Il passaggio del blog da WordPress.com a WordPress.org offre maggiore flessibilità e controllo. Molti principianti iniziano con WordPress.com ma presto si scontrano con i suoi limiti e cercano caratteristiche più avanzate.
Passando alla piattaforma WordPress.org, ospitata all’esterno, si ha accesso a una gamma più ampia di temi, plugin e opzioni personalizzate che non sono disponibili su WordPress.com.
Noi di WPBeginner abbiamo oltre 15 anni di esperienza nell’utilizzo di WordPress.org. Quindi, potete essere certi che abbiamo una profonda conoscenza di questa transizione. Inoltre, se volete avere un maggiore controllo sul vostro sito WordPress, sappiamo che vale la pena passare a questo sistema.
In questa guida passo passo, vi mostreremo come spostare correttamente il vostro blog da WordPress.com a WordPress.org, assicurandovi una transizione fluida e senza interruzioni.
Perché passare da WordPress.com a WordPress.org?
WordPress.com permette a chiunque di aprire un blog creando un account gratuito. Questo rende facile per i principianti iniziare a bloggare rapidamente senza dover affrontare alcun problema tecnico.
Tuttavia, molti utenti si rendono conto che il loro blog gratuito su WordPress.com ha alcune limitazioni. Tra queste, la limitata capacità di monetizzare, l’impossibilità di installare plugin, gli annunci di terze parti visualizzati dagli utenti e altro ancora.
Per questo motivo gli utenti passano spesso alla più potente e popolare piattaforma WordPress.org, ospitata in esterno. In alternativa, potete passare a un piano WordPress.com a pagamento.
Abbiamo confrontato a fondo WordPress.com e WordPress.org. Questa analisi a fianco spiega le differenze, i vantaggi e gli svantaggi di entrambe le piattaforme.
Vi consigliamo di utilizzare WordPress.org perché vi dà la completa proprietà del vostro sito web e la libertà di controllarne tutte le caratteristiche. Per approfondire tutte queste caratteristiche, consultate la nostra recensione completa di WordPress con i pro e i contro.
Detto questo, vediamo come migrare correttamente il vostro blog da WordPress.com a WordPress.org.
Cose necessarie prima di iniziare
Per iniziare con WordPress.org in hosting esterno, avrete bisogno di un account di hosting WordPress e di un dominio.
Raccomandiamo Bluehost perché è una delle più grandi società di hosting al mondo e un fornitore di hosting WordPress ufficialmente raccomandato.
Offrono inoltre agli utenti di WPBeginner un dominio gratuito e un enorme sconto sull’hosting web. È possibile iniziare per 1,99 dollari al mese (e questo include anche un SSL gratuito).
Avrete comunque bisogno di un hosting web se il vostro sito WordPress ha un dominio personalizzato. Procedete con l’iscrizione a Bluehost e, alla voce dominio, aggiungete il dominio del vostro blog.
Nei passi successivi, vi mostreremo come mantenere lo stesso dominio durante il trasferimento da WordPress.com a WordPress.org senza perdere le posizioni di ricerca.
Oltre all’account di hosting, dovrete anche accedere al vostro account WordPress.com per trasferire facilmente i vostri post, pagine, immagini, commenti e altri dati al vostro sito WordPress ospitato in esterno.
Offerta gratuita: Poiché molti di voi ce lo hanno chiesto, ora offriamo un servizio gratuito di migrazione da WordPress.com a WordPress.org come parte del nostro servizio gratuito di configurazione di blog WordPress. Durante questo trasferimento guidato, uno dei membri del nostro team di esperti eseguirà l’intera migrazione per voi (100% gratuita). Questo significa che potete passare da WordPress.com a WordPress.org senza alcun rischio.
Tuttavia, se vi piace imparare e fare le cose da soli, potete seguire la nostra guida passo-passo qui sotto.
Video tutorial
Se preferite le istruzioni scritte, continuate a leggere.
Passo 1: Esportazione dei dati da WordPress.com
Per prima cosa, dovete accedere al vostro sito WordPress.com e andare alla Bacheca del vostro account.
Da qui, è necessario passare alla visualizzazione WP Admin per il blog o il sito web che si desidera migrare. Basta fare clic sul menu a tre puntini accanto al nome del sito e selezionare WP Admin.
In questo modo si accede alla tradizionale schermata di amministrazione di WordPress.
Dalla colonna di sinistra, è necessario cliccare sul menu Strumenti ” Esportazione e poi fare clic sul pulsante ‘Esporta tutto’.
Questo permette di esportare il sito WordPress. Una volta che il file di esportazione è pronto, sarà visibile un collega per il download. Fate clic per scaricare il file zip sul vostro computer.
WordPress.com invierà il collega anche al vostro indirizzo email.
Una volta scaricato il file sul computer, è necessario decomprimerlo.
Al suo interno troverete un file XML con tutti gli articoli, le pagine, le immagini, i commenti, i campi personalizzati, le categorie, i tag, i menu di navigazione e altri dati.
Fase 2: impostazione di WordPress
Dopo aver esportato i dati di WordPress.com, è necessario procedere all’impostazione di una nuova installazione di WordPress sul vostro hosting web.
WordPress è molto facile da installare e richiede solo pochi clic. Se vi siete iscritti a Bluehost, come abbiamo detto sopra, WordPress verrà installato automaticamente per voi.
In alternativa, se scegliete un altro servizio di hosting, potete seguire il nostro tutorial passo-passo su come installare WordPress in 5 minuti.
Una volta installato WordPress, è il momento di importare i contenuti nel nuovo sito web WordPress ospitato.
Passo 3: Importare il contenuto in un sito WordPress ospitato all’esterno
Per importare i contenuti del vecchio sito WordPress.com nel nuovo sito WordPress.org, è necessario accedere all’area di amministrazione del sito web WordPress appena installato.
Da qui, è necessario visitare la pagina Strumenti ” Importazione e fare clic sul pulsante “Installa ora” sotto WordPress.
