How To Move A Blog / Website From Wordpress.Com To Wordpress.Org

Many a time it so happens that you come across the word ‘WordPress’, and WordPress.com seems the best choice available. Partly due to the fact you are a beginner and still building your brand & growing traffic to your blog or website. But then your website grows, and suddenly WordPress.com does not look that great anymore. You want to install plugins, explore new customizable themes and staying here might hinder your growth.

So you decide to switch! There are a lot of options available and several platforms,  the best to choose since you are migrating from WordPress.com would be WordPress.org. It is a self-hosted service and a great platform to host your blog/website.

One of the biggest advantages of moving to WordPress.org is you can choose WordPress hosting, as the hosting service provider as well as get access to plenty of plugins and unlimited themes and still stay on the familiar WordPress platform that you started out with.

To make matters simpler, let me list down some of the key differences between wordpress.com and wordpress.org

The precursor to migrating:

Once you decide to move to WordPress.org, you need to have a domain name and a hosting provider. Hosting your WordPress website to a WordPress hosting provider is the best and intelligent choice to make.  You can go through the various WordPress hosting plans and types available and choose the one that you find most suitable for your website. This largely depends on the traffic and the reach of your business.

Now, once you have decided this you need to know how to switch. To make your migration easier, we list down the steps involved for you.

Step 1: Exporting Content from WordPress.com

The first and foremost thing to do is, exporting content from your existing WordPress.com

For this, log in to your Dashboard and click Tools, under Tools you will find the Export option.

Next, when the above window opens, here select the Free Export option and click on Start Export. It asks you whether you want to export entire content or only specific pages. Since you are migrating completely it only makes sense to select ‘All’. Now you are ready to download your XML file.

Step 2: Installation

The second step is to install WordPress and then install WordPress Importer on your new website.

The below window opens when you click on Import, next select WordPress.

Post this, a new window opens, here you see the WordPress importer. If you have not installed the importer plugin, first install it.  If you have already done so, activate it and run the plugin.

Step 3: Importing

Now that the plugin is installed and activated, this window pops open. The import window helps you upload your XML file that you downloaded.

Choose the file and then click on Upload file and import.

Next, this is the window that opens. Once you are done with this click Submit. (Click the checkbox to Download and Import file attachments)

Step 4: Redirection

Now that you are finally set up on WordPress.org, your website visitors should also know.

The Site Redirect service of WordPress.org offers you just that too at just $13. It lets you redirect your entire website, both page and posts to your new WordPress hosted WordPress site.

EndNote

Now that you are fully functional on WordPress.org, install and explore new plugins and themes and enjoy the seamless service.