Wow, I spent a ton of hours on this but it finally worked out. The blog design is just temporary (I used a free template until I can come up with my own design) but the technical (stressful) part is done. I’m excited!
The bad news: I was wrong on one point. Google did decide to cut off use of Google Friend Connect (GFC) for any sites other than Blogger. They want to force everyone to use Google+. I personally think Google+ is the stupidest thing I’ve ever encountered, so I won’t be encouraging my readers to do that. 
The only down sides are:
- Now I won’t have a list of “Followers” which doesn’t really mean anything except I liked how it enhanced the sense of community
- To comment, you’ll have to either create a WordPress account (which is free, and VERY similar to GFC) or just type in your name and URL each time.
The good news is that my feeds will still work in everyone’s Google Reader, for those who are already following me with GFC. I was able to update my feed in Blogger to point to my new WP site, so you will still get my new posts in Reader without doing anything. This makes me happy! (Sorry if some of you got duplicates of my old posts in Reader. Not sure why it did that, but it should be a one-time thing as it finds the new feed).
New subscribers can also use Google Reader, by clicking the Get the RSS Feed link under “Subscribe via Google Reader” in the right-hand column. You can also subscribe via e-mail or Like my Facebook page (which I figure will now become the primary subscription method, along with Google Reader). So if you haven’t done so yet, be sure to “Like” Sophistique Noir on Facebook. Or you can follow my blog with Bloglovin.
The other good news is I was able to create the exact same URL structure on the new site, so all of your links to my posts (such as in your Red & Black posts) will still work. No broken links on anyone’s blog – that’s a good thing!! However, if I missed anything in that regard, let me know. My URL is still www.SophistiqueNoir.com.
I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on this new platform (excluding the design, because I’m still working on that. *wink*). I hated to lose GFC, but I gave it a ton of thought and decided that having full control over my content was too important. I invest so much time in this blog, I hate having it all hosted by a company I have no control over. Not to mention that it’s just not easy enough to manage on Blogger with the limited time I now have available. Since I do have so much control now, if there’s something you don’t like about how the new blog works, let me know! I can probably fix it.
Thanks for understanding, and welcome to the new Sophistique Noir! 
Oh, I’m curious how you’ve managed to keep GFC updates functional. I’ve been thinking about moving to WordPress too, but moving the subscribers along is a concern. That, and I have no idea yet what domain name I would use.
It wasn’t easy!! Here’s an article that I relied heavily on for this transition (scroll down to “Moving feed subscribers…”). This is for migration to WordPress on your own server, not WordPress.com (you could probably find some good articles on that, too, if that’s the route you want to go, and it might be simpler). There were a LOT of things I hadn’t thought about before I read that article, but with its help I was able to do every step successfully. Except the part about Migrating Google Friend Connect Followers, because GFC no longer supports that. But the Moving Feed Subscribers section tells how to at least keep your GFC followers receiving your feed in Google Reader.
Congrats on successfully moving to WP.
I do like the layout a lot.
Sal
Thanks! Ultimately I want a design that is a bit less corporate, but I’m happy with this for now. I was bored with my old Blogger layout!
I really like your new layout! Thumbs up
Thanks, Ria!
Congrats!
Aren’t you shocked I didn’t have to call you once throughout the whole process? ;-D
Oooh, welcome to my little dark corner of the web. I’m so surprised! I used blogger years ago and found myself frustrated trying to make it like I wanted than useful, so that was why I moved lock, stock, and barrel over here when I decided to try out this “wordpress thing” people kept raving about. I really searched for the ideal platform, too, since no longer a novice and knowing what I wanted. There a few bugaboos that get to me sometimes (mostly Google related), especially since I’m on the free service, but they’re rather minor so far. Hope you’ll be happy. I’m happy! Since now I get to follow you TWO ways (in Reader and WordPress).
Lol! Yeah, I think Google doesn’t want to play well with WordPress because they’re afraid of the competition!
So far, I’m liking it in your world, except I miss Blogger’s spam filters!! I need to find a good plug-in to handle that on WP.
I’ve been toying with the idea of getting off of wordpress.com and building my own wordpress site. I’ll be interested in following your transition.
It requires quite a bit of tech know-how, or at least a host with good tech support. If you have that, I think it’s worth it. But let’s see how I feel in a month or so…
I’m curious why the profile pics for other WP users aren’t showing up on their comments here.
Oooh, new site! Exciting!
I love your blog, it’s such an inspiration– I’m so glad you are taking charge of it in a way that makes you happy.
Aww, thanks for your kind words!!
whoooho! good luck for you and congratulations! I’ve bought my own domain 3 months ago and still didn’t transfer to wordpress. It’s so scary! the customization is a little trickier than blogger I think.
Since I’m only QA and my knowledge with coding web developing is limited it takes me a long time to complete my design…
The GFC do means something if you’re related to PR agencies and they want to know how many people are following you, but I guess you’re not that type of blogger and you don’t care for these things.
Yes, it can be trickier if you want to go beyond the free templates, but there are a LOT of templates out there that are plug-and-play with some simple customization options.
I hate losing GFC but I do have Google Analytics, so I can still provide potential sponsors with stats on how many people are reading my posts. But you are correct; that’s not a huge concern for me at this time since I just blog for fun.
Great, First of all I would like to congratulate you for moving to WordPress. Then I must say that I should also use WordPress, for the success and good growth,
It’s a great tool for the more serious blogger, especially if you have some technical skills.
I am surprised- your posts showed up in the “Blogs You Follow” part of Blogger. I guess it’s connected to Google reader?
Well, it seems most everything transferred over smoothly. Great job! Now on to the fun design stuff!
Yes, “Blogs You Follow” is tied into Reader. I didn’t know for sure until I made my transition. Thank goodness for me!
I hope Google never changes that…
Congratulations! Looking forward to seeing what cool design you work up for it.
Thanks!!
Hi there! What a surprise to know about this change, I´ve been away from the blogosphere from the beginning of my holidays. But of course I´ll been following your adventures as always.
Good luck with your new place!
Thanks! Hope you are enjoying your holidays!
I’m so glad you managed it, it looks great! And you transferred over your posts as well, that’s wonderful because I use to get inspiration from your outfit posts. Congratulations
Oh yes, I would never have wanted to transfer to WordPress without my archives. It was tricky getting the old posts to transfer, and some of the images are blurry now, but I can fix those up over time. As if I needed more to do…
Apparently the transfer is normally quite simple, but I guess I was the unlucky one!
whew! glad that your posts will still show up in google reader. Happy to hear that everything transferred well.
Cheers!
I’m glad, too! Believe me, that was my biggest worry!