WordPress.com is a great blogging platform for learning stages but if you want to take your blog to a new height and earn money, then you should start a self-hosted blog on WordPress.org.
In WordPress.org blog, you can install the unlimited plugin and customize your theme. Apart from this, you get full control over your blog.
If you started your blog on wordpress.com and now want to migrate to wordpress.org, then you are at the right place.
In this article, I’ll tell you how to properly move your blog from WordPress.com to WordPress.org.
Migrate From WordPress.com To WordPress.org
To create a self-hosted blog on WordPress.org, you need a domain name and web hosting.
I recommend Bluehost because it is a very reputed and best web hosting company that offers unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, 24/7 support via phone, email or live chat. Furthermore, Bluehost is also officially recommended by WordPress.org.
So let us come directly to our topic how to move WordPress.com to WordPress.org…
1. Export Data from WordPress.com
First, sign in to your WordPress.com account and click on Settings, then scroll down and click on the Export button.
After that click on Export All Button. If you want to export specific content click on the drop-down menu and download specific content such as Posts, Pages, Feedback etc.
Now click on the Download button that includes all your posts, pages, images, comments, custom fields, categories, tags, navigation menus and other information. This file will be downloaded at zip format. You can see in the screenshot below.
2. How to move content from WordPress.com to WordPress.org
Now you need to import your exported data into your WordPress.org blog (self-hosted WordPress blog).
For this login to your self-hosted WordPress blog and click on Tools >> Import, then install WordPress.
Once activated, click on Run Importer.
Then upload the XML file by extracting exported data that you download in step 1 from WordPress.com blog.
Next, you have to select the user (author) for your content. You must check the Import Attachments box to import your media file.
3. Import Images from WordPress.com to WordPress.org
If you are unable to import all your images from WordPress.com, then you can use the Import External Images plugin that allows you to import all the images into your self-hosted WordPress site.
- Install and Activate the plugin.
- Go to Media >> Import images.
- Click on Import images.
It will take a few minutes to import all images and also depends on your posts and images.
After doing this, go to Settings >> Permalink and select Day and name.
4. Redirecting Visitors after migrating WordPress-com to WordPress-org
To redirect your visitors to the new Domain, you will need the WordPress.com paid service ($ 13 per year). By using it, you will able to redirect your visitors to the new domain.
If you want to use this method, click on the redirect link at the bottom of the site address, which will automatically redirect to a new page.
After clicking on the redirect, it will take you to a new page. Here, enter your domain name, then click on the Go button.
5. Migrate WordPress.com Subscribers to Self Hosted WordPress
After moving WordPress.com site to self-hosted WordPress.org, you can transfer your WordPress.com subscribers to your self-hosted WordPress using JetPack plugin. You can read this official guide onJetpack.
Now You have successfully move your blog from WordPress.com to self-hosted WordPress.org.
6. Making your WordPress.com Blog private
First, go to your WordPress.com and click on Settings, then scroll to the Privacy section and then select Private option. You can see in the screenshot.
Should I Delete my WordPress.com Blog Now?
If you do not want to use the redirect feature, you can delete. Furthermore, some of your files (images) are still hosted at WordPress.com after the migration, so you should not delete your blog.
Fixing Broken URLs After WordPress.com Migration
When you move from yoursite.wordpress.com to yoursite.com, you may encounter a “broken” URL.
For example, if you do an internal link in your blog post, that link (yoursite.wordpress.com/example) will see 404 error not found.
To fix this, you can use the Better Search Replace plugin for this. After installing and activating the plugin, click Tools >> Better Search Replace.
In the ‘Search for’ box enter your website URL with HTTP and in the ‘Replace with’ box enter your website URL with HTTPS. Then select all your database tables and click the Run Search/Replace button.
This plugin will replace all your old URLs with new URLs.
If you get any problem to move your blog from WordPress.com to WordPress.org, you can comment here.
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