Starting With WordPress.org

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  petergiardina · Member · Oct 21, 2013 at 1:56 pm

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  I am going to set up an eBook store to sell my books. I would have liked to this on my WordPress.com site, but i have learned that is not possible. I have registered with WordPress.org, but I don’t know where to begin. I thought I could get help from their support team, but they do not do email support. They say it is not a good way to help a lot of people. But I am not a lot of people, I am one person. They say start with their documentation. I have read a lot of their documentation, but still have some basic questions that I can’t find answers to.

  They say start by downloading the software. Then they talk about finding a host. Do I download the software to my computer or to a host? If I follow through their process, What happens to my WordPress.com site? When does the WordPress.org site go online?

  One of the answers to the question I asked to start this process (Can I keep my WordPress.com site up and online while I am developing a WordPress.org site?) was site redirect. Doest that mean that my entire WordPress.com site can be moved to WordPress.org? If so, this may be the answer. If that were done, I assume I could then make changes to the site so I can set up the eBook store. Is that right?

  I apologize for coming to you with WordPress.org questions, and for having so many questions, but I didn’t know where else to turn for help.

  Thank you for your time and consideration.

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

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  eurello · Staff · Oct 21, 2013 at 6:25 pm

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  Hi Peter – WordPress (as opposed to WordPress.com) is open source, which means that it’s developed and maintained by the community. Likewise, the support is provided by the volunteer community through forums.

  To move your blog to a self-hosted site, you’ll first need to obtain web hosting. We have some recommendations here:
  http://get.wp.com/hosting/

  We have a guide for moving your site here:
  http://en.support.wordpress.com/moving-a-blog/#moving-to-wordpress-org

  You’ll first move your content itself, then your domain. Your old site will still be there just as it was, and once you have everything set up on the new site, you can point your domain to it, and set your old site to private (or delete it).

  You can move your domain to your new site in this way:
  http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/move-domain/

  Many web hosts (including all of those at the above link) provide a simple one-click installation of WordPress, so that you don’t actually have to set the installation up yourself.

  Note, however, that we are support for WordPress.com-hosted sites only. We can’t provide support for your self-hosted site – you’ll need to get support from your web host, and for the WordPress.org forums and documentation.

  If this is all seeming overly confusing, I recommend continuing to host here at WordPress.com. We do not have any kind of ecommerce functionality, but you are welcome to sell your own books (that you authored) on your site, and you can install a PayPal button. Otherwise, you might just sell them at Etsy or some other sort of third-party site, and link to that from your blog.

  Let me know if you have further questions!