Do you want to have a blog with your own domain name?
How to migrate your wordpress blog to a personal domain?
You may wonder why you would wanna do this in the first place...
Wordpress.com is free to use, but it gives you very limited functionality. For example, if you want to have your facebook page on your blog, or simply a countdown plugin or any other plugin for that matter, it is simply not possible!
So if you are planning to become a serious blogger, you may wanna consider to first move from wordpress.com to wordpress.org. (step by step guidance will follow)
But hey...please bare in mind that this will not guarantee that you will become a successful blogger with 37000 readers!! That would depend on your own blogging charisma...
But you have to start somewhere....so here it goes:
1. Purchase a web hosting service with a domain name of your choice.There are many different hosting companies, and you would have to choose the right one for you.
2. The next step would be to transfer all you previous posts from wordpress.com to wordpress.org: You do this by: Installing the 'wordpress software' through your control panel that is provided with your website.
3. Go to your old wordpress.com dashboard, click tools > Export > save the XML file into you local hard drive.
4. Go to your new website admin panel, click tools > import > choose the XML file you downloaded and click submit.
5. Once you have submitted, you will be directed to a new page. On this page click > authors and check the box called import attachments. This option will automatically import all your posts incl images etc to your new website.
6. If you already have managed to establish some relationship with readers, you want to ensure that your followers are redirected to your new website, even if they are still typing the your old wordpress.com URL.
7. To redirect the traffic: Ask your hosting company to change your domain's DNS settings to:
- NS1.wordpress.com
- NS2.wordpress.com
- NS3.worrdpress.com
(this will be provided to you with no additional cost)
8. Once the setting has been changed, go to your wordpress.com (the old blog) dashboard, select 'upgrades' > domains > enter the URL of your new website and a window will open. Here you confirm that you wish to add the new domain. This confirmation will cost you $10.00. Hey... I didn't say it was free!!
9. Once the payment process has been completed, two domains will be shown. the old and the new one. Select the new domain and click on 'update primary domain'
10. After 24 hours of impatient waiting........ now ask your hosting company to reverse your DNS setting. (This will not cost you a penny and they will do this for you with no questions asked)
... DONE!
This was the easy part... now you can go and explore the world of blogging and become the next most followed blogger!
Good luck!
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