Hello, Goodbye: Offsite Redirect Upgrade
“You say goodbye, I say hello.” – The Beatles
Needless to say, we hope you never want to leave WordPress.com. But, should the day arrive that you decide to strike out on your own and set up a self-hosted WordPress blog with the free, open source WordPress software available at WordPress.org, we’ve got you covered with our new Offsite Redirect upgrade.
Imagine you’ve decided to make the move, have exported your content from your wordpress.com blog and imported it into your new self-hosted WordPress site. Purchasing the Offsite Redirect upgrade will take the traffic coming to your old wordpress.com blog and forward it to your new domain so that links to your old content won’t break and you won’t take an SEO hit as a result of your move. Oh, and unlike the old domain mapping/DNS workaround, the signup process is easy as pie. Mmm, pie. 🙂
Think of the Offsite Redirect as the flip side of domain mapping, because that’s basically what it is. We use a 301 redirect to forward your traffic and “map” your wordpress.com URLs to the new domain you specify. After purchasing the upgrade, you can manage your redirect by going to Upgrades > Domains. You can change the destination URL or suspend the forwarding whenever you wish.
For more details and configuration help, visit the Offsite Redirect support document.
WordPress.com News 
thank you Jane, “You say yes and I say no” (might as well continue the song…)
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No, no, no, no, noooooooooooo, you say goodbye and I say hello.
See what you started Jane?
Well, I for one have no plans to use this feature! But thanks anyway 😉
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Perfect, just the news I was looking for recently! Going to migrate my travel blog soon to self hosted. What with this and the new-look stats, WP truly rocks. ‘I never can say goodbye boy!’ 🙂
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Thank you for your reply but I have to admit, I am new at this and when I saw the blogs and all of the things that go with it I had the deer in the headlight look for the rest of the day. I dont’ think I’m ready for wordpress yet, I already have a google blog which, although it can be pesky at times’ is more for dummies like me. I wouldn’t , didn’t know where to begin on WP and I think I should wait until I am a little more experienced and have more patience, I wanted to kill your survey, it seemed to be an endless interrogation. LOL, I think I better stick with what I know for now but thank you for your reply. I am just going ot unsubscribe and that’s it. Thanks again.
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What would be the benefit of being self-hosted? (Obviously I haven’t been at this for too long!)
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Other than being able to advertise, I’m curious as to the real advantages of self-hosting for a small company. Are there any plug-ins that are just too good to make you want to leave and handle all of the self-hosting issues? Is the ability to advertise on WordPress-hosted sites ever going to be a possibility? If anyone has any good articles, they’d like to recommend about these issues, I’d love to read them. Thanks.
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Check out this site, we try to list some of the pros and cons of each:
http://get.wp.com/
However whether you host here or elsewhere, you’re still part of the WordPress family and we love you. 🙂
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I am thinking about that but it has it’s pros and cons.. so I’ll keep thinking
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I will never leave:)
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I would like a domain, but I’ll ask you to host it, thanks.
If I ever did need this feature, I’m glad it’s there, thank you.
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Good information to know – Thanks Jane.
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I can’t imagine ever leaving WordPress, but thanks for putting it out there. I love this program and every day I learn about something new available to us. It’s easy and fun. Who knew?
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What happens when someone types example.wordpress.com, would it redirect to the purchased domain on self-hosted site?
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That is correct, they would be redirected (invisibly! like magic!) to the URL you designate.
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Just perfect!
Thank you for this smart feature.
The old solution was a little confusing for some users.
; )
Cheers from Brazil!
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And after Matt’s position on this subject, I’ll finally get to use for one off the two servers that I hired to “play” with WordPress.org (and learn too, of course) and move my blog from WordPress.com to self hosted installation.
I have not done this before by affection to WordPress.com, but now I realized that there is no problem.
Different WordPress host, same love.
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Just remember that with great power comes great responsibility. Try to use a host that will auto-upgrade your WordPress install so it’s always up to date with the latest, secure code. You should also consider checking out VaultPress to give you the same levels of protection and backup you have here.
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Curious though, what about the wordpress.com stats plugin on a self-hosted blog? Would those stats carry over with the change(s)?