WordPress installerà ora l’importatore di WordPress per voi.
Una volta terminato, fai clic sul collega “Esegui importatore” per continuare.
Si aprirà uno schermo in cui vi verrà chiesto di effettuare l’uploader del file XML di WordPress.com che avete scaricato al punto 1 di questa guida.
Fare clic sul pulsante “Scegli file” per selezionare il file, quindi fare clic sul pulsante “Uploader file e importa”.
Nota: se le dimensioni del file sono superiori a 2 MB, avete due opzioni. Una è quella di chiedere alla società di hosting web di aumentare temporaneamente il limite in modo da poter procedere con il processo. L’altra opzione è quella di dividere il file utilizzando uno splitter WXR.
Quando si avvia l’importazione, è possibile assegnare i contenuti importati a un utente esistente o creare un nuovo utente.
È inoltre disponibile l’opzione per importare file allegati. È necessario selezionare questa casella per importare correttamente i file immagine.
Passo 4: Importare i colleghi del blogroll
Se avete utilizzato la caratteristica Links sul vostro blog WordPress.com per memorizzare il blogroll o altri collegamenti, dovete seguire queste istruzioni per importarli. Gli utenti che non hanno utilizzato questa caratteristica possono passare al passaggio 5.
WordPress non supporta in modo nativo la caratteristica del blogroll. Se non avete troppi colleghi nel vostro blogroll, consultate la nostra guida su come add-on i link del blogroll in WordPress senza usare un plugin.
Tuttavia, se avete troppi colleghi o volete mantenere la funzionalità del blogroll, continuate a leggere.
I link del blogroll vengono esportati in formato OPML. Si tratta di un formato XML che permette di esportare e importare i link e le categorie di link. I vostri colleghi di WordPress.com hanno un file OPML che si trova a un indirizzo come questo:
http://example.wordpress.com/wp-links-opml.php
Sostituite l’esempio con il sottodominio del vostro blog WordPress.com.
Se si utilizza un dominio personalizzato con il proprio sito web WordPress.com, è possibile accedere al file OPML visitando un URL come questo:
http://www.example.com/wp-links-opml.php
Il file OPML si aprirà nella finestra del browser e dovrà essere salvato sul desktop. Premere CTRL+S (Command+S su Mac) per salvare il file sul computer.
Ora che avete un backup dei vostri colleghi di WordPress.com, il passo successivo è importarli in WordPress. Tuttavia, WordPress ospitato all’esterno non ha un gestore di link abilitato di default.
È necessario installare e attivare il plugin Link Manager. La pagina del plugin dice che non viene aggiornato da molti anni. Questo perché non ha avuto bisogno di aggiornamenti e potete installare questo plugin con fiducia.
Dopo l’attivazione, il plugin aggiunge alla barra di amministrazione di WordPress una nuova voce di menu con l’etichetta ‘Links’.
Successivamente, è necessario installare e attivare il plugin OPML Importer. Questo plugin abilita un nuovo strumento di importazione che permette di importare i link del blogroll.
Dopo l’attivazione, è necessario visitare la pagina Strumenti ” Importazione e fare clic sul collega “Esegui importatore” sotto l’importatore di blogroll.
Nella pagina di importazione del blogroll, è necessario effettuare l’upload del file OPML salvato in precedenza.
Fare clic sul pulsante “Scegli file” per selezionare il file, quindi fare clic sul pulsante “Importa file OPML” per continuare.
WordPress importerà ora i link e le categorie di colleghi dal file OPML.
Sarà possibile vedere l’avanzamento e, al completamento, verrà visualizzato il messaggio di successo.
Fase 5: impostazione del blog WordPress.com come privato
Ora, se non volete reindirizzare i vecchi utenti al nuovo sito, questo sarà il passo finale.
Per prima cosa, visitate la dashboard di WordPress.com del vostro vecchio blog. Dal menu di sinistra, fate clic su Impostazioni “ Menu Generale e scendete fino alla sezione “Privacy”.
Da qui, è necessario selezionare l’opzione “Privato” e poi fare clic sul pulsante “Salva impostazioni”.
In questo modo il vostro vecchio blog WordPress.com diventerà privato e sarà visibile solo a voi o ad altri utenti connessi da voi approvati.
Attenzione: Se scrivete da tempo e avete un pubblico fedele, non ha senso lasciarlo in sospeso.
Inoltre, se il vostro blog è in circolazione da tempo, è probabile che sia indicizzato da Google e da altri motori di ricerca.
È possibile mantenere tutte le posizioni nei motori di ricerca e reindirizzare facilmente i vecchi utenti al nuovo blog seguendo il passaggio 6 (altamente consigliato se il sito è già consolidato).
Passo 6: reindirizzare i visitatori e preservare la SEO
La reindirizzazione degli utenti alla nuova posizione con l’header 301 è una soluzione standard per mantenere le classifiche di ricerca durante lo spostamento di un sito da un luogo all’altro.
Poiché non avete accesso al file .htaccess su WordPress.com, non potete apportare alcuna modifica per mantenere il posizionamento sui motori di ricerca.
Tuttavia, WordPress.com offre una caratteristica di aggiornamento a pagamento chiamata “Reindirizza sito”, che fornisce questa funzionalità.
Basta andare alla pagina Reindirizza sito. Se avete più siti su WordPress.com, vi verrà chiesto quale desiderate reindirizzare.
Nello schermo successivo, vi verrà chiesto di fornire il nome del dominio a cui volete reindirizzare i visitatori. Inserite il dominio del vostro nuovo sito WordPress.org e fate clic sul pulsante Vai.
Nota: Reindirizza sito è un aggiornamento a pagamento e costa 13 dollari all’anno. Aggiunge un reindirizzamento 301, che reindirizza i visitatori del vostro blog WordPress.com e i motori di ricerca al vostro nuovo sito.
