How can I verify that my domain is pointing to WordPress.com?

  • Unknown's avatar
    bluesockwa1cpac · Member ·

    This will take a bit of a lengthy explanation.

    A few years ago the old site owner moved to Bluehost in conjunction with WordPress.org, thinking it would provide more options for the site. Due to some server issues, I wanted to get the domain essentially back on WordPress.com, but after finding out that you cannot bring a domain back here after moving it off here, I parked the domain with SiteGround.

    It’s around time for yearly renewals, and I am confused on what services I need to pay for and which I don’t. I have already paid $15 to SiteGround for the renewal of the domain cparmycentral.com, which is on cpacentral.wordpress.com. This same service — renewal of the domain cparmycentral.com — is about to be auto-renewed through WordPress. Do I need to pay for both; are they essentially the same thing?

    Also, when I originally moved the domain to SiteGround, I paid for a StartUp Account. I believe their customer service people are telling me that since I am not using the account to create, say, a self-hosted site with SiteGround, I can let it expire without worrying. I was provided with this link (http://www.dnswatch.info/dns/dnslookup?la=en&host=cparmycentral.com&type=A&submit=Resolve) to check where the domain of my site was pointing to, but I don’t know how to interpret this information.

    Can someone explain to me the following: what charges do I need to pay for? Is the StartUp Account with SiteGround necessary to avoid having cparmycentral.com removed from cpacentral.wordpress.com? And finally, which site is the domain name being hosted by and how can I check this for myself in the future?

    Any help would be appreciated, sorry for the lengthy explanation.

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

  • kokkieh · Staff ·

    Hi there. Let me start with the last question first:

    which site is the domain name being hosted by and how can I check this for myself in the future?

    Your domain is currently mapped to your free WordPress.com blog, Club Penguin Army Central. There are two ways to tell this: First, if you view your blog and your custom domain appears in the browser’s address bar, then that means your domain is mapped to your blog here. The more technical way to tell is to look up your domain’s public WhoIs data. The link you gave above gives you a part of that data, specifically the part you need for this, namely the name servers (next to the NS heading). Your domain’s name servers are set to WordPress.com, therefore, your site is hosted by WordPress.com.

    what charges do I need to pay for?

    This same service — renewal of the domain cparmycentral.com — is about to be auto-renewed through WordPress. Do I need to pay for both; are they essentially the same thing?

    Hosting must be distinguished from your domain registrar. Your web host (WordPress.com) is only the company who supplies server space for your site. The Web registrar is the company from whom you bought the domain. According to the WhoIs data, your domain registrar is http://tucowsdomains.com, and you have to pay them for the domain. The WhoIs data also shows you renewed the domain yesterday and it will expire on 18 July next year.

    To connect that domain to your WordPress.com site, you need the domain mapping upgrade at $13 a year. As your domain is currently mapped here, you should already have that upgrade, but you need to renew it annually to keep the domain connected to WordPress.com. You should be able to see an renew that upgrade on the My Domains screen: https://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/map-existing-domain/

    So, to summarise, you need to pay your registrar (tucowsdomains.com) for the domain itself (which it appears you’ve already done), and WordPress.com (your host) for domain mapping. Unfortunately you cannot transfer your domain to WordPress.com, so you’ll have to keep paying two providers each year for the domain and mapping respectively.

    Is the StartUp Account with SiteGround necessary to avoid having cparmycentral.com removed from cpacentral.wordpress.com?

    I’m hesitant to answer this as I don’t know exactly how SiteGround works. If what you have with them is a hosting account, then you don’t need it, as your hosting is provided by WordPress.com. But don’t cancel your domain registration. As I said above, your WhoIs data shows your domain is registered with tucowsdomains.com, but I don’t know if SiteGround might be functioning as a middleman in that transaction, so make very sure with SiteGround whether you’re paying them for hosting or for the domain registration before you cancel your account there.

    I’m afraid my answer might be a bit overly complicated, so please ask if anything is still unclear or if you have any more questions.

  • The topic ‘How can I verify that my domain is pointing to WordPress.com?’ is closed to new replies.