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Great news! Although…I had a WordPress.org blog hosted on Yahoo Small Business for years…what misery! It was hacked mercilessly, no matter what I did. I would wipe out the invading code from my header, it would go to my footer, it would go everywhere (of course, I couldn’t see it until it popped up in search results). I finally abandoned it entirely and started over with WordPress.com. I am so much happier. A bonus is that I think it’s much easier to use, and now I can manage multiple blogs from my dashboard, which is just so nifty. I just ditched my website and redirected my URL to my WordPress.com site. I don’t care that it says WordPress.com on it or I don’t have every plug-in. Well, sometimes I wish I could get a more “website-like” design, or use a little javascript. But overall, I think WordPress.com is great.
I heard a speaker on blogging say that WordPress.org blogs tended to be more vulnerable to spammers and hackers — is that true? Anyway, that was my experience. Would be afraid to go back to it.
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Hi Mary. We have some of the best systems guys in the world overseeing the WordPress.com infrastructure. It’s not so much that self-hosted WordPress is more vulnerable, but that some hosts have better setups and pay more attention to security than others, so you just have make sure that if you go self-hosted, you pick a hosting company with a good reputation in these areas.
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Is this a hint? Do you want me to go? You say goodbye, I say hello.
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Haha, not at all. We’d love for you to stay. The upgrade simply makes it easier if you or someone else ever decides to leave – we don’t want anyone to feel trapped. 🙂
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This will be very important when I export my blog, if ever! Thanks a lot for making this!
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Good to know! Thanks for the update :3
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thank you!!
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Thank you for the info. I just started blogging 2 days ago so a big HELLO from my side. 🙂 Not at all planning to leave you.
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Thank you for this. But I don’t think I’d ever leave WP.
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the feature looks promising for migrations….
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Nice one, WP. A great feature.
One could delve into all the difference between .com and .org, but it boils down to control and responsibility. With .org you have complete control but also the responsibility for things like backing up, spam control, etc. With .com you don’t have to worry about many of the technical things but you have to be prepared to cede some of the control on things like plug-ins.
One scary thing happened to me several months back. I one day woke up to find my .com blog had been suspended! I was even getting mail from readers asking what happened. From the time I discovered the problem and contacted WP (I am in Europe and WP is in the US) it was only a few hours before it was back up and running. I received a couple of nice emails apologizing for the mix-up (which baffled the WP gurus) and the blog was back up again.
The negative side of the experience (besides 12 or so lost hours) was the reminder that it is WP that controls the site and that you can be shut down. Read the user agreement. The positive side of the experience was the professional response and the great service. I know that my blog is “clean” and that the inevitable bumps that occur with these things can be ironed out.
For a free blog (with paid upgrades) .com is a great deal. The team seems to be constantly in motion to come up with new enhancements and I appreciate their efforts. In fact, there have been a spate of recent upgrades (e.g., the social media sharing buttons) that have significantly shrunk the distance between what you can do (and need) between .com and .org.
Great job, guys.
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Wow – example.com will have amazing stats after this… 😀
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Interesting. Is this useful for them who already moved to self-hosted WordPress blogs?
Checking the link right after this. Thank you for the update. 🙂
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Woohoo!!! This is awesome news and you deserve high fives and more shekels in the bank.
I’ve agonized over this matter because I didn’t want to lose out on a self-hosted move or lose you guys.
As always, you guys totally rock! 🙂
Danke, Merci, Thank you!
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That sounds cool, thank you. I’ve been thinking about moving to self hosted, but reading about some of the challenges moving had made me think twice.
Great work!
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Thanks for giving us this option. I’ll keep it in mind if I ever decide to go back and self-host any of my, just a sec… (1, 2, 3..5..7..) 8 (oops, forgot one), 9 blogs hosted here at WordPress.com. 🙂
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One could delve into all the difference between .com and .org, but it boils down to control and responsibility. With .org you have complete control but also the responsibility for things like backing up, spam control, etc. With .com you don’t have to worry about many of the technical things but you have to be prepared to cede some of the control on things like plug-ins.
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Man, It’s like you can read my mind. You wordpress people are amazing. Now if you can just help me sell my new book, restore my 78 camero, and finish remodeling my house, oh and get all of my rent houses fully rented, then we will really be a team.
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Tell you what, when I’m done with my ’68 Austin-Healey Sprite, I’ll get right on that Camaro restoration. 🙂
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it means move from name.wodpress.com to own name?
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Yes and no. Yes, but more specifically, it’s moving to your own domain hosted somewhere else. You can still use your own domain here on wordpress.com using the domain mapping upgrade.
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i am feeling happy being here
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Wow! This is cool! (In the name of french users some times a bit lost when moving, thanks a lot! 😎
(fr forum mod)
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That’d be the day, but I’m staying around…. still…
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Say I bought a new domain, but still have the old one. Can I set the old one on the WordPress.com and the new domain to the WordPress.org blog? Would that make sense?