Alcuni di voi si chiederanno: per quanto tempo devo continuare a pagare per questa caratteristica di reindirizzamento fuori sede?
La risposta è: per tutto il tempo che volete. Tuttavia, due anni sono sufficienti per permettere ai vecchi utenti di memorizzare il nuovo dominio.
Se state cambiando dominio, un’altra cosa da fare è aggiornare tutti gli URL degli articoli. Se i vostri articoli sono stati collegati tra loro, questi collegamenti devono essere aggiornati. Potete utilizzare il nostro articolo su come aggiornare gli URL quando si sposta il sito WordPress.
Se avete un dominio personalizzato su WordPress.com, non dovete preoccuparvi. È sufficiente modificare il record DNS del vostro host per mantenere tutti i vantaggi SEO.
Domande frequenti (FAQ)
Abbiamo scritto la prima versione di questo articolo nel gennaio 2013. Da allora, abbiamo ricevuto tonnellate di domande fantastiche. Abbiamo risposto a molte di esse via email o nei commenti, quindi abbiamo pensato che sarebbe stato bello raccogliere quelle più popolari in un unico posto dove tutti possono vederle.
Cosa succede ai miei abbonati a WordPress.com?
Fortunatamente, WordPress.com consente di migrare gli abbonati a una condizione. Dovete usare il loro plugin Jetpack, che aggiunge la stessa funzionalità di abbonamento che avevate su WordPress.com.
Una volta installato e attivato il plugin Jetpack, dovrete contattare il team di WordPress.com e chiedere di migrare gli abbonati per voi. Ci auguriamo che nelle versioni successive di Jetpack questa operazione diventi più semplice e che gli utenti siano in grado di farlo da soli.
Potete aiutarmi a passare da WordPress.com a WordPress.org in modo gratuito?
Assolutamente sì. Offriamo la migrazione da WordPress.com come parte del nostro servizio gratuito di configurazione di blog WordPress. Se avete bisogno della nostra assistenza, iscrivetevi. È gratuito 
Quali sono i costi del passaggio a WordPress.org?
WordPress è gratuito. Tuttavia, ci sono alcuni costi minimi per l’hosting web. Vi consigliamo di leggere questo articolo su: Perché WordPress è gratuito? Quali sono i costi e quali sono le fregature?
Ho già pagato WordPress.com. Posso ottenere un rimborso?
Sì, è possibile. Se avete recentemente acquistato un dominio personalizzato o un piano a pagamento da WordPress.com, potete chiedere un rimborso completo.
Nota: le registrazioni di dominio possono essere annullate entro 48 ore dalla registrazione, mentre i piani e gli altri acquisti possono essere annullati entro 30 giorni dall’acquisto.
Le mie immagini si romperanno?
No, non è così. Quando si trasferisce utilizzando il file di importazione, tutte le immagini allegate vengono scaricate e il collega viene aggiornato.
Tuttavia, abbiamo notato un’avvertenza. Se l’URL delle immagini inizia con files.wordpress.com, le immagini non verranno convertite. Se notate che l’URL delle immagini non è stato modificato e punta ancora a WordPress.com, vi consigliamo di utilizzare il plugin Importa immagini esterne, che se ne occuperà.
Ho registrato il mio dominio tramite WordPress.com. Posso ancora spostarmi?
Sì, è possibile. WordPress crede nella possibilità di dare agli utenti il controllo completo dei loro contenuti. Se avete già un dominio su WordPress.com, tutto ciò che vi serve è un account di hosting web.
Vi consigliamo di effettuare l’impostazione con Bluehost o con uno di questi altri fornitori di hosting WordPress. Durante la fase di registrazione, vi verrà chiesto se avete un dominio o se volete registrarne uno nuovo.
È sufficiente selezionare l’opzione “Ho un nome di dominio” e inserire il dominio registrato su WordPress.com.
La prossima cosa da fare è cambiare i nameserver in modo che puntino al fornitore di hosting. Possiamo assistervi in questa operazione nell’ambito del nostro servizio gratuito di configurazione. Potete anche chiedere assistenza al vostro fornitore di hosting.
Il mio sito web va giù quando cambio?
Se lo fate correttamente, allora NO. Il metodo che vi abbiamo suggerito sopra garantirà che il vostro sito web non vada mai giù. Se siete preoccupati, sappiate che siamo qui per aiutarvi. Potete utilizzare il nostro servizio di configurazione gratuito in qualsiasi momento.
Posso aggiungere un negozio online al mio sito web WordPress.org?
Sì, potete aggiungere facilmente un negozio online al vostro sito web WordPress.org ospitato in esterno senza costi aggiuntivi. Dato che Bluehost e altri host web popolari offrono certificati SSL gratuiti, è sufficiente installare un plugin per WordPress e-commerce per aggiungere un negozio online.
Quali sono i plugin WordPress indispensabili che consigliate?
Ora che siete passati a WordPress.org esterno, potete installare tutti i plugin che volete.
Ecco la nostra scelta consigliata:
- AIOSEO – per migliorare il posizionamento SEO del vostro sito web (utilizzato da 3 milioni di siti).
- WPForms – per add-on un modulo di contatto intelligente sul vostro sito web (utilizzato da 6 milioni di siti).
- SeedProd – per personalizzare facilmente le landing page con il builder trascina e rilascia – funziona con tutti i temi di WordPress.
- MonsterInsights – per vedere come le persone trovano e utilizzano il vostro sito web. È un must per blogger e piccoli imprenditori.
- PushEngage – per connettersi con i visitatori dopo che hanno lasciato il sito web.
- Duplicatore – per creare backup giornalieri del vostro nuovo sito web in caso di emergenza.
- OptinMonster – per aiutarvi a ottenere più iscritti alle email e ad avere successo nel vostro percorso di blog.
Oltre a questi, vi consigliamo di dare un’occhiata alla nostra selezione di esperti dei plugin WordPress indispensabili e degli strumenti di blogging utili per gestire e far crescere il vostro blog.
