Domain name transfer

  • Unknown's avatar
    aadarve · Member ·

    Hi,

    I got very confused with the info on domain names and the mapping method.

    I already have a website, http://www.adarvetranslations.com, which I built with the Homestead software. My domain name is registered with Homestead. I wish to deregister my website with Homestead, and build a new one with WordPress.

    I do not know how to do this. Do I necessarily need to transfer my domain name to another registrar and then map it to WordPress, or does my WordPress Premium account allows me to re-register my domain name through WordPress?

    If I cannot re-register my domain name through WordPress, does this mean that I need to pay for the unblocking of my domain name by Homestead, the registration with a new registrar and then the mapping on WordPress?

    I just want to be able to get this right.

    Thank you in advance,
    Adriana Adarve

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

  • Unknown's avatar
    jeremeylduvall · Member ·

    Hi Adriana!

    I’m happy to clarify this for you. First, WordPress.com does not accept incoming domain transfers. So, you cannot transfer your domain registration to WordPress.com for adarvetranslations.com. Does that make sense? However, we can act as your hosting service, hosting all of the content for your website. In that case, you would just need to map your domain as explained here:

    http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/map-existing-domain/

    In this scenario, your domain would stay registered at Homestead, but it would be mapped to WordPress.com and therefore, would display WordPress.com content. Keep in mind, for this setup to work, you will need to pay to renew the registration each year at Homestead and pay for the domain mapping at WordPress.com. Does that make sense?

    The far riskier move would be to cancel your domain from Homestead and try to register it fresh again at WordPress.com. However, this is definitely not recommended as someone may purchase your domain in the interim.

    Does that help to clarify everything?

  • Unknown's avatar
    aadarve · Member ·

    Hey Jeremy!

    Thank you for getting back to me on this. What I definitely want to do is stop working with Homestead altogether, have them unblock my domain name, which Registrar, according to Whois at Network Solutions, is Tucows, and transfer that domain name to Hostgator or Bluehost or any other reputable domain name registry. Homestead is costing me an arm and a leg and that is not good for me anymore!

    This being said, your suggestion of staying registered at Homestead and mapping to WordPress will not really work for me.

    Now, I just talked to them and they explained how to unlock my domain name. I can then transfer it to another domain name registrar. Is this here where I would then do the mapping to WordPress?

    What do you mean on your last paragraph by “try t register it fresh again at WordPress”?

    Another question: When I bought my Premium subscription with WordPress the domain name that was setup for my blog was adarvetranslationsblog.wordpress.com

    Is there any way to change that name to simply adarvetranslations.com? My idea, of course, is to join my blog and website into a single item.

    Once again, thank you in advance,
    Adriana Adarve

  • Unknown's avatar
    jeremeylduvall · Member ·

    Hi Adriana!

    Let me address each of your concerns below. I’m going to address them a bit out of order as the answers are related:

    What do you mean on your last paragraph by “try t register it fresh again at WordPress”?

    Basically, you could cancel your domain making it available to anyone that wants to register it. Then, you could register it fresh again at WordPress.com or your new registrar. This is NOT recommended as someone else could register your domain in the meantime. I just wanted to present all of the options. I would highly recommend you do not follow this option though. I would recommend you follow the transfer option discussed next.

    I just talked to them and they explained how to unlock my domain name. I can then transfer it to another domain name registrar. Is this here where I would then do the mapping to WordPress?

    Perfect! BlueHost and HostGator are both excellent companies to host your domain. You will just need to complete the steps to transfer your domain from your current registrar to the new registrar. Then, you are correct; you’ll need to follow the steps here:

    http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/map-existing-domain/

    When I bought my Premium subscription with WordPress the domain name that was setup for my blog was adarvetranslationsblog.wordpress.com

    Is there any way to change that name to simply adarvetranslations.com? My idea, of course, is to join my blog and website into a single item.

    I can definitely do that for you. Basically, I would cancel your domain adarvetranslationsblog.com and remove it from your account. Then, you could map your domain (once it’s transferred) for free (one custom domain is included in the Premium bundle). Does that make sense?

    Just a note, once a domain is removed from your account, it is sent back to the registrar. It may or may not become available for purchase again in the future. I just want to confirm that you definitely do not want adarvetranslationsblog.com before I cancel it.

    Let me know!

