Question about domain registration

  • Unknown's avatar
    wordsbychris · Member ·

    Hello everyone,

    I recently created a blog for myself at WordPress,and after looking around at all the options it provides, I was thinking it would be perfect for another site I have in mind. But before I sign up for it, I have a question about domain registration.

    I’d like to create the site right now so I can start working on it. But I know that when I do, I have to pick the address for the site when I sign up (such as originalname.wordpress.com). Later, when I’m ready to send the link out, I’d like to register a domain for the site. I’m not locked into using originalname.com, right? I can choose something else, like newname.com or newname.org? When I pick a name, I only want users to see the newname; I don’t want to see the originalname (I don’t want anyone to get confused over the address).

    Sorry if this is confusing. I just want to make sure I can “change” the name later on by registering a different name.

    Thanks!

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

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    No the domain name you purchase does not have to be the same as the root blog on wordpress.com. In fact, you may find that the same name as the wordpress.com root blog has omitting the .wordpress.com is not available for purchase.

    Note that only .com, .org, and .net domains can currently be registered through WordPress.com. If you wish to use another type of domain, you will need to register it at another registrar and then map the domain to your blog.
    http://en.support.wordpress.com/domain-mapping/register-domain/

    Do you also understand thatt all the backlinks, authority and PageRank earned by the wordpress.com root blog belong to it and are NOT transferable? There are no 301 redirects here. That means that it’s in your best interest to purchase the domain name and domain mapping for it from the get go. There is zero advantage to waiting to purchase a domain and domain mapping. In fact, it’s to your detriment if you do wait as the domain will start from zero backlinks, zero authority, and zero PageRank.

  • Unknown's avatar
    pornstarbabylon · Member ·

    And whatever name you choose for a domain, try running it through all the social networks to see if it’s already been taken. That’s if you intend on having a presence in social networks. I first ran my blog name & online identity name through Google, social networks, and the domain registry making sure no one else already had it. Because if they do and I still stayed with the name, it would hurt me on Google and with SEO if there are five others with the same name.

  • Unknown's avatar
    wordsbychris · Member ·

    Thanks for the help!

    It’s good to know that I can sign up for whatever.wordpress.com, then later register somethingelse.org and they will never see the “whatever” part again.

    I would be looking for a .org so that’s not a problem.

    So if I understand this right, the whatever.wordpress.com address will start to collect page stats (hits, etc.) and then when I get the other address, the stats will be reset and will start counting over again with the new domain? That’s actually good. I would only be using the whatever.wordpress.com site to build the site and test things out, and then when I register the real domain name, that would be the “real” site to me, so I would actually *want* the stats to reset.

    It does still count the stats with the new domain, right? It just starts over?

  • Unknown's avatar
    timethief · Member ·

    I’m not actually talking about stats but yeah the stats on the new domain start from zero too.

    I’m was talking about PageRank, backlinks from other bloggers to the posts in the root blog , and any authority the root blog achieves – they belong to the root blog.

    Yes, the new domain starts with ZERO everything.

    If we do not purchase domain mapping and move our content to a domain then when readers click on root blog URLs to posts and pages they find when doing Google searches or when finding a link anywhere to the root blog content they will get a broken link – 404 (page not found).

    The reason we purchase domain mapping is so when readers click on root blog URLs to posts and pages, they are seamlessly directed to the new URLs for those same posts and pages in the new domain.

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