Often, many beginners start with WordPress.com, but eventually, realize its limitations and plan to switch to the self-hosted WordPress.org platform. This shift can help gain greater control, ownership, and flexibility.
A few important reasons why you can consider switching from WordPress.com to WordPress.org are:
More control: It offers you greater control over your website, allowing you to fully customize your site’s appearance and functionality by installing custom themes and plugins, and even editing the underlying code. This gives you the freedom to create a website that is unique and tailored to your specific needs.
Full ownership: It gives you full ownership of your website and its content. Meaning, you have complete control over what you do with your site, and you can monetize it in any way you choose. You can even sell your website if you decide to move on from it.
Better SEO: It provides greater flexibility when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO). You can optimize your site’s metadata, install SEO plugins, and even modify your site’s code to improve its search engine ranking. This can help your site get more traffic and visibility online.
Scalability: WordPress.org is more scalable than WordPress.com, allowing you to handle more traffic and add more features to your site as your needs evolve. This means that you can grow your website without worrying about hitting any limitations.
Cost: While WordPress.org does require more technical knowledge and potentially some hosting fees, it can ultimately be more cost-effective than WordPress.com, particularly as your website grows and requires more resources. You can even compare the features and cost that different hosting providers offer and choose the best one for yourself.
Steps to move your blog from WordPress.com to WordPress.org
Before you begin with the process, ensure that you choose one of the reliable and fastest WordPress Hosting providers that offers a complete suite of services. Bluehost’s WordPress Hosting plans feature automatic WordPress installation, speed boosting CDN, free domain for 1 year, WordPress staging environment, and 24/7 WordPress hosting support.
Now let’s begin with the process of moving your blog to WordPress.org and setting it up:
Export your WordPress.com content
To move your content from WordPress.com to WordPress.org, first you need to export your content.
- Go to your WordPress.com dashboard.
- Navigate to “Tools” tab and click on “Export”.
- Choose the “All content” option.
- Click on “Download Export File”.
Import your content to WordPress.org
After exporting your content,
- Go to your WordPress.org dashboard,
- Navigate to the “Tools” tab and click on “Import”.
- Choose the WordPress option, install the WordPress importer plugin if necessary, and upload the export file that you downloaded from WordPress.com.
Redirect your domain
If you have a custom domain on WordPress.com, you need to redirect it to your new WordPress.org website. To do this, you need to update your domain’s DNS settings to point to your new hosting provider.
Go to WordPress blog’s dashboard and click through Manage » Settings. Under the ‘Site Address’ option, go to the ‘redirect’ link.
Now on the next screen, you’ll have to provide the domain name where you want your website visitors to be redirected. Enter the domain name of your new WordPress.org site and click on the ‘Go’ button.
Install necessary plugins and themes
WordPress.org allows you to install plugins and themes to fully customize your website. You can install your preferred plugins and themes on your new website.
Test your website
After completing the migration process, test your website to make sure everything is working as expected.
And you’re done.
Still, if you have any questions, you can ask in the comment section below. We’ll be happy to help.
