moving domain name to wordpress.org

  • Unknown's avatar
    directorofdead · Member ·

    I’d like to move my website to wordpress.org
    I’ve been told that it would be difficult to migrate my domain name from wordpress.com (who I bought it from) Is this the case?
    As I own the name I simply want to transfer it to another host.
    Thanks,
    Mark

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

  • Unknown's avatar
    justjennifer · Member ·

    If you’ve recently purchased the domain name, you will have to wait 60 days to transfer it to a different registrar. This is not a WordPress.com limitation but an ICANN limitation.

    But you don’t have to transfer your domain name at all if you want to use it on a self-hosted website. Just enter the new DNS pointers in the WordPress.com Domain Management Dashboard.

    Just be aware of when your renewal date is and renew before it expires to keep things running smoothly.

  • Unknown's avatar
    directorofdead · Member ·

    Thanks for the advice.

    ‘Just enter the new DNS pointers in the WordPress.com Domain Management Dashboard.’

    Do you mean that I should go into Settings and then Domains and then copy and paste new settings into the box below? Where do i get these new DNS pointers?
    Also – I will want to close down my wordpress.com site and transfer everything to the wordpress.org site – is there a simple way to do this?
    I gather that what you’re saying means that I keep ‘renting’ the domain name from wordpress.com and nothing else?
    My site is more than 60 days old so I should be able to change over.

  • Unknown's avatar
    justjennifer · Member ·

    If your domain was registered more than 60 days ago, then you can go ahead and transfer it to a different registrar if that’s what you choose. http://en.support.wordpress.com/domain-mapping/domain-management/#transfer-to-another-registrar

    If you want to keep the domain registered through WordPress.com, then get the DNS pointers from your new web hosting service. Here’s what you do once you have those pointers:
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/domain-mapping/domain-management/

    Like any registrar, you have to renew your domain registration on at least an annual basis to keep your site online. If you let your domain registration expire it can be very costly to recover.

    You can transfer the contents of your current WordPress.com site to your new web hosting service by exporting it from your Dashboard>Tools and importing it on your new site. http://en.support.wordpress.com/export/

    By “close down” I assume you mean delete your WordPress.com site and I recommend just making it Private under Settings>Privacy until you know that your new site is fully up and running. This is especially important concerning media files.

  • The topic ‘moving domain name to wordpress.org’ is closed to new replies.