Dear Readers,
Preservation in Pink is getting older and ready to leave the nest of wordpress.com to a self hosted wordpress.org. However, it’s a big, scary move when its been on wordpress.com for almost seven years. I turn to all of you who speak the language of blogs, hosting, website, etc. Can you recommend a host? A method for moving your entire blog? Any cautionary tales or other advice? What to expect? I’ve researched this process, and while it seems easy enough my biggest fear remains: moving the blog and losing everything!
Your help and suggestions are much appreciated!
Cheers, Kaitlin
PiP is soon to be under construction. Watch for falling concrete!
Preservation in Pink 
I haven’t done this yet but am going to be involved in doing this soon. Here is an article I’m planning to use as a guide – http://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-properly-move-your-blog-from-wordpress-com-to-wordpress-org/
Thank you Carolyn! I did use that article as one of my reference points. I’m sure I’ll be returning to it.
Siteground has been recommended to me, as has A small orange (which I like simply because of its name!). You might also look at Name.com, Dreamhost, LiquidWeb and Laughing Squid. Happy move! We’ll watch for the change of address cards!
And let me mention that the Women’s Coding Collective has an online course on WordPress that just started on Sunday. You could certainly join — or wait for the next session. http://thewc.co/courses/wordpress/126 It’s $50 for two weeks and includes a study group for discussion and troubleshooting.
Thanks, Sabra! I’ll look into that.
Why move? Are you getting so much traffic that staying on WordPress.com is becoming untenable?
I can’t see an upside.
Hi Jim,
WordPress.com has worked well for me for years, yes. However, .org will allow greater flexibility and the ability to chose advertisements if I do go that way. And more importantly, I won’t get the wordpress.com ads at the bottom of posts. (If only so much traffic were the issue, haha!) Consider it more freedom and an adventure, I guess.
Of course – that’s a good reason to go .org. You can turn off the ads in .com for a fee, but you can’t run your own.
I made the leap from WordPress.com to WordPress.org a few years ago and was in the same boat, mainly for the reasons you mentioned. I’ve heard good things about WP Engine, and since they’re nothing but Word Press related, you’re sure to get good support there. If I did not have my current hosting situation I’d probably investigate using them. Good luck with the move!
Hi Mod Betty!
Did you have trouble with losing any posts? Or was it easy?
Thanks!
Kaitlin – I invested in “Backup Buddy” so I could be sure I didn’t lose anything, so that’s an option. Especially with all of my posts, it was well worth the peace of mind. Some things did go wonky unfortunately, but that’s b/c I have an unusual hosting situation (that I’m in the middle of trying to sort some issues out with, as we speak!) nothing like having to become your own IT department 🙂
Good luck!
If you’re wondering about backups — consider VaultPress (built by WordPress!) which charges a small monthly fee (as low as $5 depending on which plan you choose) or look at BackWPup — free! And with good resource/how-to materials. (These tips brought to you by my course at the Women’s Coding Collective!)
http://thewc.co/pal-epaj — use this code (as per me) and you’ll save $17: pal-epaj
Thank you Sabra!