Domain expiration

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  jgstyleguide · Member · Sep 11, 2014 at 2:42 am

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  Hi,
  I have registered 2 domain names with WordPress.com. I have a primary domain, jgstyleguide.com. Ive created another domain account, jennifergilbertstyle.com.
  If I choose to leave wordpress, how do I keep my domain names?
  Thanks

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

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  shawnajroberts · Member · Sep 11, 2014 at 5:32 pm

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  Hi there!

  You have a few options!

  1. You can transfer your domain to a new registrar:

     http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/transfer-domain-registration/

  2. You can change the name servers to point to your new host:

     http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/change-name-servers/

  3. You can update your A records (for hosts that don’t offer name servers):

     http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/setting-custom-a-records/

  Let me know if you have other questions.

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  jgstyleguide · Member · Sep 11, 2014 at 8:33 pm

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  Hi Shawna,
  Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately, I have no idea what either of those options mean! Can you please explain in layman’s terms?
  Also, will my secondary domain transfer too?

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  shawnajroberts · Member · Sep 11, 2014 at 9:42 pm

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  When you transfer a domain, it means that to manage it in any way (renew, update, etc) you would log in somewhere else. So if you transferred your domain to Register.com, you’d then pay Register.com to renew your domain.

  If you decide to move to a service like Wix or Squarespace, these services to not accept incoming domain transfers, so you may just want to leave your domains here with WordPress.com. In that case you’ll update the name servers or A records, which are what tell the internet what to display when someone visits the domain. But you’ll still pay WordPress.com for your domain renewal.

  You can chose any of these options for each of your domains individually. So you could transfer one and keep one here with WordPress.com. Or you could transfer both. etc..

  Let me know if you have more questions.

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  jgstyleguide · Member · Oct 21, 2014 at 5:12 pm

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  Thanks Shawna, So I would like to transfer my domain to Squarespace, but still need to pay WordPress yearly for the domain name and not the content. My upgrade expires but I don’t want to pay for the content ($99yr), only for my domain names. How can I do this? Also, will this affect my email forwarding?

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  jgstyleguide · Member · Oct 21, 2014 at 7:04 pm

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  How do I keep my custom domain names without paying for the content? just keep my names and emails?

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  shawnajroberts · Member · Oct 21, 2014 at 7:47 pm

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  I can separate your domain from the rest of your Premium plan for you. I’ve gone ahead and done that for your two sites, since they both expire very soon and I don’t want you to lose your domains!

  Your email forwarding will still work exactly the same as before.

  Head over to your upgrades page to renew your domains:

  https://wordpress.com/my-upgrades/

  Also here are Squarespace’s directions for setting up your domain:

  http://help.squarespace.com/guides/mapping-a-domain-general-instructions-a-record

  And the guide to change your A records here at WordPress.com:

  Point a Domain to an External IP Address

  Make sure you do this last step of linking your Squarespace site to the domain:

  http://help.squarespace.com/guides/mapping-a-domain-general-instructions-link-your-domain

  Let me know if I can help further!

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  jgstyleguide · Member · Oct 21, 2014 at 9:44 pm

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  Thank you for your help! If I switch my domain name to another site, will I lose all content I’ve created on wordpress?

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  shawnajroberts · Member · Oct 22, 2014 at 6:16 pm

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  Nope! It will still be here. Your WordPress.com site will always be available at jgstyleguide.wordpress.com. And your content is yours, so you can take it with you:

  Export Your Website’s Content

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  jgstyleguide · Member · Oct 31, 2014 at 2:46 pm

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  Hi what is the difference between these 2? I purchased the domain name (Jennifergilbertstyle.com) with wordpress, but want to redirect it to my new squarespace site. Im confused between A Records and CNAME and their functions.
  If I need to edit my CNAME (Step 1 of Squarespace’s “Mapping a domain with WordPress) , wordpress will not allow me to do this. please help. Below is a copy of your instructions:

  “Also here are Squarespace’s directions for setting up your domain:

  http://help.squarespace.com/guides/mapping-a-domain-general-instructions-a-record

  And the guide to change your A records here at WordPress.com:”

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  shawnajroberts · Member · Nov 1, 2014 at 1:01 am

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  Squarespace’s directions are a little out of order, you should start at the link you just copied above to change the A record first:

  http://help.squarespace.com/guides/mapping-a-domain-general-instructions-a-record

  And here’s a guide for changing your A records here at WordPress.com:

  Point a Domain to an External IP Address

  Once you’ve updated the A record, then you can change the CNAME record.

  Let me know if I can help further!