How To Migrate Your Blog from Zenfolio to WordPress
Blogging on Zenfolio was a mistake. A big one. Now I’m working to “fix” it by moving my blog from Zenfolio to WordPress.
Why am I taking on this project? Simply said, Zenfolio’s blog capabilities simply aren’t up to par with other blogging platforms available. You can read about my specific complaints/challenges here.
Spoiler Alert – there is no easy fix.
If I didn’t lose you after you read that, read on and I’ll fill you in on how I am moving my content from Zenfolio to WordPress.
I wish I could say I found some great tool that will pull my blog posts from Zenfolio’s servers and plop them onto my WordPress site but I don’t think that tool exists. Yet. (If you’ve found it, please let me know!!)
Until then, I’m forced to gather my content the hard way.
Copy-Paste-Repeat.
It is tedious. I am going through over 460 posts on Zenfolio and copying them to my WordPress site one-by-one.
I open two browser windows side-by-side. One with my Zenfolio blog dashboard and the other on my WordPress dashboard. I’ll copy the title, optimize it if necessary (i.e. shorten it or include an applicable SEO keyword or phrase) and then copy over the body of the text.
I then pursue the text for links and make sure they are sill valid and update them as necessary.
Adding Images/Photos
The copy/paste is just for text – you still need to grab your images. There are two ways to go about this:
- Go into your Zenfolio photos and download them from your website and then re-upload them to WordPress
- Find the original photos on your hard drive and upload them to WordPress.
I usually opt for option #2. I use Lightroom for my photo management so my photos are fairly easy to find. I am then able to export them using dimensions that are ideal for my WordPress theme and with a fresh watermark.
Yoast SEO
One of the WordPress plugins I find VERY useful is Yoast SEO. For all of my posts (old and new) it helps optimize posts for search engine optimization. I’m using the free version, and its great. The paid version also includes some cool bells & whistles.
You choose a focus keyword (or phrase) and Yoast will score it for SEO and provide tips to improve it. If necessary with my old posts, I’ll update a few things to help search engines find my content. I’m already generating WAY more traffic than I was on Zenfolio and I’ve only moved about around 10% of my posts. Good SEO makes a HUGE difference, and Zenfolio obviously wasn’t pulling its weight in that department.
301 Redirect
The next step in transitioning from Zenfolio to WordPress is to get people to visit the new post instead of the old one. If we had code level access a 301 redirect would be ideal. But with Zenfolio that isn’t an option. Instead I’ve been using an HTML meta tag redirect. It isn’t as powerful as a proper 301 redirect with regard to search engine rankings but it is better than nothing.
I use RapidTables 301 Redirect Code Generator. Enter the old URL and the new URL, select HTML meta tag redirect from the “Redirect Type” drop down, and then click “Generate Code”.
Select/copy the code.
Go back to your blog post on Zenfolio (edit view). Switch to the “Source” view and insert the code at the above the post.
Close and save the old post on Zenfolio and then open a new tab in your browser, enter the old post URL and test the redirect. After verifying its functionality, move on to the next post.
Conclusion
I never said it would be easy, but the process above will get the job done…eventually. If you have any suggestions for speeding up the process, or a trick I haven’t thought of, please let me know! For the rest of us, I hope this tutorial saves you a bit of time and effort in figuring out the best way to move your blog from Zenfolio to WordPress.
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23 Comments
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Hey Angie
Thanks so much for this blog. I’ve created a new website and I’m in the process of moving all my blog content over from Zenfolio for exactly the same reasons. Don’t get me wrong, I loved them for a good 4 years but I want more control over my site and their SEO just doesn’t cut it. This blog is just what I need to redirect some pages until I can redirect the whole lot. Thank you!