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Wooh. I was just wondering about this. Yay 🙂
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This is fantastic. I just finished going on this whole adventure with the old DNS/redirect dance/hack/workaround that was being advocated before for my ScientologyParent wordpress blog. And though it “worked” it was not particularly easy. This actually makes it so much easier, as I just LOVE the wordpress platform, but I just can’t live without my Google Analytics. So, it’s just fantastic that you’ve made it simple to move. Thanks!
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Info’s always nice to have but I ain’t going anywhere. WP is an xlnt blog site. To be honest, even after a couple of months, I’m still learning most of the set up process;-) Daft, ain’t it!
Ta for the news.
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This seems like a good feature for those who may leave the wonderful wordpress someday. I’m happy to say I’m going to be here for quite sometime. I dislike the mess that comes with hosting one’s own blog.
@The Rufus: Oh yeah! It’s hits will just go through the roof. XD
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It’s sure nice to know that the WordPress Happiness Engineers are always thinking ahead to make a smooth road for all sorts of needs and inclinations…. I’m just glad to be able to stay where I am and say, “Thank you for jobs well done.”
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This is great! About a year ago I migrated my blog to Blue Host. Blue Host has been great. But I haven’t had any success making money through advertising, and I’m about ready to give up the advertising and go back to WordPress.com.
I have two other blogs on WordPress.com. Comparing the two alternatives, the free hosting on WordPress.com seems better and easier to me. The recent advances with Themes like Twenty-Ten and Bueno are great. Some of the features that are included with many WordPress.com themes are not automatic when self-hosting, and I’ve had trouble finding and using plug-ins that are as good as the similar features on WordPress.com. This is especially true regarding making it easy for readers to subscribe to my RSS, and allowing readers to subscribe by email.
Also, I have the intuitive feeling that despite SEO plug-ins, it may still be easier for readers and search engines to find my blogs on WordPress.com than self-hosting. I recommend sticking with WordPress.com unless you have a compelling reason to switch.
I’m seriously thinking of ending my self-hosting experiment and moving MarylandOnMyMind back to the ease and simplicity of WordPress.com. I wonder if there’s an easy way to remigrate back to wordpress.com?
John Hayden
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Hi John. Using the Export and Import features should make it relatively easy to migrate your blog back. If you run into any difficulties, just ask for some help in the wordpress.com forums or contact support.
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This is a great feature and makes me want to start even more blogs with wordpress.com! At least we can be sure that if we move over we won’t lose the traffic.
But I love being on .com and if only we could have more themes or more control on the themes and plugins it would really be great ‘cos we just never would need to leave.
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I seem to still be loyal to wp.com
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And we love you for it. 🙂
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Actually I am in two minds – I have a personal blog (in wp.com) and a professional blog (in wp.org) – I am not sure if I want to move the personal one to the self-hosted version as well, as the hosting company supports multiple domains with a single account. Getting my own domain and getting to put ads are the plus points of moving to the self hosted version. But I love WP.com too much and I might not like my personal blog with ads – it makes it commercial, which takes the spirit out of blogging! So, I do not know what to do.
You know what I would love to do, buy the domain for WP blog, and host it in WP.com itself (with or without ads) – Just give us the access to the plugins and Themes that the WP.org has, we really don’t mind paying for such an upgrade if you can bring such a thing. Do consider.
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The main reason for limiting themes and plugins (all those special wordpress.com features are really plugins that we manage for you, after all) is to ensure security. We hope to do more in the future to allow self-hosted blogs to take advantage of the wordpress.com ecosystem — like wordpress.com stats, VideoPress, VaultPress, etc do currently — but becoming a general hosting company is not on the radar.
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It’s awesome, but I switched to WP.com from a self-hosted site because I prefer the uptime and I like not having to worry about traffic spikes. Not planning to go self-hosted any time soon.
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Don’t think I’ll leave wp.com, but good to know.
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I really appreciate the free hosting at WP since I’m just getting my blog off the ground, but I’ll definitely keep the redirect upgrade in mind for the future. So far, I’ve noticed that WP is excellent at communication and seems to really care about enhancing the blogging experience; that makes it less likely I’ll want to leave unless I were to ever try to commercialize my blog. Thanks for all you do; keep up the good work!
