When I started blogging I had two different websites. Along the way I found out it is not easy to run two separate websites. Therefore here am I writing on how I changing domain name. I wanted to change as my blog grew I had dressmaking blogs on http://cityediblegarden.com  it just doesn’t sound corect. My blog name is makergardener on the title of the website and on all of my social platforms. It just makes sense to change domain name.

When I began blogging about 4 months back I started using the free wordpress subdomain then I upgrade so that I have my own domain name. I bought my own domain name separately from names.co.uk for £6/ year and I got free custom email (it’s info@makergardener.com) as well. I could stay on my current wordpress.com tariff but it means paying more for another name and lots of add on’s like email address, etc. I am now on self hosted using wordpress.org software and it’s fabulous. I am not on any of big web hosting names as my other half bought a virtual server and install wordpress software on it. Here is more information about it Hosted and self-hosted domains

Here are some of things that one needs to do when changing domain name. I only can speak on wordpress as it is the only blogging software I have use.

Redirection plugin

Now I am trying to use redirection plugin to redirect posts from cityediblegarden to makergardener. As one could have change the domain name on most stuff but some it is beyond my control. Like pinterest pins that have been repin elsewhere I can’t change it to my new domain name.

There is also error 404 message on some themes where one can configure messages. So that one can to let everyone that the domain has change.

Social media

On facebook, twitter, instagram social media platforms it is very easy to change domain name. However on pinterest it only allows one domain on your account it’s not that difficult to verify your domain again. As I said it’s the pins that have been repin is the trouble.

Followers

I am only about 2-3 months into blogging I haven’t generated much genuine followers. I have out that on wordpress.com one can easily migrate your followers to your new domain. Just go on the ‘Settings’ then ‘Discussion’ at the bottom of the page you should see ‘Migrate followers from another site’. This is using Jetpack plugin on wordpress.com However, one can’t do it not on wordpress.org wp-admin panel. There are plenty of plugins around to try if not speak some who has a bit of technical knowledge to redirect your website.

Do a backup before the change

Back up all of your work on the old domain before the change. There is export and import buttons on wordpress.org I have export all of old domain content to the new one. The contents will have a new domain on them. So be mindful of links to the old domain in the blog posts. As they will need changing to the new domain address.

In a nutshell changing domain name is like moving home. You need to inform everyone that the domain name is changing.