È possibile installare tutti questi plugin dall’interno della propria Bacheca di WordPress. Abbiamo creato una guida passo-passo sull’installazione di un plugin di WordPress.
Voglio cambiare il tema di WordPress del mio sito, posso farlo?
Sì, potete cambiare il vostro tema WordPress in qualsiasi momento. Un altro grande vantaggio del passaggio a WordPress.org è che si ottengono ulteriori opzioni personalizzate e una più ampia collezione di temi tra cui scegliere.
Nella barra laterale dell’amministrazione di WordPress, fate clic sul menu a discesa Aspetto e selezionate “Temi” per installare un tema.
Abbiamo selezionato alcuni dei migliori temi per aiutare gli utenti a evitare la paralisi della scelta. Consultate la nostra guida sui migliori temi gratuiti per blog e sui migliori temi multiuso per WordPress.
Si consiglia di consultare anche la nostra guida su come cambiare correttamente un tema di WordPress.
Speriamo che questo articolo vi abbia aiutato a spostare correttamente il vostro blog da WordPress.com a WordPress.org. Potreste anche consultare la nostra lista di controllo delle cose più importanti da fare dopo l’installazione di WordPress e la nostra guida definitiva su come aumentare il traffico del vostro blog.
Se questo articolo vi è piaciuto, iscrivetevi al nostro canale YouTube per le esercitazioni video su WordPress. Potete trovarci anche su Twitter e Facebook.
Tobias
Hey, if we go with your discount, do they charge monthly or do I need to pay the full sum right away?
Regards
WPBeginner Support
Unless I hear otherwise, it is a one time fee rather than monthly charges. You would want to reach out to the host for clarification
Admin
ol
Hi, I’m wondering if you could help. We migrated from .com to .org and followed the instructions for moving the subscribers/followers. Note, we have the domain name registered with .com.
For some reason, even after the .org site is set up, subscribers are still showing up in the .com version and not the new site. I’ve spoken to .com and they can’t figure it out. I’m wondering should we shut down the .com site completely? Move the domain name over to our new host and cut ties with the old blog? I personally feel like jetpack is getting its wires crossed. Have you ever come across this issue?
WPBeginner Support
If you’re still getting subscribers, they could be from the WordPress.com reader if you’re not using the site redirect from WordPress.com and it is allowing them to see the old site’s posts through that method.
Admin
scolastica
Great Post ! Just bought my domain and registered with .com. After reading your post and all the comments I’ve decided to move before I gets traffic. I don’t want to do redirects. Will my new post be directed to the old .com ? What’s the way forward.
Thanks.
WPBeginner Support
If you move your site to WordPress.org then the new posts would appear on your WordPress.org site rather than back on the WordPress.com site.
Admin
ol
should we just shut down this old wordpress.com site and transfer the domain over to the new host? do you know if that would affect anything on the new site if we did that?
WPBeginner Support
You can certainly do that and it shouldn’t affect your new site if you remove the old site.
Rose
would’ve been nice if you had mentioned all the name-server stuff. I have been on chat with both bluehost and wordpress for 2 hours because of all the confusion
WPBeginner Support
Apologies for the confusion, we will certainly look to clarify it in the article.
Admin
Researcher
So I have a challenge or kinda a weird problem. I have a wordpress.com (e.g example.wordpress.com) site that I later upgraded to example.com still hosted at wordpress under the personal plan. Then I realized I can’t upload themes or plugins that I want. With the lack of flexibility and costs for upgrading at worpress.com, I decide to migrate to another host using (worpress.org) so that I can take advantage of what I am missing. In my wp admin, I am stuck. I don’t know why example.com/wp-admin/ is still pointing to wordpress.com instead my new wordpress.org admin. My website is now marked as “parked” and I am losing clients. I wish your guide would cover transfers of websites including example.wordpress.com and example.com, hosted at wordpress.com.
Hoping to see a reply soon.
WPBeginner Support
For that issue, you would want to take a look at the end of step 6. You would need to change the DNS or nameservers to point to your hosting provider. If you reach out to your new host they can let you know the nameservers/DNS records to update to.
Admin
Priscilla
I’m new to worpress.com. I started using wordpress.com free plan and only have 7 published posts along with photos. My blog is still set to private since I’m not ready to publish the blog. I have 7 more posts in my drafts. I realized I want to monetize my blog in the future and want to use wordpress.org. I was planning on signing up with Bluehost basic plan and I can do that through here, I’d like to take advantage of your free service of exporting my content to wordpress.org. I’m so new at this, I just want to get the blog going and not have to stress over technical details! I have a domain already. Is it easy to sign up my existing domain with Bluehost? Since I’m more comfortable of using wordpress.com, is the interface similar with wordpress.org? I’m hoping it’s easy to use. Are there free layout themes I can choose from until I’m ready to purchase a theme? Thanks for your help!
WPBeginner Support
After selecting your plan you can let BlueHost know you own a domain already, the admin interfaces in the wp-admin area are very similar, and the themes under Themes>Add New are free
Admin
Phahli
I am in South Africa, I want to start a blogg, a friend of mine suggested that I use wordPRESS. Can you kindly tell me the costs per month for acquiring or for using this.
WPBeginner Support
To understand the costs of WordPress you would want to take a look at our article here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/why-is-wordpress-free-what-are-the-costs-what-is-the-catch/
Admin
Rahel
HI
I’m not sure if I have a .org or a .com site :/ if I had Wordpress host my site would it then say “Wordpress” in the Websitename?
WPBeginner Support
If you purchased hosting through a host such as BlueHost then you would be a WordPress.org site. You would have a WordPress.com site if you built your site through the WordPress.com website.
Admin
Nathan Corliss
Hi there,
I recently migrated my site, from WordPress.com to WordPress.org using Blue Host. Thanks for giving me the confidence to do it. Great article!
