Domain, Cloudflare selling up

  • Unknown's avatar
    mvekved · Member ·

    This is not my niche. Its a bit overwhelming. I need some guidance. I purchased my .us domain from Cloudflare at the prompting of Apple.
    I am familiar with creating a basic website on WordPress. Yet, this time I’m starting with my own domain. I began to ‘connect’ my domain to set up WordPress. I understand WordPress can not transfer a .us domain. I can only ‘connect’. Yet, I think I have to buy a ‘premium plan’ in order to buy a plug in for Cloudflare. I’m confused that I have to change Cloudflare DNS settings only to purchase a an upgraded plan and plug in, which then direct back to Cloudflare. Do I understand this correctly? I’m also confused that I have to pay $13 for connecting to my domain in the next year when my domain payment would be due to Cloudflare. I recognize this would have been easier to start with WordPress, buy the domain I wanted, except that the .com is not available and logically .us makes more sense. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

    WP.com: Yes
    Correct account: Yes

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to moderators and staff)

  • fstat · Staff ·

    Hi there,

    Thank you for reaching out to us, and I’m sorry to hear that you’re feeling overwhelmed. I’m here to help you every step of the way! Let’s break down your concerns and address them one by one.

    First, you’re correct that you need to connect (not transfer) your .us domain purchased from Cloudflare to your WordPress.com site. For this, you’ll need to upgrade to one of our paid plans. Domain connection is not available on the free plan. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to connect your domain: https://wordpress.com/support/domains/map-existing-domain/

    Regarding the Premium plan and Cloudflare plugin, it looks like you may have misunderstood some information. You don’t need a plugin to use Cloudflare with your WordPress.com site. This is a built-in feature available on the Premium, Business, and eCommerce plans. You can learn more about this feature here: https://wordpress.com/support/cloudflare-cdn/

    Also, using a .us domain instead of a .com is perfectly fine, and it can actually be a great choice if it’s more aligned with your target audience or the purpose of your site.

    Having said all that, I’d like to recommend considering our Premium plan, as it’ll allow you to connect your domain and use Cloudflare’s CDN. With that plan, you’ll receive additional customization options, unlimited premium themes to choose from, advanced SEO tools to help improve your site’s visibility on search engines, and the ability to monetize your site using the WordAds program.

    Moreover, the Premium plan also includes additional storage (up to 13GB), access to our live chat support, and the removal of WordPress.com ads from your site. It’s a worthwhile investment for those who are looking to create a professional and feature-rich website on WordPress.com. If you’re interested, you can quickly upgrade below.

    Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or need further assistance. We’re always here to help!

  • Unknown's avatar
    mvekved · Member ·

    Thank you so much for the detailed explanation and links. The only other item not addressed is clarification for the domain connection. It appears to be $0 now, but $13 in the future. I’m unclear on what that is for? On reading the details over I also need some direction about email. I already have email set up with Cloudflare. I am concerned this will need to be changed but I still want to have the Cloudflare protection. Thank you.

  • Unknown's avatar
    aisajib · Member ·

    Hi there!

    The only other item not addressed is clarification for the domain connection. It appears to be $0 now, but $13 in the future. I’m unclear on what that is for?

    Domain Connection lets you use your domain that is registered with another provider. It is actually free/included with WordPress.com paid plans. So as long as you have a WordPress.com plan on your site, you won’t be charged for the Domain Connection separately.

    On reading the details over I also need some direction about email. I already have email set up with Cloudflare. I am concerned this will need to be changed but I still want to have the Cloudflare protection.

    If you have email set up with Cloudflare, you can keep that. It’s not going to interfere because your domain will still use Cloudflare nameservers. You’ll point it to WordPress.com IP addresses. I’ll suggest following the steps here to get the IP address for your site and add them to the domain on the Cloudflare dashboard (in the DNS settings).

    The WordPress.com Premium plan gives you live chat support 24/5 (weekdays). Feel free to chat with us if you have more questions by going to this link and choosing the chat option.

  • Unknown's avatar
    mvekved · Member ·

    Thanks for the response on 4/4/23. I cancelled my purchase again. It’s become apparent that I am not speaking the same language and so the help I need is not forthcoming. Thank you for the time you took to try!

    As for the domain, I’ve paid for it though Cloudflare. I asked about the charges without a clear answer. I’m not wiling to pay nearly double the cost for the domain. I do appreciate the attempts to support my understanding.

  • supernovia · Staff ·

    @mvekved if it helps, long ago we had the domain connection as a separate a la carte charge, but we don’t offer that now, so I’m not sure where you’re getting the $13 price currently. These days you would use a hosting plan with the domain connection included, and you would continue to renew the domain through your registrar.

    If you have more questions for us or want to share more about where you’re seeing the $13 domain connection, we can continue; if you’ve moved on, I understand. Let us know if you need more help from us.

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