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cool thing to have…
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Great feature. I have been thinking about making this move recently, but only because I want to embed my picasa photo albums in my site and can only do that with a self hosted site. Any chance you guys are working on a plugin that will work with picasa?
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There’s nothing Picasa-related in the works right now, since they use Flash in their embeddable albums. Flash is not permitted on wordpress.com blogs for security reasons.
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Is this the way you get busy extreme amateur writers to upgrade? Wow, score another one for WordPress. Just let me know before you upgrade in case I have not totally given up.
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that’s a cool one. Got to think if I need an upgrade. RAWR!
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This is a great feature to have, I’ve been considering the upgrade but balked due to the headaches (I should be used to those now…) involved with the redirects. Hosting your own blog has it’s advantages but the network at wordpress.com is truly unrivaled. I’ll be debating in my head about this for a while but taking the stress of moving out with this feature is really a relief.
Thank you!
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ooohh.nice,,,good idea
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Dear Jane. Thanks for the information, but I’m new in all this , so I can wait for an upgrade. I hope to br here for a time yet!
Grettings!!
Patt
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I like the idea, but it’ll be useless to me. I’m never leaving WordPress!
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Man WP rocks, I have another domain I could use, but totally would not want to leave wordpress, its an awesome site, this further demonstrated by this new addition :-).
❤
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Nice, but I think I’ll stay here for awhile 🙂
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I keep the debate running back and forth as to whether or not to switch… For now I’m content with .com! You guys are great at adding fun pieces to my blogging world!
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Not planning on self-hosting any time soon, but WP continues to impress. It’s a classy move to expedite a blogger’s progress if he/she grows beyond the original platform. No one can say that the WordPress team doesn’t care or isn’t paying attention. Thanks, and keep up the great work.
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I have thought many times about self hosting. Not being a particularly tech savvy old bloke I always decide against it, plus the hosting cost to continue to do what I am already doing here. I went to Blogger for a while about a year ago because of being able to use the java script or whatever they are called widgets but ended up coming back because WP.com was soooo much better. I know myself when I visit other people’s blogs I’m interested in the post content raher than advertising or fancy widgets, I rarely ever even look at sidebars. My main focus is on my blog post content so I will stay put right here. I upgraded to my own domain & that’s the only extra I really wanted. WP.com you leave me completely satisfied for my blogging needs. Thanks Guys!!!
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I have discovered FaceBook ,deviantArt, and LiveJournal, but I am not leaving WordPress. I like this place and I have put too much time into my blogs to leave. The support is fast. The innovations are wonderful. The chatting and communication is great at times also. So I’m staying.
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This is great. But I don’t think about leaving.
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Good idea. I’ll give it a thought.
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Great news for those who want to do their own thing, but I’m happy and grateful for WordPress.com. Cheers WP!
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Cool! That’s exactly what i was looking for 🙂
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Amazing feature! I might use this in the future!
love.
summer.
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This is great news. I’d like to redirect specific posts only not the entire WordPress.com blog. Is that possible?
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This is not possible I’m afraid.
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This is nice 2 know! Not for now, but it’s always such a shame to “abandon” a succesful site’s loyal visitors. Wish Blogger had this too when i migrated my blogspot site to WordPress… It’s still getting +250 visitors every day while I want to focus on my new WP site 😥
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It’s a cool one…!
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That’s perfect to know.
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It’s not free. 😦
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I cant wait to migrate to .org!! 😀 😀
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I honestly don’t know why people would take the harder road of self hosing when we get all we need here minus some customising…all too easy…cheers
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So can I host my own domain here?
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That sounds like a brilliantly simple but effective solution.
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very useful
wp is the best
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I moved my blog from WordPress.com to self hosted WordPress.org. If i use offsite redirect, I have to delete my WordPress.com blog? I don’t want double content because Google do not like that.
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Great! I like this feature ^^
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I have just stated with wordpress, but I for one will not want to leave. Just in a short time, I have come to truly enjoy the features and ease of use. thanks for the offer, but I’m happy where i am.
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But I love WordPress 🙂
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Great! Thanks!
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i had a hosting company and imported wordprees.org, but it was way over my head ,i cant code at all, i wish i knew i could use w/p .com
such a noob right?
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Paying for this service seems stupid..when others are offering it for free.. one of the major bad thing about wordpress. I am so stuck but someday will take the courage because i want to host my own blog .. had I knew earlier the switching cost wld b like this.. I wld hv not gone for the wordpress
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Thank you, it`so good…
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Cool, I’m thinking about self hosting my CP cheat site sometime soon….
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