I’m now having some minor acct issues – for instance, the WordPress.com app seems to override posting in my blog – my blog doesnt communicate back to the app. Do I need to stop using the app?
Jetpack is linked to my WordPress.com acct and I think that might be causing the issue. The other thing is that my /wp-admin page if giving me the option to login through WordPress.com – is this possibly related to the jet pack connection?
Is there away I can continue to publish to the free version of WordPress.com? Or should I do away with that account entirely?
Any ideas for a friend on this are appreciated.
Thanks for the help!
– Nate
WPBeginner Support
You normally would want to recreate your site’s connection with the app to clear up errors with connecting after moving. The option to log in using WordPress.com is something added through Jetpack that you should be able to disable through Jetpack’s settings if you like.
You could continue to publish on both sites but we would normally recommend focusing on your new site if you transferred it to WordPress.org.
Admin
Nicole
Hi, I just got started and have nothing written or designed yet in my blog and want to transfer from wordpress.com to .org. Do I need to follow all the same steps here, or is it simpler because I have no content? Please advise. I’m a total newbie, obviously, and clueless! Thank you!
WPBeginner Support
If you don’t have a domain name set on WordPress.com then you could set it up as if it was a brand new site. If you do have a domain name, you would need to transfer the domain or point the nameservers to the new host to see your new site.
Admin
Dawn
one more question?? Should I sign up with Siteground or Bluehost with the NEW domain name I want to use, and then you can help migrate the old domain from wordpress.com to the new one?? Thanks for your help!
WPBeginner Support
You can certainly do that if you’re wanting to change your domain name
Admin
Helen
Hi there,
Thank you for all this wonderful information. Will this still work and is the offer still available even though I am on a premium wordpress.com site?
Thanks!
WPBeginner Support
Yes and yes
Admin
Dawn
Hi there. I am wanting to move my wordpress.com site to wordpress.org. I also want to change the domain name. I currently have already purchased a new domain name thru NameCheap. I am planning to use siteground to host. If I use your link to sign up for siteground, is your migration service able to migrate to the new domain name??
Thanks so much!
WPBeginner Support
Our migration service can certainly help you change the domain
Admin
Jennifer
I reciently made the same mistake as many others and purchased a subscription thru wordpress.com. I moved the church web page from Wix to WordPress but now understand that I should move to the .org version of WordPress. I transferred the domain from Wix to WordPress.com. Do I follow the same steps and move from .com to .org and will my domain name move along with it?
WPBeginner Support
You would want to follow the steps in the article for moving the content over, for your domain if you no longer want to pay WordPress.com you would want to manually transfer the domain to your new hosting provider rather than changing the DNS/nameservers.
Admin
Sridhar
Hi,
I like to thank WPbeginner.com for providing this valuable information. It helped me move to self-hosted website. Good work.
However, when I did do all the export and backups (XML files) on my system and later set up new domain and imported all content, things did not work as expected. I fully respect your hard work and expertise but I do belive Wordpress has changed thier systems or made some changes thats making the process difficult.
I hoped to have about 85-90% of the contents and stuff restored. However, in reality it wasn’t. I tried redoing all steps again only to find all contents (blog posts) being restoed, but the themes, layouts, etc got messed up.
Now I had two options – either I waste time researching how to restore or gradually put the missing pieces back.
Fortunately my website is just one month old so I decided to restore by redoing the themes, widgets, layouts, etc. In the process I could do some improvements too w.r. to social plugins, showing recent posts, sharing options, etc.
Given that you are an expert in this field I request your honest feedback. Please take a look at my webiste above and share your feedback on its layout, design, etc. It is a blog, but I’m working hard at curating content to make sure its of high quality and presentation-ready. I’d appreciate your thoughts on this too.
Thank you.
WPBeginner Support
Hi Sridhar,
The WordPress importer successfully imports your content. It does not import themes, widgets, design settings, subscribers, etc. This is why after the import your new self hosted site looks different than your WordPress.com blog.
Good luck with your new site, it looks alright.
Admin
Sridhar
Thanks Syed for the clarification. Okay I get it – wordpress imports just the content, so the other components need to be redone anyway.
Wish you and the team a Happy New Year and good luck.
Godwin Ihagh
Dear Admin,
I have to appreciate you for such a clear and informative post. I have been blogging on wordpress.com for almost 2 years, but want to migrate to wordpress.org.
The part of the post I got a bit confused with is “Step 4: Importing Your Blogroll Links”: Were you referring to the links some bloggers, like myself, place within and at the bottom of our articles/posts? I have never used the Links feature (on my wordpress.com blog) to store blogroll or any other links. So I would like to know the difference between placing links within/at the bottom of posts, and using the Links feature: do they go hand in hand?
One question I want to ask is: if I’m exporting my posts, will the links I placed within/at the bottom of my post be moved to together along with my posts, or do I have to follow your instructions and export blogroll (which I don’t think I have because I’ve never used it directly) in OPML format?
Thank you and regards.
WPBeginner Support
If you were not using the links feature on WordPress.com then you won’t have to worry about setting it up on your new site. The links that were manually added at the bottom of your posts should remain
Admin
Nikhil
Hi,
I am using bluehost shared server. I have installed wordpress. But the problem is I am not able to import data. I can see downloaded images, but i can’t see any posts. Chorme console shows err_incomplete_chunked_encoding 200. Can you please guide me how to resolve this?
Thanks
WPBeginner Support
Hi Nikhil,
Try the importer again. It is smart enough not to import duplicate content. If that doesn’t work, then try creating a new export file from your older install.
Admin
Nikhil
Hi,
I have tried this multiple time, with different browsers. Still no luck. My xml file size is around 4MB. I think it’s something related to the size. Is there any other way?
WPBeginner Support
Hi Nikhil,
You can open the export file in a plain text editor and try to break it into two. However, to do this you will need to understand the format of the xml file.
