Domain issues

  • homegrownkate · Member ·

    I’ve been struggling to understand this domain issue ever since i bought the homegrownkate.com domain from GoDaddy and redirected it to my kaleandkate.com domain, which i’d previously bought from WordPress.

    I do not need 2 domains and asked many months ago if i could cancel my kaleandkate.com domain or change my blog url to homegrownkate.wordpress.com. i was told that my google ratings would go down (this should all be in my correspondence history somewhere!) and was strongly discouraged from cancelling kaleandkate.com.

    BUT….. and the thing i need to be clear about, is whether i will have to renew and pay for both domain names. All i want is 1 domain called homegrownkate.com to be hosted by WordPress. I am not using kaleandkate.com, so it seems pointless to keep it.

    I don’t understand why my blog url can’t be homegrownkate.wordpress.com and just do away with the kaleandkate bit entirely. What are the ramifications of this change????

    Please can you explain how this works because I can’t find a straight answer anywhere and tell me what to do next. Your help is very much appreciated.

    Kate.

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • shawnajroberts · Member ·

    Hi there!

    I’m happy to explain how this all works. :)

    The main reason to avoid canceling your domain kaleandkate.com is if you have links to that URL elsewhere on the internet. For example, if you used that domain for a year and had several posts that gained popularity, or were linked to from other sites.

    If you cancel the domain kaleandkate.com, all of those links will stop working. This means that any search engine goodness caused by those links will be lost.

    Now, if you never really used the domain, or you’re pretty certain that no one ever linked to your site, its probably safe to cancel the domain.

    Or if you’re not concerned with those broken links not getting redirected to your new domain.

    It’s 100% up to you! If the cost of the domain is more than you want to pay for those links to stay active, then you should cancel it. But, if you know that there are tons of links to kaleandkate.com from other awesome bloggers or website, then you probably don’t want those links to stop working.

    Let me know if you have any more questions! :)

  • homegrownkate · Member ·

    THANK YOU! That makes total sense. I had kaleandkate.com for such a short time before changing to homegrownkate.com that I’m sure no meaningful links were made.
    My only question is whether cancelling kaleandkate.com has any effect on the running of homegrownkate.com? Also, how will domain renewal be affected? Do I need to transfer homegrownkate.com to WordPress from GoDaddy or does everything stay the same and I just pay the annual renewal fee to GoDaddy? If it’s safe for me to do so, please can you tell me how to cancel kaleandkate.com without affecting everything else.
    Thanks again.

  • shawnajroberts · Member ·

    My only question is whether cancelling kaleandkate.com has any effect on the running of homegrownkate.com? Also, how will domain renewal be affected? Do I need to transfer homegrownkate.com to WordPress from GoDaddy or does everything stay the same and I just pay the annual renewal fee to GoDaddy? If it’s safe for me to do so, please can you tell me how to cancel kaleandkate.com without affecting everything else.

    You can safely cancel kaleandkate.com without affecting anything else about your site. :)

    If you confirm that you understand canceling this domain means that you give up ownership of it completely, that the domain may not be released for re-registration, and you may never be able to regain ownership of this domain, I can go ahead and cancel that for you.

    As for the GoDaddy domain, you’ll need to keep renewing your domain through GoDaddy. You’ll also need to continue to maintain the Domain Mapping upgrade here at WordPress.com for that domain.

    Does that clarify everything? Let me know if you have any more questions! :)

  • homegrownkate · Member ·

    Yes that clarifies everything perfectly. Thank you so much for your very prompt help. Please do go ahead and cancel my kaleandkate.com domain name. I understand that it will then be released and that someone else may purchase it. That’s fine.

    I also understand that I will need to renew my homegrownkate.com domain name with GoDaddy and that it can be mapped to WordPress where I’ll renew the Domain Mapping Upgrade later this year. That’s fine too.

    And lastly, just to clarify, I won’t have to pay anything more for the kaleandkate.com domain name and it will no longer appear as my url. Cancelling it will not affect my homegrownkate.com blog in any way.

    I know i’ve probably just repeated what you’ve already said, but I just need to make sure I understand and have it confirmed.

    Thanks again.

  • shawnajroberts · Member ·

    And lastly, just to clarify, I won’t have to pay anything more for the kaleandkate.com domain name and it will no longer appear as my url. Cancelling it will not affect my homegrownkate.com blog in any way.

    Yep! This is exactly right. :)

    I just cancelled your domain kaleandkate.com.

    Let me know if you have any more questions! :)

  • homegrownkate · Member ·

    How long does it take for the change to come into effect? I’ve just checked and my url is still kaleandkate.com. My ‘personal settings’ are showing kaleandkate.wordpress.com as my primary blog.
    Thanks.

  • shawnajroberts · Member ·

    Your administrative pages will still show the WordPress.com url kaleandkate.wordpress.com. That’s the site “underneath” your domain http://homegrownkate.com/. Your readers will never see the WordPress.com domain, just your custom domain.

    Does that clarify things?

  • homegrownkate · Member ·

    Will I ever be free of kaleandkate?? I thought you had cancelled and deleted that domain, which would release it for someone else to purchase. How can I still be kaleandkate if someone else buys that domain? I understand that no-one sees it, i just don’t understand why I have to keep it. Why can’t I just be homegrownkate on every level including my url? Thanks again.

  • shawnajroberts · Member ·

    kaleandkate.com is no longer connected to your site.

    kaleandkate.wordpress.com is your underlying WordPress.com site address.

    You can change your underlying WordPress.com URL to match your domain by following these directions:

    http://en.support.wordpress.com/changing-blog-address/

    Someone else can register and use kaleandkate.com, but we don’t recycle WordPress.com addresses. So kaleandkate.wordpress.com won’t be available for anyone else to register, even if you change your blog address.

    We currently don’t use custom domains on administrative pages, but it’s something that we’ve talked about before, so its on our radar for further discussion in the future.

    Let me know if I can clarify further!

  • homegrownkate · Member ·

    Thank you. I’ve looked at the link you sent to change my blog address.

    Just not sure about point 6. My current username is already showing as homegrownkate, so i’m presuming i check the ‘no’ box?? I don’t think i need to create a new username to match the new blog name (1st check box) or change the current username and discard the current account (2nd check box). Please can you confirm because it all sounds very final!

    Thanks again for all your amazing help.

  • shawnajroberts · Member ·

    Yep! Just select “No” in step 6.

    Let me know if you have any more questions. :)

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