Custom domain name

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  nicholasgault · Member · Aug 11, 2014 at 4:46 pm

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  I searched on this but couldn’t find the exact information.

  My blog has 60 posts and 2 years old and the url is nicholasgault.wordpress.com/

  Is it worth the bother changing my domain name to a custom domain name now if I’m going to move a self-hosted later anyway? or does it mean I take an extra hit on traffic reduction twice in some way?

  Separate question, but related:
  Am I right in saying that even with domain mapping I lose traffic when changing to a custom domain name and staying within WordPress.com?

  Many thanks,
  Nicholas

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

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  francisbob · Member · Aug 11, 2014 at 8:11 pm

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  Hi !

  If I’m not mistaken, nicholasgaut.wordpress.com will continue to work along with the new domain name. So you won’t lose any traffic :)

  Have a nice day !

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  nicholasgault · Member · Aug 11, 2014 at 11:29 pm

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  Thanks francisbob. Even when I change to a self-hosted site?

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  francisbob · Member · Aug 13, 2014 at 2:07 pm

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  No you can’t do redirect from your WordPress.com part, but if you keep the same structure, those you use the .com address won’t see a difference.

  You could keep your WordPress.com for the old articles for a while and add a note in every article with a redirect to your new site. And when you see that your statistics are low, close it.

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  raincoaster · Member · Aug 13, 2014 at 2:12 pm

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  The sooner you change to a custom domain the better off you will be in the long run.

  And yes, when you switch to a custom domain you lose SEO but if you’re diligent about blogging you usually make it up in four or five months.