Move my domain name?

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  alwaysone · Member · Oct 14, 2008 at 6:04 pm

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  Hello,

  I need some advice. Recently I started a WordPress.com (www.alwaysonephotography.com) blog for a small business I own. I purchased the domain name option. From the beginning, I’ve had every intention to create a website which would eventually link to my blog here at wordpress.com. I’m just about ready to make that leap but I’m a bit ignorant regarding a few things.

  The company I’ve chosen to host my website will create a domain name for me or take the one I have. I’ve considered taking them up on the offer of the free domain but then of course my business cards and marketing material will list the web address which will lead to my blog and not my website.

  However, if I change my web address to point to my my new website, won’t I break links in search engines and such? I don’t think this would be too big of deal. I’m just starting out and not well established.

  Finally, awhile ago I read that you can’t move have your domain name moved out of wordpress until after a certain amount of time. I’ve done a search but can’t find this info again. Is this true? If yes, how long do I have to wait?

  How would you handle this situation?

  Thanks.

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  vivianpaige · Member · Oct 14, 2008 at 6:25 pm

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  Let me start at the bottom – I believe the wait time is 60 days in order to change the domain host. If you are beyond that time frame, you can transfer the domain to the new host rather than getting a new one.

  Here’s what I would do:
  1. Put the blog back to the wordpress.com url
  2. Make SURE the new host allows subdomains BEFORE you transfer.
  3. Transfer the domain to the new host and change the nameservers to point to your website.
  4. Set up a subdomain at the new host, ie, blog.alwaysonephotography.com
  5. Point the wordpress.com blog to the subdomain
  6. Put a link on your website to your blog.

  Now, if you do this, you’ll still have to pay for domain mapping here at wordpress.com. If you don’t care about having the wordpress.com in your blog address, then you can skip steps 4 and 5

  Another way to do this (again, if you don’t care about having wordpress in your url) is to put your blog back to the wordpress.com url and just change the nameservers over to your new host instead of moving your domain to the new host.

  I wouldn’t worry too much about the links in the search engines, especially since you just started out. I *would* worry about having to spend more money on marketing materials.

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  alwaysone · Member · Oct 14, 2008 at 7:13 pm

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  Thank you so much! Great response. You took a lot of confusion out of everything.

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  vivianpaige · Member · Oct 15, 2008 at 1:37 am

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  Glad to help!

  (And, BTW, what I recommended is what I do myself. I have my blog here, mapped to a subdomain, with my website hosted elsewhere.)