Saba
Hello,
To follow up on my just posted question — my website just went down! Is that because of the order of things ? I signed up with bluehost, then exported from current wordpress.com, then redirected the servers, then went immediately to wordpress.com and cancelled the premium subscription, then went back in to try and import the site but got stuck… should I have waited the 48hrs to let it re-direct?
To clarify my previous question – will I be able to get to the wp-admin area of my new wordpress.org site once 48 hrs have passed?
Thanks!
Kat
I have followed each step and most of my content seems to have transferred, however it has been over a week and my domain name is still temporary. I have tried everything and don’t know how to move my custom domain name that I had at WP.com to my new WP.org site (powered by Bluehost). Do I need to delete my old site? Or do I need to transfer domain to a different registrar? Please can you assist so that my domain name transfers to my new site. Also, what happens to my premium WP.com plan? Will my custom domain need to be upgraded when the plan expires?
Kind wishes,
Kat
WPBeginner Support
Hi Kat,
After you login to WordPress.com dashboard click on the ‘My Site’ link at the top left corner of the screen.
On the next page, from the left column scroll down and click on the “Domains” menu. You will see your domain name listed there. Click on it to open its settings and then click on the “Name Servers and DNS” option.
Now you will see a toggle next to “Use WordPress.com” name servers. You need to turn it off. When you do that you will see the option to add ‘Custom Name Servers’. You need to add your name servers like this:
ns1.bluehost.com
ns2.bluehost.com
After that click on the ‘Save custom name servers’ button to store your changes.
If you run into trouble at any time, please contact WordPress.com support and they will be able to help you.
As for your premium plan, you can cancel it. The domain name is yours as it is already registered for an year. When the time comes you will need to login to your WordPress.com dashboard to renew your domain name. At that time you will only pay the domain renewal fee. You can also choose to transfer the domain name to another registrar or your hosting provider.
Admin
Saba
Hello – following up on this same general question…
a. Are the Custom Name Server names you have listed here ‘ns1.bluehost.com’ actually the accurate ones if I have bluehost (which I do?) or these are just examples? If examples, then where do I find the server names on bluehost to re-direct my wp.com site to?
and
b. If I have re-directed the servers to bluehost correctly, where do I find the wp-admin area in my new wordpress.org site? I have been typing in ‘www.mywebsite.com/wp-admin’ and it takes me to my old wordpress.com control panel
Thanks, Saba
WPBeginner Support
Hi Saba,
These are actual Bluehost nameservers and you can use them if your site is hosted with Bluehost
Kat
Hello and thank you for your response and all your help!
I have done both those steps over a week ago, however when I try to open my new website, it keeps coming up with the message “A new WordPress site coming soon”.
I have checked all the steps and transferred the domain name to Bluehost, however my site is still down and has been for weeks.
Is there any way I can trouble shoot it to figure out where the problem is?
Thanks in advance for your help.
WPBeginner Support
Hi Kat,
Please contact Bluehost support and WordPress.com support. They would be able to point you in the right direction.
Ken
Hi, Your article tell how to move content.
What if you have custom files, plugins and themes your want moved from Wordpress.com? They don’t seem to ahve an option for that and do not allow FTP access. Any thoughts on this?
Thanks
WPBeginner Support
Hi Ken,
All plugins are also available for self-hosted WordPress.org websites. After you move your content you can install them one by one. Most WordPress.com themes are also available and you can install them and then set them up.
The importer tries to import all your attached media files. However, if it fails to import some files, then you can manually download those files from your WordPress.com dashboard.
Admin
Kat
Hello,
I have followed your instructions and moved my site from com to org, but it has been more than 48 hours and my new Wordpress.org website is still blank with a temp domain. However all my followers and content is gone from the old .com site. Is this normal? How long should I wait for the Wordpress.org site to be up and running? I had a custom domain.
Kind wishes,
Kat
WPBeginner Support
Hi Kat,
48 Hours is enough and your site should be up by now. You need to login to your WordPress.com dashboard and see that your domain name is pointing to correct DNS nameservers of your new host.
Admin
Kat
Hello,
I have tried to move from .com to .org. I had a custom domain name so I was wondering if you could explain the last step to me – how do change the DNS record to my host?
Kind wishes,
Kat
WPBeginner Support
Hi Kat,
First you need to find out the DNS nameservers used by your host. After that you will need to edit your domain settings under WordPress.com account and point your domain to your new host’s nameservers.
Admin
Igor
Hello guys
I’m stuck up.
I’ve got a domain registered on website wordpress.com, but I would like to move the domain to wordpress.org.
On the page is nothing at the moment, so I don’t need to export and import.
But I can’t find any informations how to move the domain from com to org.
Could you please help me? Thank you
Asmita
I read it and tried doing this. .but I am stuck up.
I purchased Hosting from Hostgator .
I already have a domain purchased in wordpress.com .
I installed Wordpress on Hostgator but it’s taking me to wordpress.com where I want wordpress.org
I created separate account in wordpress org with same domain .
I did export from wordpress com
But I don’t know how I can access dashboard in wordpress.org
Nothing working out.
I can just see my Old site
Please help
WPBeginner Support
Hi Asmita,
You will need to point your domain name to your WordPress.org hosting provider. Please see the domains section in your WordPress.com dashboard. There you will need to edit the Nameserver settings.
Admin
Annabel Potter
I moved over my wordpress.com blog to .org about 4 months ago and have now set up site redirect. Thank you for your clear tutorial, should have read your blog earlier!
The permalink structure includes the date but I would like to change that to just post name. Will site redirect still work and handle this change?
Do I need to do anything to redirect new posts I’ve written and are there any other problems I should be aware of?
WPBeginner Support
Hi Annabel,
Please contact WordPress.com support for questions about site-redirect addon. You can continue writing new blog posts on your WordPress.org website. If everything went smoothly, there shouldn’t be any issues.
Admin
Ad van der Neut
On September 18 I opted for your free migration service from WordPress.com to WordPress.org as part of your free WordPress blog setup service (I also took a hosting account with Blue Host). Up to now, I didn´t hear from you, not even a reply mail that you received my application and that you will get back to me a.s.a.p., within two weeks, or something like that. Is this your normal procedure or did something go wrong?
