordPress plugins that could help automate some or all of the process. I haven't tested these yet, but Google led me to the Post on Dev.to WP Plugin and a WordPress to markdown converter.

To your second question, no it isn't weird. In fact, I don't think people do it enough. Publishing content one time, in one format, in one place only makes sense if the following are true:

  • everyone that piece of content could help was ready for it at the same time.
  • They also look for answers in the same places;
  • They all learn the exact same way.

That a'int it.

Publishing your content in multiple formats and places is a good thing. If you want to move your content here, feel free doing so. I would advise looking into canonical_urls. Your content should have one home on the internet (the canonical URL), and all other links should point to that. If you migrate here, I'd advise using 301 redirects to ensure you don't break anything or lose any SEO juice.