Questions about upgrading plan, hosting and domain name…
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So I’m trying to understand a few things regarding managing a website, and how web hosting and website building interconnect with each other. So to my understaning, wordpress is both a web hosting and website building service? My question is why would someone buy web hosting from another site but build the website with wordpress and is that even possible and how does that integrate itself when a user let’s say uploads files into wordpress, like how does wordpress connect to a different webhost to store those files?
Anyway, my other question is that well first off I bought my domain from google domains because of a great price and free features that other domain registrars were charging extra for. So right now I am forwarding my domain to my wordpress site. Is there anything I can do to have my domain name stay the same when I forward to my wordpress site instead of having my domain forward to my name.wordpress.format, like a way to mask it? This would look more professional. Also is it a must to upgrade my plan to remove the wordpress ads? At this point it’s just that as a new music artist integrating mostly social media links on my site I may not need the extra storage and features of a paid plan so I was wondering if these requests can be achieved without an upgrade?
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Hey @tomeotv,
…why would someone buy web hosting from another site but build the website with wordpress and is that even possible and how does that integrate itself when a user let’s say uploads files into wordpress, like how does wordpress connect to a different webhost to store those files?
In my opinion, WordPress.com gives you Convenience while WordPress.org gives you Control 😉
WordPress.com lets you focus on the content and designing of your site. All the backend stuff like maintenance, updates, and backups are handled automatically which is convenient.
WordPress.org allows you to handle much of your site’s backend stuff. You will have to backup, manage a web server, and maintain your site on your own. You will have to get dirty with the PHP and CSS. But overall requires a lot of technical knowledge.
Learn more here:
https://wordpress.com/support/com-vs-org/Is there anything I can do to have my domain name stay the same when I forward to my wordpress site instead of having my domain forward to my name.wordpress.format, like a way to mask it?
Sure, you can transfer your domain here to WordPress.com, you will need to upgraded WordPress.com plan. You basically have two options:
Domain mapping – your domain will stay with the current registrar and you’ll need to go to their site to manage anything domain related:
https://wordpress.com/support/domains/map-existing-domain/Domain transfer – You will be moving your domain entirely to WordPress.com and you be managing everything site related to WordPress.com. To transfer you, you need to have owned it for at least 60 days:
https://wordpress.com/support/move-domain/incoming-domain-transfer/Also is it a must to upgrade my plan to remove the wordpress ads?
Upgrading to any of the paid plans removes the ads from your site.
I’m also tagging staff to help explain anything that I might have left.
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Hi there,
Austin has provided a good answer above, but I’ll just expand a bit on WordPress and hosting.
So to my understaning, wordpress is both a web hosting and website building service? My question is why would someone buy web hosting from another site but build the website with wordpress and is that even possible and how does that integrate itself when a user let’s say uploads files into wordpress, like how does wordpress connect to a different webhost to store those files?
WordPress is the name of a piece of open source software that anyone can use to build a website. That software is made by a community of unpaid volunteers on the WordPress.org website.
That software needs to be installed on a server at a web host (or you can run your own server if you prefer, but most people use a host, as it’s ultimately much cheaper and easier). WordPress.com is just one of many such hosting providers.
So when you upload any content to a WordPress site, you’re uploading it to your specific installation of that software on your specific hosting provider’s servers. If that hosting provider is WordPress.com, you’re uploading it to our servers. If your hosting provider is Bluehost.com, you’re using WordPress on their servers, etc.
WordPress.com is what’s called a managed host, i.e. we manage the software for you – installation, server setup, software updates, security scans, etc. all happens invisibly behind the scenes, so you can just focus on your site’s content. The trade-off is you can’t access and modify your site’s files directly, and while you don’t need to pay us for hosting, we do limit certain WordPress features to paid plans only.
Or you can use the open source version of WordPress at another host, like Bluehost. Then you’ll have the full WordPress experience, being able to even modify core WordPress files themselves if you want. But you’ll be responsible for the technical maintenance of the software itself, in addition to your site’s content.
