Host or no host
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I started using a host site a year ago and haven’t noticed any benefit. I actually find it slightly more cumbersome. I just post basic recipes with a few images, nothing complex, but am unable to even change the font. My domain expires in 2 days and I am trying to figure out if it makes sense to come back to wordpress without the host to save some money. Would love any insight on if this would be a good move and how to do it.
WP.com: Yes
Correct account: YesThe blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Hi there!
Is this for the site
qcyogifoodie.com? It looks like you did have that site here at one point.I guess it depends on a number of factors. Do you want to keep using the
qcyogifoodie.comdomain? I would recommend doing so at least for the first year as your visitors and readers would not be automatically redirected to the freeqcyogifoodie.wordpress.comURL.We have the Starter plan that lets you use a domain for only $60 per year – I’d also recommend you transfer the domain here as well. You only have three days before the domain expires, so it might not transfer in time – but you can also just renew the domain at Hostgator without having website hosting if you choose and point the domain to your WordPress.com site.
However, you would need to import your site content here before your hosting there expires.
Let us know if you have any other questions – we’re here to help! :)
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I definitely want to keep the domain, so I am open to the best way to do that so it does not get lost. Is $60 what it costs just to keep the domain? That definitely feels higher than it has been in the past.
Can you advise what I would be losing by getting rid of the host site?
Thanks,
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The $60 includes the domain, but you do get other upgrades like extra media storage – you can compare the Starter plan at the pricing page linked above.
You can just transfer the domain if you wish for the price of the domain renewal ($18) and the domain would redirect to your free WordPress.com URL and your site would have the features that the free plan would have. But, it might be too late to transfer the domain since it can take up to 7 days to fully complete. In that case, you can renew the domain at HostGator and set a redirect there to your WordPress.com URL.
Can you advise what I would be losing by getting rid of the host site?
Without having access to your site’s backend, it’s hard to advise. For example, if you use a lot of plugins or have a custom theme, those would not transfer over to the free site. However, if you just use plugins like the Jetpack or Akismet, those features are already available to any WordPress.com site. You can also select a new free theme as well or keep the one currently in use on your WordPress.com site.
I hope that clarifies things!
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Would my url change to have the wordpress name in it or would it still look the same externally?
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Hi there,
Once you upgrade to either of our plans (Starter or Pro) you will be able to connect your domain and have your WordPress.com site show up as qcyogifoodie.com and it will not display as qcyogifoodie.wordpress.com
One thing I would like to emphasize is that we recommend exporting your content on the existing qcyogifoodie.com site and importing it to qcyogifoodie.wordpress.com first. Then you can set up your site here and as a last step (after you feel the WordPress.com site is ready to show to the public) is to connect your qcyogifoodie.com domain to the site here.
This will seamlessly replace the existing site with the new site with no downtime, so no traffic is lost.
Hope that helps. Please let us know if you have any more questions.
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Hi there,
Once you upgrade to either of our plans (Starter or Pro) you will be able to connect your domain and have your WordPress.com site show up as qcyogifoodie.com and it will not display as qcyogifoodie.wordpress.com
One thing I would like to emphasize is that we recommend exporting your content on the existing qcyogifoodie.com site and importing it to qcyogifoodie.wordpress.com first. Then you can set up your site here and as a last step (after you feel the WordPress.com site is ready to show to the public) is to connect your qcyogifoodie.com domain to the site here.
This will seamlessly replace the existing site with the new site with no downtime, so no traffic is lost.
Hope that helps. Please let us know if you have any more questions.
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if I am just renewing my domain on hostgator, then I could use the free plan on wordpress and redirect it?
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You can redirect it, but when viewing your site, the domain will display as qcyogifoodie.wordpress.com.
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so the only way to take wordpress out of the name is to do the starter package? even if I am paying to renew the domain?
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Hi there,
That is correct.
Currently you’re paying Hostgator for two different things: Your annual domain registration fee, and a hosting fee to host a website on their servers at that domain. (Your site is a collection of files and a database that live on a server connected to the web. The domain is, essentially, only a label that points to that server.)
Like Hostgator, we charge a fee for the service we provide to let you host your site on our servers, and the fee you pay to Hostgator to renew your domain, doesn’t cover the costs of the service we provide.
No matter where you host your site, there will always be a fee for that, as the provider who offers that hosting service to you incur costs to do that.
WordPress.com is one of very few options where we also offer an option to host a site completely for free, but that comes with the limitation that the site is only available at the free address we also provide. If you use your own domain, then we require a paid plan.
I hope that clarifies things, but please don’t hesitate if you still have any questions about this :)
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When I am trying to import from my hostgator where I did a cpanel export, do I chose that it is a wordpress site or something else?
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it gave me an error when trying to upload. I did a full export from the hostgator cpanel and the type is gzip compressed archive or I have a whole folder it downloaded.
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Hi there,
To move your site’s content here on WordPress.com, you’ll need to use the built-in WordPress exporter to generate an export file and then import it here.
Here’s are the step-by-step instructions:
https://wordpress.com/support/import/import-a-sites-content/#import-the-content
If you have any other questions, just let me know and I’ll be happy to help.
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Can you advise how I point my domain that I renewed on hostgator back to my wordpress site?
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Sure thing! It depends on whether or not you’re going to upgrade to a paid plan here at WordPress.com so you can use your domain as your primary domain. Here are the instructions for both scenarios:
If you’re going to upgrade:
You want to change your domain nameservers to point to WordPress.com.
You can find Hostgator’s instructions here on how to change that and you would need to use:
ns1.wordpress.com ns2.wordpress.com ns3.wordpress.comIf you’re not going to upgrade:
You would want to set up a URL redirect at Hostgator to redirect your domain to
qcyogifoodie.wordpress.com.Let us know if you have any questions!
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Can you also confirm the redirect will work going forwards even if my hosting package is expiring at hostgator this month?
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Hi there,
if I use the free site for now, can I upgrade later?
You sure can! You can start building your site via the free plan and when you’re ready to upgrade to a paid plan, it will always be an available option.
Can you also confirm the redirect will work going forwards even if my hosting package is expiring at Hostgator this month?
I am assuming when you say hosting package, it is referring to site hosting as well? As long as you renewed your domain hosting with Hostgator, you should be able to accomplish the redirect, even if your site hosting expires. I would touch base with Hostgator to make sure everything is set, just out of caution.
Hope this helps!
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