Change to wordpress.org

  • Unknown's avatar
    gielsweertvaegher · Member ·

    I’m currently doubting about changing from wordpress.com to wordpress.org. When googling the subject everyone seems to agree that wordpress.org has more advantages when it comes to customization. I’m not an expert when it comes to all these things and I find allot of contradictory information. So my question is. Does it really have those advantages? How does it work? How do I change my wordpress? How do transfer all my posts that I’ve made so far? How do I transfer my email followers? And how do I keep my url name (apron6.com)? Some clarification would be very welcome.
    Thanks!

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    The 2 most common reasons for moving from WordPress.com to WordPress.org is the desire to make money from advertizing and/or affiliate sales and theme ie. appearance changes.

    When googling the subject everyone seems to agree that wordpress.org has more advantages when it comes to customization.

    True but there’s a lack of emphasis on the fact that making the move means everything is on you. Moving from WordPress.com to WordPress.org means you will have additional responsibilities and if something goes wrong, you have to figure it out and fix it. Moving from WordPress.com to WordPress.org means you will be responsible for all installations, all WordPress.org software upgrades, all backups and all troubleshooting. Moving from WordPress.com to WordPress.org means you won’t get the hand holding support you get ion these support forums. You will be expected to read the flipping manual (Codex) and learn it inside out prior to posting a question. When posting a question the result may be twisting in the wind there for eons without any help or having to hire help.

    Do remember that what attracts readers to blogs is content and no amount of twiddling and tweaking of any theme compensates for a lack of high quality content being published on a regular basis.

    Provided you are adept at WordPress.com blogging moving to self hosting a WordPress.org install is not a big deal. If you are not adept at blogging here and have no CSS editing skills then I don’t recommend making the move based on your desire for appearance changes.

    Here’s a comparison provided by Staff in our support docs: WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org
    http://support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

    Here’s a brief summary of how the move is made:
    1. Hire a web host http://wordpress.org/hosting/
    2. Set up a WordPress.org install and equip it with a theme and plugins.
    3. Export your content out of your WordPress.com blog http://en.support.wordpress.com/export/ and import it into the install.
    4. Purchase a site redirect upgrade from wordpress.com
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/site-redirect/ or if you have domain mapping then update the nameservers http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/domain-management/
    5. Transfer subscribers and stats. See http://en.support.wordpress.com/moving-a-blog/moving-your-subscribers/

    See also: Moving Your Blog from WordPress.Com to WordPress.Org: Resources and Tips

  • Unknown's avatar
    gielsweertvaegher · Member ·

    Thanks for the response. As I don’t really have a technical knowledge I’ll probably won’t be able to fix problems when they occur. I think I’d stick around on wordpress.com for a bit longer then… I also wanted to change with the idea of putting advertisements on my blog. But I don’t really have a clue if that actually earns anything.

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