  • Unknown's avatar
    aadarve · Member ·

    Hi Jeremy,

    Thank you for your invaluable help! Everything is becoming more clear now.

    If the domain adarvetranslationsblog.com were to be cancelled, in order to replace it with adarvetranslations.com after I switch registrars, does that mean that the content of my blog so far will disappear?

    I would not want that to happen because my main idea is to have my blog linked to my website once I host my website pages with WordPress. It has been quite frustrating for me not to be able to have it this way so far, and now that I am finally finding the solution to my dilemma, I would not want to lose any of the posts I already have.

    Or, would there be a way to somehow save those pages before changing the name and then linked them again to the website once I start hosting its pages with WordPress?

    Another question: While I transfer the domain name to the other registrar, could I already download WordPress and start working on my website pages, or do I necessarily have to wait to have the right registrar and the mapping done?

    Thank you again in advance,
    Adriana Adarve

  • Unknown's avatar
    jeremeylduvall · Member ·

    If the domain adarvetranslationsblog.com were to be cancelled, in order to replace it with adarvetranslations.com after I switch registrars, does that mean that the content of my blog so far will disappear?

    Not at all! Your content would still be available at your default WordPress.com domain adarvetranslationsblog.wordpress.com.

    Once you setup your new domain, the blog would just then be available at the custom domain adarvetranslations.com. Does that make sense? One easy way to think of it is that all of your content is hosted at adarvetranslationsblog.wordpress.com. Custom domains are just laid over the content, but removing them doesn’t remove the content underneath. So, you can change your domain without worrying about your content.

    While I transfer the domain name to the other registrar, could I already download WordPress and start working on my website pages, or do I necessarily have to wait to have the right registrar and the mapping done?

    You can continue to make changes at adarvetranslationsblog.wordpress.com (adding posts and pages, uploading media, etc). Once you map your domain, all of those changes will be available at your custom domain.

    Does that help to clarify everything?

  • Unknown's avatar
    aadarve · Member ·

    Fantastic!!!! Thank you so very much for all your help. You have certainly made things much clearer for me!

    Have a wonderful rest of the day ;)

    Ah, I might be in touch again if or when other questions come up :)

    Adriana Adarve

  • Unknown's avatar
    jeremeylduvall · Member ·

    Not a problem! If you have any additional questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re here to help!

  • Unknown's avatar
    aadarve · Member ·

    Hello again Jeremy,

    The transfer of my domain name to the HostGator is complete now. But my website pages are still hosted by the previous provider, Homestead.

    Since I want my website pages AND my blog to be hosted by WordPress, the next steps are to map that domain name to WordPress and to change the name adarvetranslationsblog.com that I registered on WordPress to adarvetranslations.com (the actual name of my website).

    Now, what needs to be done first, the mapping of the domain name or the changing of the name in WordPress? And to answer one of the questions you asked me before (April 1), yes, I definitely want the name “adarvetranslationsblog.com” changed to “adarvetranslations.com”

    In that way, my website pages are hosted by WordPress and my blog is just another part of my website.

    Thank you in advance for your help on this last part of the process,

    Adriana Adarve

  • Unknown's avatar
    jeremeylduvall · Member ·

    Hi Adriana,

    Currently, on your account, you have a blog with the URL adarvetranslationsblog.wordpress.com. Are you planning on using that current blog content on adarvetranslations.com? The reason I ask is that there are two main options moving forward:

    1. You can rename the blog adarvetranslationsblog.wordpress.com to adarvetranslations.wordpress.com following the instructions here:

      http://en.support.wordpress.com/changing-blog-address/

      Please read those instructions very carefully as they have some important ramifications moving forward. The most important one being that if you decide not to keep the old blog address (adarvetranslationsblog.wordpress.com), that address will be deleted and cannot be used again.

      In this option, the content would now be available at adarvetranslations.wordpress.com. Then, you could map your domain (adarvetranslations.com) following the steps here:

      http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/map-existing-domain/

    2. Alternatively, you could just add a new blog to your existing account, leaving adarvetranslationsblog.wordpress.com intact and creating a new blog adarvetranslations.wordpress.com. Instructions to do that can be found here:

      http://en.support.wordpress.com/register-a-blog/#adding-new-blog-to-an-existing-account

      Then, you could export/import content between the two blogs if you would like:

      http://en.support.wordpress.com/export
      http://en.support.wordpress.com/import

      Finally, you would want to map your domain to your new site (not to adarvetranslationsblog.wordpress.com). Does that make sense?