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Thanks a lot guys for clearing up some of this stuff. Basically I’m a music producer and right now my initials goals for my website is to have all my social media links, news regarding my music and future releases, and down the road I would like to sell my music directly from my website so I can keep full profit without solely relying on music hosting sites like bandcamp, etc., and just have them remain as extra outlets of promotion.
Also I came across news from a friend about google web stories plugin. I think this would be a great feature for my website to use as a marketing feature. I’ve seen many big websites use something like this where it is like a horizontal slideshows of advertisements. My question is, is this plugin available on WP.com or only WP.org? And is this plugin able to automatically play the slideshow of advertisements and also allow the user to click left or right during the advertisements like I see some big sites use? And can I also implement links into each different slideshow for a user to be able to click?
Lastly if you can take a look at my site, would I be able to move my social media links that right now I have at the middle right side, up to let’s say right under my site icon of myself which is above my site name? I’m still new to this and learning the site tools but based on my first few interactions with the web builder I didn’t yet find that option to move things where I want them to be. Or would I need WP.org for this? Or can this be done with the free version or do I need to upgrade plan for this specific request?
Also to my understanding I do not yet need to upgrade my plan to map my domain with my current domain registrar which is google? Thank you for the help.
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I would like to sell my music directly from my website
You can do what you described here with any paid plan: https://wordpress.com/support/wordpress-editor/blocks/payments/
Also I came across news from a friend about google web stories plugin.
If you’d like to use plugins here though, you’ll need a Business Plan: https://wordpress.com/support/plugins/#using-other-plugins
I’ve seen many big websites use something like this where it is like a horizontal slideshows of advertisements.
For a post slider, that’s up to the theme choose, there are a few which do have one: https://wordpress.com/themes/filter/post-slider
Lastly if you can take a look at my site, would I be able to move my social media links that right
If we’re both looking at https://tomeotv.wordpress.com/ it seems like you’ve been able to take care of that. :)
Also to my understanding I do not yet need to upgrade my plan to map my domain with my current domain registrar which is google?
You’ll need a paid plan to use a custom domain, and for using a domain you own elsewhere, we have two options:
Mapping allows you to keep the domain registered with your current domain registrar and direct it to your WordPress.com site: https://wordpress.com/support/domains/map-existing-domain/
A transfer would allow to manage both your site and domain from the same place: https://wordpress.com/support/move-domain/incoming-domain-transfer/
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Thanks for your response. Well it seems I understand some of your points, but regarding the social media links you saw on my page, my question was is there a way I can move them towards below my picture in the header? I was not able to find with my first few interactions with the builder
Also regarding your info about choosing a theme to be able to incorporate a slider or google web story, is there anyway I can put those into my current template? For example, let’s take the site I already made, is there a way I can put a slider or story of some sort somewhere in my header? Perhaps on the right or left side of my Header picture of me? And be able to adjust size and etc?
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my question was is there a way I can move them towards below my picture in the header?
Ah no, that would require a structural change beyond what can be done with just CSS.
is there anyway I can put those into my current template?
No, you would have to choose a theme which provides a post slider: https://wordpress.com/themes/filter/post-slider
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Thank you Macman. Well that’s unfortunate. So I wouldn’t be able to move and shift stuff around even with the WP.org format?
Basically I wanted those social media links below my header picture, then slideshow ads nearby, and below that perhaps keep my blog posts. Any recommendations what I can do or is my best bet to try different themes/templates? Thanks again
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You can make more extensive theme changes on WordPress.org.
To clear up any confusion, WordPress.com and WordPress.org are two different entities: https://wordpress.com/support/com-vs-org/
WordPress.org has complete documentation for self-hosted/installed versions of WordPress.org at https://wordpress.org/support/ and support at https://wordpress.org/support/forums/
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Would I be able to for instance design a free site with wordpress.org with these designs I have in mind and then have it hosted here on my WP.com’s free plan?
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