Confused about domain mapping, Go Daddy hosting vs. WP, etc
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I just purchased a domain on Go Daddy only because what I wanted wasn’t available on WordPress.com: http://www.thelastblog.org Meaning that “thelastblog.wordpress.com ” was already taken here. But i wanted to stay here at WordPress.com because there are a lot more themes to choose from here, for one–even premium ones.
Now I’m nervous because I’m wondering that if I go outside of here to buy a premium theme to make it work on Go Daddy it will (a) be more expensive and (b) will require that I know Html, CSS, etc.
I’m a technophobe. I did build a site here on WP years ago (one you see here), without any html and it worked pretty well. So I wanted to re-create (sort of) what I did then for TheLastBlog, using a Premium theme like I did back then.
I guess I have no other choice but to try and create a blog site on Go Daddy if I want to keep my http://www.thelastblog.org domain name? The guy claimed that I would still be using the WP platform but then how come there are very few existing themes available “over there?”
All I want is an easy-to-use theme with a featured post, slider, three-columns, etc. And WITH NO HTML/CSS REQUIRED!
Can anyone help?
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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You can just by the $13 a year domain mapping and connect your custom domain to your blog here. Do that on the dashboard Store page.
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I don’t understand. I tried that first (before paying Go Daddy for hosting), but couldn’t because it wanted me to map to an existing WP domain. That is not possible since none of my WP domains are: http://www.thelastblog.com This is the domain I want to use.
Like I said, I don’t want to go the self hosting route but apparently have no choice if I want to use http://www.thelastblog.com. (Since thelastblog.wordpress.com is already taken.)
I’m afraid that self hosting on Go Daddy, even using a WP theme will be a lot harder for me to do…even require that I know html, etc.
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you can map “thelastblog.com” to any basic blog here – http://jennikeast.wordpress.com/ or maybe “therealstupidpersonsblog.wordpress.com” – – domain mapping covers up the base blog with the mapped domain name – so the base blog does not matter much at all – I & Raincoaster both have domain mapping – in my case the base blog matches the mapped domain name – but that is not required at all
pay your $13.-/yr
you do need to be logged into a blog here to buy domain mapping – best to get the blog first or you might end up with “thelastblogdotcom.wordpress.com” for your base blog – but again that would not really matter – visitors will not see the base blog
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Well, I sincerely hope that you weren’t referring to me as “therealstupidsblog.wordpress.com simply because I’m technology challenged. :)
I totally get it now that you explained it that way. The words “base blog” were key to my understanding the concept of how this mapping thing works. (By the way, I purchased http://www.thelastblog.ORG…not .com. That was already taken (and for sale for thousands of dollars believe it or not.)
Anyway, I just got a refund from Go Daddy on the self hosting option but kept the domain name to avoid paying twice so I will try again in the AM to map the domain.
One final question on this subject (I hope): Not sure what you mean by “best to get the blog first.” Do you mean NAME the blog I want first, and THEN click on “Do You Own This Domain and Want to Map It?”
So, I entered in thelastblog, clicked on .org (where I will have to map my existing domain name), then entered The Last Blog in the Naming Box, and tomorrow morning I will click on Do You Own This Domain and Want to Map It…is that right?
Then I can pretty much map it to any of my existing WP blogs…it won’t matter which one as no one will see that address?
So does that mean the URL will read: http://www.thelastblog.org once I map it?
Thanks for your help with this. Really put that left side of my brain to work with all these. :)
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So does that mean the URL will read: http://www.thelastblog.org once I map it?
yes
Click on my name and you will see what domain mapping looks like
I am spelling challenged and such – was just giving you and example of a blog name that maybe you did not want the public to see
http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/map-existing-domain/
see instructions above
get a blog URL (Register a blog) that you like the name of (nobody really sees it – but pick a URL (coolname.wordpress.com) that you won’t mind seeing in your Dashboard for some time (you will work in the base blog dashboard but visitors will see the mapped domain name in their browser) – then go to that blog’s Dashboard and buy the domain mapping upgrade –
And if you goof somewhere – DON’T DELETE ANYTHING – mapping can be moved to another blog etc. – just don’t panic if something goes “Oh no!!”
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Okie dokie. Checked out your blog. Hey, maybe you were the one who bought my vintage sextant that I recently sold on eBay. (My father was a boat lover and a former Merchant Marine so I had few of those kinds of things to sell.)
RE: Mapping. Viewed the instructions. Yikes! It looks complicated but I’ll plow through it the best I can. I won’t as you say, “delete anything.”
Here goes…
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OK, so I pointed the Go Daddy registered domain name to WordPress. Says it takes about 24 hours to kick in.
It also says this for which I could some clarification:
“Once the domain is ready, you can come back to this screen and set it as the primary domain for your blog. This will make thelastblog.org the address that visitors see when visiting your blog. All other domains will redirect to it.”
(1): What is “this screen” mean? ( I was on an instructions page.)
(2): Set “it” as the primary domain for your blog? What is “it”?
(3) “All other domains will point to it.” What do they mean by “all other domains”? All my other domains registered with Word Press? If so, I surely don’t want that to happen.What I want is simple. To have a SEPARATE (separate from my other blogs) blog domain with the URL: http://www.thelastblog.org. This is the domain name that I just finished “pointing” to WordPress, using http://www.jennikeast.wordpress.com as the “base blog.”