    Please let me know which route you want to go, and I’ll be happy to provide additional instructions moving forward!

  • Unknown's avatar
    aadarve · Member ·

    Hi Jeremy,

    Thank you for getting back to me.

    Yes, I plan on using the current blog content on adarvetranslations.com.

    You see, adarvetranslations.com will be the main site containing the tabs clients need to click on to go to the different pages, and one of these tabs is named “Blog” and will contain the content of the current blog content.

    I just want my site to look and feel like a website, not just a blog.

    This being said, I definitely want to go with option 1 above.

    I have one registered domain with WordPress, adarvetranslationsblog.com. The domain I want as registered with you guys will now be named adarvetranslations.com.

    So, do I just follow the instructions you sent me on option 1 above, or do you need to send me additional instructions?

    Thank you in advance,
    Adriana Adarve

  • Unknown's avatar
    aadarve · Member ·

    Hello again Jeremy,

    More questions for you: Reading the instructions in option 1 that you sent me above, there are a couple of things I do not understand from the summary at the very top of those instructions:
    1. “If you want to get rid of the “wordpress.com” part of your address, then you need to purchase a custom domain for your site. For more information read our support document on domain mapping.”

    — This is already done in my case for adarvetranslationsblog.com. Will it continue being so when I change the name to adarvetranslations.com? I men, it is just the change of custom domain for my site, isn’t it? It is in fact the thing that I have in mind, since now the blog will be a website with a static page and a tab containing the contents of the blog posts – as described on the instructions to set up a static page…

    2. “If you do change your blog address, permalinks to your old address, including search engine results, will be broken unless you purchase a Site Redirect upgrade.”

    — I don’t understand this part at all. Does the type of account I have really require me to do this? Or, will this not matter since the blog will now be included as a tab on my website? Here I am assuming that once the name is changed to just adarvetranslations.com, the permalink when people visit the site and click on the “Blog” tab will now be adarvetranslations.com/blog. Please let me know if I am correct in my assumption here.
    This part might be the most confusing one because I don’t want to lose the contents of my current blog posts, and I also don’t want people to not be able to find them.

    Once again, thank you for your help,
    Adriana Adarve

  • Unknown's avatar
    jeremeylduvall · Member ·

    I apologize for the confusing instructions! Let me clear a few things up.

    — This is already done in my case for adarvetranslationsblog.com. Will it continue being so when I change the name to adarvetranslations.com? I men, it is just the change of custom domain for my site, isn’t it? It is in fact the thing that I have in mind, since now the blog will be a website with a static page and a tab containing the contents of the blog posts – as described on the instructions to set up a static page…

    If you map the domain adarvetranslations.com to your current WordPress.com blog (adarvetranslationsblog.wordpress.com with the domain adarvetranslationsblog.com), it will become the default domain on the account, meaning both adarvetranslationsblog.com and adarvetranslationsblog.wordpress.com would redirect to adarvetranslations.com. All of the same content on adarvetranslationsblog.wordpress.com would be there. Does that make sense? Since you plan on using the current content on adarvetranslationsblog.com, this is the best option to go. You would just need to follow the instructions here to map your domain to your current blog:

    http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/map-existing-domain/

    Let’s just forget about option #2. Option #1 is going to be the best route forward. The second option is if you wanted to start an entirely new blog with new content at WordPress.com and map your domain to it. Since you want to use your current content, you can just proceed with the step above!

    If you follow the “Map Existing Domain” instructions above, you should be good to go!

  • Unknown's avatar
    aadarve · Member ·

    Hi Jeremy,

    Thank you very much for clarifying things for me and for your patience with my many questions!

    I’ll follow your instructions then for option #1.

    Hopefully I won’t have any more questions :)

    Adriana Adarve

  • Unknown's avatar
    jeremeylduvall · Member ·

    Hi Adriana,

    Not a problem! I’m happy to help. Please let me know if you run into any trouble along the way.

  • Unknown's avatar
    aadarve · Member ·

    Hello again Jeremy,

    I am really sorry, but I cannot really know where the confusion is coming from. I am kind of lost again.

