Which WordPress is right for you? We’ll compare the differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org to help you understand if you should stick with WordPress.com or move to a self-hosted WordPress.org installation. Bloggers who start out on WordPress.com may later decide that a self-hosted WordPress.org site is a better choice for them. If you’re in that position, this session will help you to make the move.

1. Moving from WordPress.com to
WordPress.org

2. In this Session…
 Which WordPress is right for you?
 Making the move
 What your new responsibilities are
 Q&A
Slides will be available at learnwp.ca

3. For a Personal Blog
.com is awesome!
 It's Free
 You don't need a domain name (but you can use
one if you want to)
 It's as Easy as 1-2-3:
create blog - pick theme - start writing
 No technical knowledge required to get started
 Maintenance is taken care of for you
 Your blog is part of the huge .com community
330 million visitors, viewing 3.4 billion pages
every month!

4. Where WordPresss.com can take you...
Toronto blogger Neil Pasricha
knows from experience that
WordPress.com is awesome!

5. Where WordPresss.com can take you...
Toronto blogger Neil Pasricha – 1000awesomethings.com

6. Why move to .org?
 Monetize your blog with ads
 Choose from thousands of free and
premium themes
 Customize your own theme
 Plugins!
 Integrate your blog and website with
WordPress as a CMS

7. Getting Started ...
http://learnwp.ca/workshop-prep/
1. Register a Domain name
2. Signup for Hosting
3. Set the DNS (domain name servers)
If you’ve registered your domain through WordPress.com
you can update the nameservers to point it to your new
host.
4. Install WordPress to the ROOT directory on the server of
your hosting account!
WordPress is NOT a program to install on your computer.

8. Hire Movers
For $129.00 you can
pay WordPress.com to
install WordPress for
you on the host
company and handle
the entire move for you.
It’s called a
Guided Transfer

9. Frequently Asked Questions
 What happens to my old .com blog?
You will continue to own the blog. It will remain at wordpress.com (hidden) unless
you intentionally choose to delete it.
 Will my blog be under maintenance during the move?
Once you purchase the guided transfer, a Happiness Engineer will set up a day
to perform the transfer. The entire process is transparent to your readers.
 What happens to my Google page rank if I use the Guided Transfer to
move to a new host? All of your blog traffic will be seamlessly redirected to your
new site if you already had a custom domain at WordPress.com. If you didn’t, the
old subdomain.wordpress.com URL can be redirected with a Site Redirect
upgrade.
 I purchased a premium theme at WordPress.com. Will it be transferred?
No, Premium themes purchased at WordPress.com are only valid at
WordPress.com.
 I have blog followers, will they be transferred? Yes, all your email followers
and subscribers will be transferred to your new site.

10. Or…
Do it yourself for free

11. Moving Day: Packing
 Login to your wordpress.com dashboard
 Tools -> Export to download an eXtended
RSS (WXR) file of your blog’s content.
 By default the export is set to
everything
 Download the export file

12. Moving Day: Unpacking
Login to your .org installation at yourdomain.ca/wp-admin
 Go to Tools -> Import -> WordPress
(to install the WordPress Importer Plugin)
 Activate and Run the Importer
 Browse your computer for the WordPress eXtended RSS
(WXR) file -> click Upload file and import
 You will first be asked to map the authors in this export file to
users on the blog. For each author, you may choose to map to
an existing user on the blog or to create a new user.
 Import attachments to bring your images over from
wordpress.com. Videos uploaded to WordPress.com cannot be
moved through the import process.

13. Change of Address
Take your readers with you
 Go back to your .com site and purchase the $13/year
Site Redirect upgrade from the Store page in your
dashboard.
 Enter the new domain or address where you want
your .com traffic to be redirected.

14. Getting Settled In
 Delete the Sample Page, Post, and
Comment added during the WordPress
installation
 Install your favourite .com plugins
 Choose and activate a theme
 Customize your banner, background
 Setup your widgets
 Create menus for your navigation

15. Lock the door!
Akismet
 Activate
 Get an API key
 Decide what it’s Fast Secure Contact Form
worth to you  Adds a contact form to your
Contact page.
 Uses Akismet to flag spam
 Option of a captcha code to
further prevent spam

16. New Responsibilities
 Updates – WordPress core & plugins
 Backups
 Domain and Hosting Renewals

17. Keep Track of Important Info:
1. Domain Registrar:
login, date renewal due
2. Host Company:
login, support phone number
3. FTP Credentials
4. Your WordPress admin login

18. Q & Eh?
image used by permission susybee.com