Hi Anne, Sorry to hear you’re having to deal with the same hassle I did, but glad my post was helpful! Good luck with moving/building your new site! :-)
Hi i have tried this but it doesnt seem to work. I wanted to redirect my URl to a new URL but just keeps giving me errors… maybe i am not pasting the code in the right area. I tried at the top before all the other code and under the first line.. any help? Thanks so much for this post.. if it works it will be a life saver.. really hate that they don’t offer a section or way to do a 301 redirect
Thanks
Edna
Hi Edna, What error are you getting? Is it an error in Zenfolio or in WordPress?
Hi Angela,
hope this email finds you well and that you still remember this crazy migration process I am going throuh as well. Zenfolio really should do more on customization, personalization, marketing… even Facebook pixel is still unsupported… and yes, SEO, failure.
However, how do I create redirects as you did as I don’t have access to section? Source view only gives section, well everything that’s inside.
Thanks and hope to hear from you soon.
Hi Gregor – I’m sorry you’re having to go through this, too! When you click on the button to view the Source, just space down a couple of lines of your text and then paste the code in at the top above your other content. Hope that helps!
Just a quick note to say thank you! I, too, am about to make the switch to WordPress, and I’ve bookmarked this page to help me transfer my blog posts. I’m both excited and nervous, but it’s time. ;-)
Hi Rebecca – You’re welcome! Good luck with your transition. Let me know if you have any questions along the way. I’ll do my best to answer them!
Hi, you are right, I’m in a similar situation. Some year ago I had more free time and I used Joomla for my blog and Coppermine for the huge photogallery. When I discovered Zenfolio I thought it was the perfect solution to work only on the content and not on the maintenance. But as you say the blog tool of Zenfolio is terrible (and the SEO of the single pictures too) and in these years no improvementes were made. I’m also planning to move to another more flexible platform.
Hi Sebastiano – So sorry to hear that you’re in a similar situation. I’ve found WordPress to be a great platform for me. It does take more work to get set up, but the benefit is that you can customize it however you wish and aren’t limited by another company’s vision.
Hello!
Just to say that is possible to import the posts to WordPress automatically using the RSS feed and this free plugin https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpematico/
It works perfectly ??!
Giu
https://www.giumagnani.com
Hi Giu – Unless Zenfolio has changed something, Zenfolio only keeps the 10 most recent posts in the RSS feed and there was no way to change it. So…with several years worth of posts that sadly didn’t work for me.
Hi Angela,
Maybe they changed it, because I just imported posts from several years (2014 – present).
Giu
https://www.giumagnani.com
Hi Giu – That’s great! I’m glad to hear that Zenfolio made it a bit easier. I wrote this article back in 2016, and at that time moving my posts was a nightmare that took months. Thanks for sharing the tools that you used! I hope that others who stumble across this article find them helpful.
Yes! When I was looking for a solution, your blog was one of the first results (maybe the only one) to address that problem, so I hope that someone that is facing the same issue could know that there is another option to solve it.
Thank you!
Giu
Giu do you have a tutorial on how this worked? I’m trying this plugin and can’t get it to come up with the feed.
Hi Amy – I wrote this article and transitioned my blog from Zenfolio to WordPress back in 2016 so some things may have changed. Which plugin are you referring to? The only one I mention in the article is Yoast SEO. Yoast is great for helping improve SEO, but doesn’t do anything with your RSS feed. If you can give me a bit more info about what you’re trying to accomplish I’ll do my best to help.
Looks like I may be in a similar situation. I have contacted Zenfolio multiple times for improvements and keep getting told they are working on it and would tell the developers. Most recently they even said they would reach out to me for my input – that was about 30 days ago. Crickets. You are correct in no easy way to move to a new web hosting solution.
Great article, I will start plugging and chugging to move my content. Probably to WordPress as a domain.wordpress.com then move my domain once it is all moved.
Hi Doug – So sorry to hear that Zenfolio still hasn’t made an improvement in this area! Best of luck with moving your blog!
I’ve done it! You need “Import XML and RSS Feeds” by ‘Moove’ it imported ~50 post perfectly with the images, dates, tags, the whole lot!
That’s awesome! I’m glad there is a tool out there now that makes it easier.
I am so relieved to read your comment. Do you have a link for this?