Regards, Ad
WPBeginner Support
Hello,
Thank you for reaching out. Our team replied to your request the same day but didn’t hear back from you. Can you please check spam folder? If you cannot find the email, please drop us another message using the contact form. Our support team will try to reach out again.
Admin
Harriet C
Thankyou for this help (love wpbeginner) but I just have one issue and im not sure how to fix it.. I chose to only import my posts from my old wordpress.com site, which is has done, however it has not brought across the pictures on each post etc. Why is that? what can I do? many thanks
WPBeginner Support
Hi Harriet,
You can importer again. It will not create duplicate content and may be able to import missing images.
Admin
Justin
I have a small question about the redirecting to the new site. If I am keeping the domain name the same and simply moving it over to Bluehost instead of wp.com, why would I need to redirect anybody? Shouldn’t my domain name be the same?
WPBeginner Support
Hi Justin,
If you had a custom domain name, then you don’t need to redirect. However, a lot of WordPress.com users don’t have a custom domain name, those users will need to purchase site redirect to properly setup redirects.
Admin
Marsa
Hi! Can anyone tell me if my comments will automatically follow if I move from wordpress.com to .org? I really don’t want to lose them as my blog has been like a personal journal.
WPBeginner Support
Hi Marsa,
Yes your comments will be moved when you transfer data from WordPress.com to WordPress.org
Admin
Cammi
I’m trying to migrate my blog from wordpress.com to wordpress.org, and after I run the importer then try to import my content, I get an error saying that it doesn’t appear to be a WXR file? I have no idea what that means and have had no luck finding answers. Can you help?
Courtney
Hi Cammi. I realize you posted about a month ago, but I am just now doing this myself & wanted to offer some insight…
I was also receiving the same error. When you downloaded the file from Wordpress.com, it was a zipped file, you have to extract it in order to import it into Wordpress.org
I hope this helps!
Andrea
Hi I have a personal plan with WP so I have a custom domain. I am now planning to migrate to Bluehost to start monetize. According to Bluehost they only deal with .org accounts, does that mean I would need to have it transferred to a .org account first, if I do that will I still be billed for my custom domain? Thank you!
WPBeginner Support
Hi Andrea,
Bluehost meant WordPress.org not just the .org which is a popular domain name extension used by millions of websites. If you have custom domain on WordPress.com (regardless of what domain extension you are using) you can move it to Bluehost and start using WordPress.org.
Admin
Mario Manlupig Jr
I went through the post and it’s very helpful. I need a little help with mine, though. I might sound a little stupid but just to be sure before I transfer my domain
I have a Bluehost-hosted site and it runs on Wordpress.com. I wanted to transfer it to Wordpress.org. I’ll use the same domain name. Would that be fine?
WPBeginner Support
Hi Mario,
We are not sure we understand your question, but we will try to answer it.
You can keep a domain on WordPress.com and still have a WordPress.org website on Bluehost using the same domain name.
Admin
Dave Mount
Apologies if this is covered elsewhere, but I didn’t see it in a search.
I transferred my Wordpress.com blog to Bluehost, and it has finally propagated. I had my own domain on the .com version, and it’s staying the same for the new version. So the url for the two blogs is the same.
Is it enough to make the .com version of the blog private, or should I actually delete it? Some folks online recommend the latter, saying it can affect SEO.
Thanks!
WPBeginner Support
Hi Dave,
Once you have moved your website and pointed your domain to your new Bluehost website, you can make it private.
Admin
Dave Mount
Just wondering how long it usually takes for a migrated blog to “propagate” to Bluehost. I did the migration about an hour ago. It seemed to go smoothly (thanks!) but I still have a “temp.domains” url.
The WP blog I migrated already had its own domain name.
WPBeginner Support
Hi Dave,
DNS changes can take upto 48 hours to propagate across the internet.
Admin
Dave Mount
Okay, I’ll be patient. Thanks for the quick response!
Dave Mount
I came across this Help page in Bluehost about how, when migrating a domain you already own, you need to point the name servers to Bluehost manually:
My domain is currently registered with WP, and I just went in and changed the name servers. Should I have? And it sounds like now I’ll have to wait another 48 hours, potentially?
If this is correct, it might be worth adding to your instructions, although maybe it’s in there somewhere and I just missed it.
WPBeginner Support
Hi Dave,
This time to update servers is an estimate, normally your domain will start pointing to Bluehost way earlier. During this time your domain will still show your old WordPress.com site in regions where your DNS has not propagated yet.
Christopher
i have three Questions
(1) pls can I ask for a refund from WordPress. com and then register for the WordPress. org.
(2) since my domain registration is more than 48hrs in WordPress with no refund can I still use it to register for WordPress. org.
(3) and pls which is more easier, is it to switch from WordPress. com to WordPress. org OR to ask for refund and start a fresh registration under WordPress. org Since I registered my site a week ago and I have more than 3,000 visitors with just three posts.
WPBeginner Support
Hi Christopher,
The domain you registered is yours and you can point it to any self-hosted WordPress.org website without migrating it.
If you purchased WordPress.com premium plan, then you can request a refund. Please contact WordPress.com support for details.
If your website is already getting traffic, then it would be best to properly transfer your website so that you don’t lose traffic.
Admin
Roger McCartney
I am still waiting a reply. Since it does not show my question I will ask it again.
When I go to tools at wordpress.com and click Export, it does not give me the option for an XML file. It appears to be a Zip file but I do not know where it goes. All I am trying to do is transfer my blog from Wordpress.com to Wordpress.org.
Please help!
WPBeginner Support
Hi Roger,
You can download the ZIP file and extract it on your computer by right clicking on the file and then select extract. Inside, you will find one or more XML files. These files contain your WordPress.com data and you will need to import them on your new WordPress.org website.