    On April 1, this is what you and I wrote:
    Adriana: “When I bought my Premium subscription with WordPress the domain name that was setup for my blog was adarvetranslationsblog.wordpress.com

    Is there any way to change that name to simply adarvetranslations.com? My idea, of course, is to join my blog and website into a single item.”

    Jeremy: “I can definitely do that for you. Basically, I would cancel your domain adarvetranslationsblog.com and remove it from your account. Then, you could map your domain (once it’s transferred) for free (one custom domain is included in the Premium bundle). Does that make sense?

    Just a note, once a domain is removed from your account, it is sent back to the registrar. It may or may not become available for purchase again in the future. I just want to confirm that you definitely do not want adarvetranslationsblog.com before I cancel it.”

    And now we are talking about redirecting things and buying an upgrade. I might be creating the confusion because I am totally unknowledgeable on these things, and so I apologize.

    This is just want I want:
    1. I have a blog named adarvetranslationsblog.com, which only contained blog posts.
    2. I have added pages to that blog and used a static page so that it looks and has the feel of a website now with a tab for my blogs
    3. I want the blog name to be adarvetranslations.com (not adarvetranslationsblog.com anymore)
    4. I have transferred my domain name to HostGator, and now would like to map it to my WordPress site, which name should be adarvetranslations.com NOT adarvetranslationsblog.com

    I understand the mapping instructions very well by now but what is confusing me is that on April 1st it was said that adarvetranslationsblog could be cancelled, my content would not be lost because it “remained under the default WordPress.com domain adarvetranslationsblog.wordpress.com.” And that “Once you setup your new domain, the blog would just then be available at the custom domain adarvetranslations.com.”

    I actually thought this was something my current subscription allowed me to do without having to buy any other upgrades!

    BUT, today we are talking about renaming and redirect. Why wasn’t redirect mentioned before?

    Could you please go over this with me once again? When I think about it, it seems very simple to me: I have a blog with a specific name, I want to change that name, add pages to said blog and map the domain name to it.

    Where does redirect play a role in all of this?

    I am sooooo confused now…

    Adriana Adarve

  • Unknown's avatar
    jeremeylduvall · Member ·

    Hi Adriana,

    I really apologize for the confusion! Please forget all about the redirect. That was presented as an option, but isn’t an avenue we want to explore at the current moment.

    Instead, we’re just going to map your domain adarvetranslations.com to your blog adarvetranslationsblog.wordpress.com.

    Please follow these steps:

    1. Navigate to your Domains page here:

      https://adarvetranslationsblog.wordpress.com/wp-admin/paid-upgrades.php?page=domains

    2. Click “Map a Domain You Already Own”
    3. Enter your domain name (adarvetranslations.com) and click “Go”
    4. Click “Yes, I already own that domain…”
    5. Change your name servers to the following at HostGator: 
      ns1.wordpress.com
ns2.wordpress.com
ns3.wordpress.com

      Instructions to do that can be found here:

      http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/map-existing-domain/#instructions-for-mapping-an-existing-domain

      Please note, if you’ve already changed your name servers, this step will not be necessary

    You should be guided through the rest of the process and should not have to pay anything extra.

    Can you give those steps a try and let me know where you run into any trouble?

    Again, I apologize for the confusion with mentioning the Site Redirect. Please just forget all about that!

  • Unknown's avatar
    aadarve · Member ·

    Hi Jeremy,

    Thank you for your immense patience with me!

    Yes, I can definitely just do the mapping. Once it goes through, what will be the name of my website/blog? Will it continue being adarvetranslationsblog.com or will it change to adarvetranslations.com?

    Adriana Adarve

  • Unknown's avatar
    jeremeylduvall · Member ·

    Hi Adriana,

    It will change to adarvetranslations.com. If it doesn’t change right away after you finish the mapping, just let me know, and I’ll fix it!

  • Unknown's avatar
    aadarve · Member ·

    Hi Jeremy,

    The mapping went through very nicely and fast, the My Upgrades page shows adarvetranslations.com as the domain included with WordPress Premium, and the previous domain name (adarvetranslationsblog.com) that will be expiring within three months.

    Now, when I open a different browser tab and type http://www.adarvetranslations.com to test things out, the address shown once the website opens is still adarvetranslationsblog.com.

    Is this normal, or is this what you mentioned that you could fix?

    Thanks,
    Adriana Adarve

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