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Hi,
I want to move from WordPress.com to a installed version of WordPress on my own domain name.
How can I redirect all the visits to mydomain.wordpress.com to mydomain.com?
And have my posts on WordPress.com be redirected to my domain? (ex. mydomain.wordpress.com/hello-world to mydomain.com/hello-world)
Thanks!
Even though there is a FAQ on this, this forum discussion should also be read.
http://faq.wordpress.com/2007/09/09/can-i-redirect-my-blog/
http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic.php?id=31506&replies=10
Thanks justjennifer, I followed the steps on the FAQ page and completed it all.
The result of it all was right where I started out with, my blog here (cathryn101.wordpress.com) does not redirect at all.. and 10 dollars spent on domain mapping.
What else can I try doing? What could be going wrong?
--I use DreamHost.
Since we forum volunteers don't have access to things behind the scenes, I suggest you contact support.
That is the one and only time I ever heard of it being done, and you saw what staff did: they removed the instructions. They don't support it and your best bet is to set a static page as your front page, indicating where you've moved to. That's what most people do.
Thanks again justjennifer again for answering, I'll be sure to do that. :)
raincoaster, to my knowledge of what I have found many people have done this. WordPress doesn't have a direct way of redirecting but on the FAQ page it clearly states that "[Wordpress does not] have an upgrade specifically for redirects, but it can be done using a domain mapping trick". The reasoning behind redirecting is that people can be very lazy and not follow the blog, and also because I don't want to lose my traffic. Just making a static page would not suffice.
raincoaster, I noticed that you have raincoaster.wordpress.com directed to raincoaster.com.. have you also done the domain mapping trick?
@rain-if that's the case, they should remove the WordPress.com FAQ about it.
I have not done "the domain mapping trick." My blog is hosted here, and I have the domain mapping upgrade.
cathryn101, I know you don't want to lose traffic. I know the static page is a kludge and unprofessional. What I'm saying is, WP.com does not support this "domain mapping trick" and if you can't manage to work it on your own, you're probably going to be out of luck. As far as I can see, staff have no incentive whatsoever to facilitate that; quite the contrary, as it keeps people at WP.com longer.
@jennifer: the list of FAQ updates that could be requested is long indeed, but do they actually say that they support/facilitate it? From what I read here and in the other thread, it seems that all they say is, it's possible.
The fact that there is an official FAQ about the technique should weight it on the side of supporting it. When you say "support/facilitate it" like most any other thing that's described in the FAQs, it's DIY, so I really can't say.
Well, there's plenty in the FAQs on CSS, but other than that contacting staff won't get you any assistance. They specifically say there's no staff support for CSS, and Mark said there was none for this redirect.
Think about it strategically (which is where Matt comes in to tell me I'm completly wrong, but whatever): if someone buys the domain name and mapping upgrade from WP.com early in the blog, the majority of the links etc will go to that new URL, not the old one. Then when you move off WP.com, the majority of links will follow you. This is why I advise people to get it and to get it very early in the blog, so maybe only a couple of links go to the whatever.wordpress.com address. So not supporting the redirect actually supports upgrade sales.
In the CSS example, the FAQ
http://faq.wordpress.com/2007/10/18/about-the-custom-css-upgrade/
specifically say there's no staff support. "We don’t provide training or technical help with writing or debugging CSS."
That's not the case in the FAQ I mentioned above on redirect or at least not at the time I mentioned it. ;)
This topic has been closed to new replies.
cathryng
