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Why should I map my domain when I could just forward and mask it?

  1. alexrossshipley
    Member

    Hello everyone,

    I recently purchased a domain with the intention of using it with my free wordpress blog, and bought domain mapping so people visiting the domain would be forwarded on to the blog. I wanted it to remain as the domain name rather than the blog URL though and it isn’t doing this (will this kick in within a few days or is it not a feature of domain mapping?).

    But I was thinking about it – and I don’t see why I should use the domain mapping service when I could, for free, forward the domain on to my wordpress blog for free and ‘mask’ it so it remains as the domain name rather than the blog URL.

    So why should I pay for domain mapping when I could just log on to GoDaddy (where I bought my domain) and get them to forward visits to the domain and ‘mask’ it so it remains displaying the domain name rather than my blog.wordpress.com URL? Is there something about domain mapping that I'm missing?

    Thanks,

    Alex

    The blog I need help with is zombiesatemyxbox.wordpress.com.

  2. thesacredpath
    Member

    Forward and mask will NOT make your blog here appear with your domain name in the address bar. All it will do is forward any traffic from the domain name to your wordpress.COM blog. For all intents and purposes, your purchased domain name will vanish as if it does not exist.

    I assume that what you want is to build brand and search engine ranking for your domain name. You can only do that if you map it to the blog here so that your blog here appears with that domain name rather than blog.wordpress.com.

  3. airodyssey
    Member

    ~~thesacredpath

    Also, I've seen domain masking cause erratic behaviour when it comes to links to external websites (they simply don't load!).

  4. alexrossshipley
    Member

    Thanks for the replies.

    According to this:

    http://help.godaddy.com/article/422

    If I mask and forward my domain, people will enter 'zombiesatemyxbox.com', be forward to zombiesatemyxbox.wordpress.com but still see 'zombiesatemyxbox.com', which is what I wanted.

    Are you saying that domain mapping will also keep the domain as the URL but also count for search engines and so on? That would be even better (I hadn't considered that) actually, but at the moment it's still taking me to the wordpress URL - will this disappear in a couple of days (i.e. it'll keep the domain name I purchased?)?

    Thanks again.

  5. alexrossshipley
    Member

    My blog is still appearing with the blog.wordpress.com name rather than the domain name - how long does it take to sort out?

  6. teamoyeniyi
    Member

    Appearing where? If you are referring to Google, it takes them a while to reindex everything.

    My Domain was in Google about 10 minutes after I upgraded, but old articles still had the wordpress in the URL. I upgraded on Sunday. Today Google still has some with wordpress in them, but an article about Christmas (done in December) now has the new URL.

  7. alexrossshipley
    Member

    In the address bar URL? If I go to the domain it just forwards me on to the blog.wordpress.com adress. Is this correct? 'thesacredpath' above says the blog should appear with the domain name once I've mapped it...
    Thanks for the reply btw! :)

  8. teamoyeniyi
    Member

    I see what you mean - I just looked at your blog and the wordpress is still there.

    My address bar URL for my home page no longer has wordpress in it, that disappeared straight away.

    When you are on your Dashboard, the wordpress is still in the URL though.

    Have a look at mine - no wordpress in the URL.

  9. alexrossshipley
    Member

    That's exactly what I want mine to do! :) I'll check to see if it's mapped properly. Thanks for the help and good luck with your battle!

  10. teamoyeniyi
    Member

    Thanks!

    For your issue, if it all looks OK at the back end, you might be best to contact staff.

  11. sunnisme
    Member

    @alexrossshipley
    your case and teamoyeniyi's case are different. In her case, the website has been moved to teamoyeniyi.com seamlessly (which is what the domain mapping is about), which means that even the URL address of previous blog posts with this address: teamoyeniyi.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/blog-post-title will become teamoyeniyi.wordpress.com/blog-post-title

    In your case, if you forward and mask, all the way while your visitor is in your website, the ONLY address that they will see will be yournewdomaine.com in ALL PAGES. when you "mask", the address NEVER changes. So basically is someone wants to link back to one of your posts, they will not be abel to do that, because the only address they will see is the yournewdomaine.com all the time.

    So here is the difference : if your purchased domain mapping the whole blog is transitioned to the new domain, when you forward and mask it is a superficial redirect.

  12. sunnisme
    Member

    I meant 'iF someone wants to link back", sorry

    And for the URLS I meant that this kind of URL

    teamoyeniyi.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/blog-post-title

    will become this:

    teamoyeniyi.com/2011/05/18/blog-post-title

    Sorry I should have re-read, but I hope that helps

  13. teamoyeniyi
    Member

    I thought he HAD bought and mapped. I missed the bit that he hadn't. :( Bedtime!

  14. sunnisme
    Member

    @teamoyeniyi No, you're not wrong! He does say that he bought a domain mapping option in his opening post. It's just that he was wondering if buying domain mapping from wordpress was really needed when one could just forward and mask when one has acquired a domain name, so I was explaining the difference. :)

  15. alexrossshipley
    Member

    Thanks guys - yes it's mapping I've got. I sorted it out, I had switched the primary domain but it didn't save. So I did it again and it's working now! Hurrah!

    Thanks for the help! :)

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