How to Switch from WordPress to Showit: a Guide for Food Bloggers

Showit is my absolute favorite website builder, and I can’t rave about it enough. As a website nerd and foodie, I visit food blogs all the time. I couldn’t help but notice that Showit isn’t used often by food bloggers. Knowing what I do about Showit, there’s a missed opportunity here! WordPress is king in the blogging world for good reason, but Showit is an excellent option, too. Especially if you’re a “new-ish” food blogger wanting a more on-brand, polished website that’s easy to maintain yourself. Let’s chat about what it’s like to switch from WordPress to Showit as a food blogger!

Step One: Make Sure Showit is Right for You

Investing in a new website is a big decision, especially when you run an online business! So before you fall head over heels for Showit, let’s pause and make sure it’s a good fit for your needs. Taking this step will also help you feel more at ease during the rest of the process!

Benefits of Switching to Showit

Showit doesn’t cut corners and provides all the tools needed to build a high quality blog. Here are some key features to take note of:

• Websites are optimized for both desktop and mobile
• Showit integrates with WordPress for blogging power
• Advanced SEO settings and WordPress Plugins are available
• Easy drag-and-drop editing, no coding required
• Creative freedom – change colors, fonts, and layouts with ease
• Work with a dedicated support team and expert designers who care

Why Showit Might *Not* be a Good Fit for You

While Showit is AMAZING, there are some things that it can’t do (at least for now). Before making the switch, consider that:

• Some WordPress plugins might not be compatible with Showit. But most are – including food blogger favorites like WP Recipe Maker, Pretty Links, Yoast SEO, and Akismet. You’ll need the Showit + Advanced Blog plan to add custom plugins.

• Showit does not fully support running ads from Mediavine or AdThrive. For more information on running ads with Showit, and examples of Showit sites with ads, check out this Showit Help Article.

If those two points aren’t a deal breaker! Let’s move on something more fun: choosing how to create your site!

Step Two: Decide Whether to DIY or a Hire a Web Designer

With Showit, there are 3 options for creating a website:

• Buying a template + customizing it yourself
• Buying a template + hiring a designer to customize it for you
• Hiring a designer to create a fully custom website layout for you

How do you know which option is best for your food blog? Let’s take a closer look at each option to help you decide.

Going The DIY Route With a Showit Template

Customizing a template yourself is one of the most popular ways to use Showit! Because Showit is easy to use and offers creative freedom, savvy business owners have created their dream site in less than a week.

The pros of going the DIY route are:

• A lower investment than custom design or template customization, since you’re not hiring a designer
• Quick turnaround time – you get to work at your own pace!

How to Buy a Template:

You can buy a Showit template directly from Showit’s store, or from a Showit designer who has their own independent template shop. The investment for a template can range anywhere from a few hundred to $1000+, depending on the features you want. Most design shops offer payment plans.

Shameless plug: you’ll find gorgeous, strategic templates created for food bloggers like you in my template shop!

Meet in the Middle with Template Customization

Template customization is a hybrid of custom design and going the DIY route.

You choose your template, and hire a design pro to customize it for your brand! The cost of your template and the design fee are typically separate investments.

While Showit is easy to use, some business owners choose to avoid the DIY stress altogether and have someone else do the dirty work for them. Because we’re starting with a template, the process is often quicker and a lower investment than custom design.

Getting a Custom Showit website

Hiring a website designer to create a custom-tailored food blog allows you to create your vision from scratch! It is also the option that often requires the highest level of investment, in regards to both time and money.

In Showit, I have the creative freedom to start with a blank slate and create something that embodies your brand and heart. Because a new business changes so much, I do recommend waiting until you’ve been blogging for at least a few years to invest in custom design.

Want to work together for a template customization or fully custom website? Get the details on my services here!

Step Three: Prepare Your Content

Whether you’ll be DIY-ing a template or working with a designer, I recommend preparing your content before you start the design process!

General Things to Prepare:

• Write text for your regular website pages like the Home, About, and Contact pages
  • Pro Tip: If you’ll be starting with a template, you can use it to guide your writing!
• Gather photos to use for backgrounds, etc.
• Brainstorm ways to categorize your recipes (ex: by ingredient, by meal type, etc.)
  • Pro Tip: You can categorize your posts multiple ways within your site!
• Make note of any WordPress plugins you want to use
• Optional: Create a freebie to grow your email list

Transferring Your Blog Posts

If you’ll be switching to Showit from WordPress or Squarespace, the Showit support team will help with migrating your blog posts. Hooray! Your blog posts will now live in a WordPress admin that is connected to your Showit account. Blog text, photos, and WordPress plugins can all be migrated.

Your current blog will be disconnected at some point during this process. I recommend waiting until you have a Coming Soon page up for your Showit site to start the transfer.

Step Four: Design & Launch

Woohoo! You’ve made it to the last step. Obviously if you’ll be working with a designer, they’ll take care of the heavy lifting at this point.

If you’ll be DIY-ing a template yourself, the template shop you purchase from will likely provide resources to help you. (Hint hint: access to my Showit tutorial library is included with every template purchase!)

Let’s Recap

Phew, we just covered a whole lot in this post! To get all of this info in a handy guide plus more tips, grab my FREE Roadmap to Switching to Showit for Food Bloggers. One of my favorite things about this guide is that it includes “check points” to help you track your progress!

Speaking of progress, if you’re ready to take the next step towards making the switch, check out my Showit design services or the template shop!