How To Change WordPress.com Domain Name To .Com

This is a guest post compiled by +Fakeye Olasunkanmi  for OgbongeBlog

WordPress.com blogs comes with a free address, like example.wordpress.com.

If you have one of such blogs, you can get rid of the .wordpress.com part and use a custom domain name instead, like example.com. Unlike Blogger which allows you to change to .com for free, setting up a custom domain for a Wordpress.com blog is a paid upgrade.

•  Registering a domain through WordPress.com starts at $18.00 per domain, per year (see below for a detailed price list)
•  Adding a domain you already own costs $13.00 per domain, per year.
•  You pay extra $8.00 (optional) for Private Registration upgrade, which will protect your identity and hide your contact information.

Why is this important?

    ==> Your own domain name looks way better on your business cards
    ==> You can have email addresses on the same domain name (like you@yourdomain.com)
    ==> You can create subdomains (such as blog.yourdomain.com)

As a web designer, I have been asked many times on how to map domain in WordPress and I earn doing it for others. With my experience in it I have decided to provide step by step guide with pictures (simplified but inline with wordpress.com help article) to help any novice not too lazy to set it up. Thus, the steps below:

1.       Log in to www.wordpress.com
2.       Then visit https://wordpress.com/domains/

3.       Click REGISTER A NEW DOMAIN. See screenshot.

4.       Input your choice domain and click SEARCH. See screenshot:

5.       If your chosen domain is available, click on REGISTER NOW.
6.       Select "No Thanks; I don't need email with this domain"……. and click on "Continue To Registration".

7.       Fill the registration details for your chosen domain.
8.       Click REGISTER WITHOUT PRIVACY PROTECTION. See screenshot below:

9.       Thereafter, click JUST NORMAL REGISTRATION.

10.   You will be taken to PURCHASE PAGE. Choose to use Credit Card or PAYPAL (I recommend Paypal). See screenshot below:

If successful, you should see: 

11.   Congratulations. You have successfully purchased your domain name.

12.   Thereafter, update your domain to be the primary domain used for your blog on the My Domains page : https://wordpress.com/my-domains/

It will automatically switch in few minutes if not other custom or subdomain is attached to your site.

That's all.

Any question, contribution, correction is welcomed via the comment box below and you can hire me to do the service for a token.

Happy Mapping :) 

This post was written by +Fakeye Olasunkanmi . You can check out his blog at : www.informationvilla.com and co-founder of www.careerpingger.com