WordPress domain name change, site monetization
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Hi there!
I have a variety of concerns which I’ve been struggling with over the past week. I’m used to creating sites using Adobe Dreamweaver, and am new to the WordPress CMS.
Basically I have the following concerns:
1. I created the site http://johnsdailyjournal.wordpress.com through WordPress.com. I’d like to insert meta tags (e.g. meta keywords, meta descriptions).
How do I go about this process? Will I have to migrate to WordPress.org to use plugins to get the job done? If so, I’d really appreciate a link to a page describing how to go about the migration process!
2. The theme I’m using is supposedly able to “convert” between 2 and 3 columns. I can’t seem to add the 3rd column though, no matter how hard I’ve tried.
3. I’m looking to purchase a domain name through Namecheap or GoDaddy. If I do so, how do I go about “transferring” my site to the newly purchased domain name?
4. I looking to monetize my site through PPC ads and affiliate products. I also want to put a dandy little tip jar (which will be connected to my PayPal account). Can I do this through the WordPress.com platform?
Sorry for bombarding you with these questions. I’ve really been struggling to get the answers on my own. Thanks!
John
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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I’d like to insert meta tags (e.g. meta keywords, meta descriptions).
This is a multiuser blogging platform. Our blogs share a common architecture and we bloggers cannot access metadata. http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2013/03/22/seo-on-wordpress-com/
That being said it’s of interest to note meta titles, meta descriptions and keyword metatags are not required for SEO purposes and Matt Cutts of Google has said that as far back as 2009. Search engines are focused on keywords in your content.
http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/2012/03/01/revisiting-keywords-and-tags/Keywords and keyword phrases naturally occur in any speech or writing and in every language. “Keyword stuffing” refers to the practice to be avoided at all costs. Keyword stuffing is loading a webpage with keywords or numbers in an attempt to manipulate a site’s ranking in Google search results. See here http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/2012/12/05/keyword-power-in-the-blogging-world/
WordPress.com SEO is very good. If you had two identical sites, one hosted here and one self-hosted using that same plugin, the site hosted here would have better SEO than the self-hosted site. WordPress.com has huge SEO and you get the benefit of that by having your site as a “subdomain” here.
I suggest that your read these two articles published by Staff.
http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2013/03/22/seo-on-wordpress-com/ http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/seo-and-your-blog/To verify blog ownership of a WordPress.com blog with the major search engines you must use this process > http://en.support.wordpress.com/webmaster-tools/
Note: Even if you do not verify the blog the content will be indexed by search engines so don’t feel panicky about this please.Note also that WordPress.com automatically supplies sitemaps for our blogs to search engines – we do nothing. http://en.support.wordpress.com/sitemaps/#xml-sitemaps-for-search-engines
If you want FTP access and to install plugins or third party themes into a site then you will have to hire a web host http://wordpress.org/hosting/ and set up your own WordPress.org install.
There is no FTP access and no blogger installed plugin capability on any free hosted WordPress.com blogs.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/ftp-access/
http://en.support.wordpress.com/plugins/See here for a full comparison WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org
http://support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/There is no upgrade you can purchase here that provides FTP access and the ability to install plugins and or any third party themes.
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2. The theme I’m using is supposedly able to “convert” between 2 and 3 columns. I can’t seem to add the 3rd column though, no matter how hard I’ve tried.
The detailed theme description is found at this link http://theme.wordpress.com/themes/flounder/
All widgets are installed here > Dashboard > Appearance > Widgets -
3. I’m looking to purchase a domain name through Namecheap or GoDaddy. If I do so, how do I go about “transferring” my site to the newly purchased domain name?
If you intend to have you blog continue to be hosted here by WordPress.com, your content stays where it is. All that changes is the URLs and your visitors are seamlessly redirected from the original .wordpress.com URLs to the same content under the new domain URLs.
Important Notes Before Upgrading http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/#important-notes-before-upgrading
All About Domains http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/all-about-domains/In order to map to a domain one must have an underlying .wordpress.com subdomain blog to map from and the domain name you desire must be available for purchase, or you must already own the domain URL.
You must be logged in as Admin http://en.support.wordpress.com/user-roles/#administrator under the exact same username account that registered the blog to access the blog’s dashboard at > Store > My Upgrades to purchase a domain name by purchasing an annually renewable domain mapping upgrade for the blog. See here if you do not own a domain http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/
After you do the primary blog set up it can take between 24 – 72 hours for domain name propagation to take place throughout the internet. You can view the DNS changes here > http://www.whatsmydns.net/ What’s important during that stage is to be patient.
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4. I looking to monetize my site through PPC ads and affiliate products. I also want to put a dandy little tip jar (which will be connected to my PayPal account). Can I do this through the WordPress.com platform?
Then off you go to hire a web host and set up your own WordPress.ORG software install. PPC is no allowed here at WordPress.COM where no blogger initiated advertising is allowed.
WordPress.com and WordPress.org are completely separate.
http://support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/1. Hire a web host and purchase a domain http://wordpress.org/hosting/
2. Set up a WordPress.org install and equip it with a theme and plugins.
http://wordpress.org/themes/
http://wordpress.org/plugins/3. To move your content you need to create an XML export file of your content. It will not include the theme and widgets as they cannot be exported. Export your content out of your WordPress.com blog http://en.support.wordpress.com/export/ and import it into the install.
4. WordPress.com is the top level domain here and all blogs hosted by WordPress.com are on .wordpress.com sub-domains.
(a) Purchase a site redirect upgrade from wordpress.com
http://en.support.wordpress.com/site-redirect/
(b) Or if you have domain mapping then see here http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/move-domain/#change-name-servers-to-point-the-domain-outside-of-wordpress-com and here http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/move-domain/5. Transfer subscribers. See http://en.support.wordpress.com/moving-a-blog/moving-your-subscribers/
6. Set your wordpress.com blog visibility to private. To change blog visibility to private go to > Settings > Reading scroll to Blog Visibility and choose option 3 . See the guide here http://en.support.wordpress.com/settings/privacy-settings/
Alternatively you can purchase a Guided Transfer and Staff will do the move and set up for you http://en.support.wordpress.com/guided-transfer/
WordPress.com and WordPress.org have different log-ins and run different versions of themes with same names. If you don’t have a username account at WordPress.ORG click http://wordpress.org/support/ and register one on the top right hand corner of the page that opens, so you can post to the support forums there and receive advice from WordPress.ORG bloggers.
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4) short form:
PPC is banned here.
Blogger-initiated ads are banned here.
Affiliate links can be used only sparingly and as appropriate; affiliate marketing blogs per se are not allowed here. A book review blog can use a single text link to Amazon, for instance. Every post cannot contain affiliate links.
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@timethief thank you for taking the time to respond to my post! All the information was exactly what I was looking for.
I have final concern:
Let’s say I’ve completed my site’s transfer to wordpress.org, and it’s monetized with advertisements. Would it be alright for me to create a menu page link to a separate blog on WordPress.com?
The blog won’t contain any banned ads, but it’d contain links in posts (and a menu page) pointing back to the monetized website.
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