Relevant for: New Bloggers, Freelancers, Writers, WordPress Users, GoDaddy Users
A while back a copywriter friend of mine (joncorral.com) wanted to take his blogging to the next level. There’s a few distinguishable platforms and “levels” of blogging so it’s natural to get confused in the mix. Here’s a quick run down and short how-to for setting up a domain name (www.example.com) that you’ve bought with GoDaddy and “pointing” it to your WordPress.com blog (example.wordpress.com)
Problem: I want the own domain name (http://www.example.com) I bought to go somewhere like my WordPress.com blog but don’t know how to get it to do that and these places keep talking about DNS, or Name Servers.
First, understand that WordPress.com is a website that hosts your blog for free at their website. They give you a “subdomain” which is just a fancy word for a name before their name. Example: http://SUBDOMAIN.wordpress.com.
Second, a domain name (meaning a web name that you control all the words of) needs to be purchased from something called a registrar, typically for around $6-10 per year. I use GoDaddy.com. With a purchased domain name, you can point it anywhere on the web. Typically you buy hosting along with a domain name and point it at that, but you don’t have to, and wouldn’t if you just want the name to point somewhere else, like WordPress.com.
Okay, so you understand the problem, here’s the 2 minute fix.
Jon’s E-mail
Hey Rob, hoping I could enlist your help.
I’m trying to switch from joncorral.wordpress.com to joncorral.com. Purchased the domain from godaddy. Entered joncorral.com into, “Add domain to blog” and received this:
Domains
Credits
Domain mapping is available for $9.97 per domain per year, registration not included. Note that some forms of payment (eChecks via PayPal) may take several days to process.
Possible problem with joncorral.com
We were unable to verify that joncorral.com is pointing to WordPress.com. If you own this domain, follow the directions below to get it ready for your blog. If you don’t own it, try a different name to see if something else is available. If the domain is available, you may be able to register it with another registrar and then map it to your blog.
How to fix it
Using the DNS tools provided by your domain registrar, remove any existing nameservers and add the following:
NS1.WORDPRESS.COM
NS2.WORDPRESS.COM
NS3.WORDPRESS.COM
Then come back here and try again. It may take several hours for our system to recognize the changes.
If all else fails
If you need help, or if your registrar recommends a different solution, please contact support via the Help link at the top right of this page. We will help you sort it out.
Called godaddy and their solution is to set up a monthly hosting plan with them. I thought switching domains would be simpler. Clearly I have no idea what I’m doing. Any suggestions?
IT Arsenal’s Response
As for WordPress….
WordPress.com currently hosts your site and gave you the subdomain joncorral.wordpress.com
You bought the domain joncorral.com from godaddy. (check to see if you bought hosting space with them as well, domains are typically a yearly fee for about $6-10, while hosting is a fee of about $4-6 per month)
Those are the facts I know.
There are a hundred ways to get a wordpress blog working, but from the information about it seems the easiest will be to point the domain you bought from GoDaddy to your wordpress subdomain. Which are the instructions with the NS1 and NS2 in them.
The other solution I would propose would be to export everything out of wordpress.com (which is your subdomain) and use GoDaddy for hosting as well as your domain registrar (you’ve already done this by purchasing the domain with GoDaddy). The immediate benefits are few. The full independent version of the wordpress software (meaning, not connected to wordpress.com) has more options for customizability, for plugins, and for themes…you aren’t locked in but it’s not a necessity to simply run a blog. Most of the big guys are probably running their own hosted blog because of the customizability. Read here for a thorough explanation…let me know if you have follow up questions, with GoDaddy, installing the independant WordPress software is simple because they provide a user friendly installer.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/
If you’d rather go that route, the simplified process looks like this, let me know if you’d like to dig more into it…
- export content from wordpress.com
- buy hosting from godaddy, link hosting and domain you have.
- install wordpress from godaddy’s easy hosting connection
- choose theme you want to use or use the default.
- import data from wordpress.com export
- check to see if all goes well, fix any errors.
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