Also, I want the NAME of the blog to be called The Last Blog, though it has not asked me to yet to name it. (Auxclass member told me to name the blog first, but it didn’t offer that option without mapping the domain first.) I assume it needs to be pointed to WordPress first.
Finally, when will I know (and how do I check) that the pointing process has been completed?
Thanks for your help. When it comes to technology, I’m a simple 1.2.3 person who also needs specific definition of terms. (Too many tech guides assume that you know what everything means.)
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Happiness Engineer, aka Kathryn:
Disaster!
Just got an email from WP saying this:
Hi there! We at WordPress.com just wanted to let you know that we have set your new domain, thelastblog.org, as the primary domain for your site, jennikeast.wordpress.com.
The primary domain is the one that will display in the browser’s address bar. If you’d like to review the settings, just head on over to the link below.
NO!!! This is NOT what I thought would happen. I need to fix this ASAP as now my portfolio http://www.jennikeast.wordpress.com has been replaced with my new blog’s URL: http://www.thelastblog.org
I sent WP support an email asking how we can fix this. I don’t care what other WP blog I replace…I just need an immediate option to use that one (an inactive one) as my “Primary Blog” and have http://www.thelastblog.org point to THAT one instead.
What’s the quickest way to fix this? I can’t send clients to the wrong URL for my portfolio or have it redirected on the web!
Thanks for help with this.
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Do you HAVE another WordPress.com blog? That’s what you need. Post the URL of the blog you want domain mapping on here, so staff can do the switch for you.
Whichever blog’s Store page you buy an upgrade from is the blog that upgrade applies to. IN this case, once you designate another blog, staff can swap it over.
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@jennikeast-
Hi there,
So I’ve been reading through this thread, and I’m a bit confused as to what you are looking for.
I think there’s some confusion as to what a domain is. Please note that a domain name is a name used to identify a particular website on the internet. Your site’s domain name is like your mailing address. Your domain exists independently of your site. This means that it needs to be mapped to a certain site (I’ve seen this called base blog throughout this thread).
You can find more information about domains here.
So if you do not map your domain to a site on WordPress.com (the address with .wordpress.com at the end of it, your domain will not have any content on it.
So, that is why you need a domain mapping. It looks like you mapped your domain: thelastblog.org to jennikeast.wordpress.com. That means your site (originally found at jennikeast.wordpress.com will now be found at thelastblog.org).
If this is not what you want, please provide me the address of the WordPress.com site that you want to show up at: thelastblog.org. I will then transfer the domain mapping to that site.
For now, I just updated your primary domain to: jennikeast.wordpress.com. So your site can still be found there.
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!
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Hi Grace,
Thanks for your help with this. I do know what a domain is–I just was confused as to how domain mapping worked with an existing domain on another site. I understood that it didn’t matter which “base blog” that I used as my primary domain as it wouldn’t show up…but now I see after the fact that my active primary domain (portfolio blog) now points to my new domain.
Anyway, I’m glad that it can be easily fixed! Here is the WP you can switch to as my “primary domain” for this new URL:
http://storytiller.wordpress.com I will never use this domain so rather than delete it off WP it might as well be put to good use.
What does this mean now? If I give people the domain http://www.thelastblog.org and also key it into a browser does this mean that they will do directly to my this NEW WP press blog?
Also, I’m assuming that I can use the title, The Last Blog for this new blog. Does that mean that the title “The Storytillers” on the new primary blog can be replaced?
As you can see, I’m probably still a bit confused. It should be so simple. I just want a new blog on WP titled “The Last Blog” -since the name The Last Blog with the wordpress.com extension was already taken this was my only choice–to map it.
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P.S. I will never use the Storytillers blog. I just need an alternative WP blog URL to have replaced by my new one: The Last Blog or http://www.thelastblog.org that I just transferred over from Go Daddy.
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What does this mean now? If I give people the domain http://www.thelastblog.org and also key it into a browser does this mean that they will do directly to my this NEW WP press blog?
Now when readers go to http://storytiller.wordpress.com they will see the address: thelastblog.org. It is no longer connected to jennikeast.wordpress.com.
Also, I’m assuming that I can use the title, The Last Blog for this new blog. Does that mean that the title “The Storytillers” on the new primary blog can be replaced?
Yes, just go to Appearance > Customize > Site Title and change the site title. Here is the direct link:
https://storytiller.wordpress.com/wp-admin/customize.php?return=%2Fwp-admin%2F
Let me know if you have any questions with this!
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OK, I think I get it. As long as I can imbed the URL: http://www.thelastblog.org wherever and whenever I need to and also change the title on Storytillers blog (which is not being used) that is fine!
As I said, I will never use http://www.storytillers.wordpress.com so that will be a non-issue in terms of it having to point to the new blog.
If that is all correct then we are good to go. Let me know when it’s done so I can pick my Premium theme (will probably use the same one that I used for my portfolio as that was relatively easy to figure out) and start posting.
Thanks again for all your help. :) :)
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Thank you!
One little correction…to change my title I had to go to General Settings > General…not Appearance > Customize > Site Title.
Very much appreciated. It will be great to finally get started now that I’ve jumped over the domain mapping hurdle. (Sometimes it takes learning the hard way to really “get it.” )
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One little correction…to change my title I had to go to General Settings > General…not Appearance > Customize > Site Title.
Can do it in both areas. :)
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I did try going to Appearance > Customize > Site Title first, but there wasn’t a way to change the title…at least that I could easily find.
No worries though as it’s done. Yay!
Onwards and Upwards…
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