Admin
Jenn M
Hi, thank you so much for this article! For some reason when I do the import, when complete, it directs me to my blog page and it just tells me the page is not found. There are other posts however so it’s the correct page and there’s a page customized…
Mary Beth
Hello,
I want to change from wordpress.com to wordpress.org. However, I have a domain and hosting through bluehost…If I make the switch, will my custom theme and all posts switch over fine? Thank you!
Chisom Vincent
Thanks a lot for the tip. I’m actually on a free hosting on Wordpress.com and would love to migrate to. org.
I have a domain name but not gotten a hosting site so how do o go about it. Do I register with bluehost before migrating Or I can migrate before hosting with bluehost.
and what are the costs of self hosting on Wordpress.org
thanks
WPBeginner Support
Hi Chisom,
You can sign up for hosting and add your domain name later. You can point your existing domain name to your new hosting account on Bluehost. After that, you can go ahead and migrate your free WordPress.com website.
Admin
Navpreet
Hey I wish to move my account from .com to.org. and i want you to do.it for me.please assist
WPBeginner Support
Hi Navpreet,
Please see our free blog set up service for details.
Admin
Mairon
Hi! Thank you for the useful information. I followed your instructions and installed WP in a wordpress sudbirectory in my Godaddy hosting.
When I run the importer I get this error message: Before you can upload your import file, you will need to fix the following error:
Unable to create directory uploads/2018/05. Is its parent directory writable by the server?
Would you be able to tell me what’s going on? Thanks in advance
WPBeginner Support
Hi Mairon,
It seems that your subdirectory does not have correct permissions for the wp-content folder. Please see our article on how to fix file and folder permissions error in WordPress
Admin
Chloe
I’m having trouble doing this using my ipad! I have exported my .com site, purchased the domain via godaddy and now need to move it across- however I seem to be blocked at actually making the .org site at all as the app constantly redirects me to my original version! Because I have the same email address, trying to make a new account is taking me in circles and I’m having to do deep calming breaths to not throw the whole thing out the window…. any advice? Do I need to find a computer and install the Wordpress software to get started?
Jake Doran
I need some help setting up my wordpress.ORG site. I purchased a domain from wordpress.COM and transferred it to a self-hosting site and installed wordpress.ORG. However, when I try to access my domain I get sent back to wordpress.COM instead of being able to create a wordpress.ORG site?
Really need to sort this out. Is there any way to fix this or do I need a new domain name…?
WPBeginner Support
Hi Jake,
You need to change your domain name settings. Login to your WordPress.com account and go to the Domains page. For more help please contact WordPress.com support.
Admin
Donna
Is there a more simplified way to this? I’m trying to read each instruction, open up separate screens and desktop and do what instructions say. I’m confused on all this. Is there no short-cut version of these instructions? I only want to change from .com to .org.
WPBeginner Support
Hi Donna,
You can take advantage of our free blog set up offer.
Admin
Ilal jude
Hi. I want to move to self hosted. But I want to ask if I should migrate first before designing my blog to my taste. Thanks.
WPBeginner Support
Hello,
It is up to you, you can migrate your site and then work on the design or you can first set up your design and then import your .com content.
Admin
Mandy Naglich
Ok I feel like a dumb dumb here. BUT i will ask anyway. So I started on wordpress.com bought a couple domains etc. But I haven’t even posted yet because I realized I should be on .org. SO I got an account with siteground and transferred my account. Now I realize I’m just on site ground but still with a .com (somehow!?) do I need to delete wordpress from my siteground account and re-install? Or delete my whole site? I’m so confused!
WPBeginner Support
Hi Mandy,
You will need to visit your WordPress.com account and under your domain settings change DNS settings and point them to SiteGround. Please contact SiteGround or WordPress.com support and they will help you point your domain to your new hosting provider.
Admin
Denise
Thank you for all of this valuable information! What if my domain name is hosted by WordPress.com? Do I cancel and get a new host like Bluehost? Or is there a way to keep it as is (on WP.com)?
WPBeginner Support
Hi Denise,
If it is a custom domain name (like wpbeginner.com) then you can use it on Bluehost.
If it is a WordPress.com domain name (like example.wordpress.com), then no you cannot bring it to self-hosted WordPress.org website.
Admin
Denise
Thank you for letting me know. Do I have to cancel my custom domain with WordPress before I sign-up with Bluehost? Or is there an option to transfer it over during the migration process?
WPBeginner Support
Hi Denise,
You can transfer your domain and you can also keep it on WordPress.com and simply point it to your Bluehost servers.
chris edozie
Wow….
I will surely purchase a new domain name from Bluehost following your guides
I have one question though, can I equally export my free Wordpress.com site to WordPress.Org or is it possible with a paid WordPress.com site?
.
WPBeginner Support
Hi Chris,
You can export your free WordPress.com site.
Admin
Awomojure Oluwaseyi
Dear Sir,
I need your professional help, initially when i developed my blog in wordpress, it was on free plan and the domain name was . i later bought domain name from godaddy which was and also upgraded to personal plan on wordpress. But i noticed that i could not add new theme nor able to install plugins accept i upgrade to Business plan and the money involved is huge. So, i decided to purchase Godaddy hosting plan and installed wordpress on their server may be having access to Cpanel will enable me to upload themes and plugins either through FTP or File Manager but i noticed that after several attempts to upload those files even the original theme files that has Styles.css, it never appeared in the dashboard>Appearance>theme. I became worried until i come across your content that being in wordpress.com can not give access to any of these features until one migrates to wordpress.org.
So, with my already hosted wordpress.com site by Godaddy, I want to migrate to wordpress.org to be able to develop the site. How can you assist me on me this?
Mansa
Hi… I followed all the steps from your wonderful article to export my content from wordpress.com and import to self hosted site. First I got an error on importing. So I retried it but then I got an error that those files already exist. But I dont see them anywhere. No pages or posts or media files. What am doing wrong?