Existing Website — what do I do?

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  hailejohnjr · Member · Sep 2, 2014 at 7:38 pm

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  I already HAVE a working website –I want to use WORDPRESS to make changes to http://CarolJHaile.com. How would I do that? What subscription would I purchase? I read a LOT about CREATING a website but I see NOTHING about making changes to an EXISTING, working website.

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

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  timethief · Member · Sep 2, 2014 at 8:13 pm

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  http://caroljhaile.com/ is not hosted by WordPress.COM and we cannot help you with it. This is the WordPress.COM support forum. You need to post to the WordPress.ORG support forum for help with your site because it is not hosted by WordPress.COM.

  WordPress.com and WordPress.org are completely separate and have different logins http://support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

  If you don’t have a username account at WordPress.ORG click http://wordpress.org/support/ and register one on the top right hand corner of the page that opens, so you can post to the support forums there and receive advice from WordPress.ORG bloggers.

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  1tess · Moderator Emeritus · Sep 2, 2014 at 8:14 pm

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  It appears that you are using some sort of Microsoft page builder.
  Chances are you won’t be able to directly use the format from http://CarolJHaile.com to build a WordPress site.

  Also note that there are several varieties of WordPress. The two platforms you are most likely to choose from are explained here:
  http://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

  Please feel free to ask further questions.
  If you decide to go with wp.COM, you can use domain mapping to keep your domain name. If you decide to host your own site, then you will need to install wp.ORG software on that host.

  There are some recommended hosts: http://wordpress.org/hosting/
  and many more can be found with a Google search:
  https://www.google.com/search?q=reccomended+WordPress+hosts&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=np&source=hp

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  1tess · Moderator Emeritus · Sep 2, 2014 at 8:16 pm

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  hi timethief! ≥^!^≤

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  timethief · Member · Sep 2, 2014 at 8:19 pm

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  Hi there, Tess. :)

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  1tess · Moderator Emeritus · Sep 2, 2014 at 9:37 pm

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  @CarolJHaile,

  After thinking about your question for a while, my recommendation for you is to start a free WordPress.com site.

  • Download or locate your photos on your hard-drive or backup.
  • Copy your text from your existing site to TextEdit or a plain text application.
  • As I said, you can keep your domain name CarolJHaile.com which we volunteers can help you with—there is a small upgrade fee to do that but well worth keeping the name.
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/
  • Sign up for a WordPress.com site / blog.
    https://signup.wordpress.com/signup/?ref=newdash-myblogs-bottom
  • Select a theme. Some themes are free, others you must buy:
    

    Themes

  • Work through this tutorial to get acquainted with this platform:
    http://learn.wordpress.com/
    And remember we volunteers are always here to help you with questions about how things work.
  • Add your pictures, text, contact info, and so on.
  • Once you get comfortable with all of that, you can change your mind and export your wp.com site to a host using wp.org.

  I’ve helped folks through this process and it has worked very well. But keep in mind that’s it just my own opinion.