When Your Blog is Getting Too Big For It’s Boots: Getting a New Domain *

A lot of bloggers start off using a free blog host when they first start blogging. There are a few reasons you might do this. For one thing, it’s completely free, so you don’t have to waste money finding out if you like blogging or not. They’re also easy to use, making them a great introduction for new bloggers. But once your blog starts to pick up some steam you also may wish to move to a hosted site. With your own domain and a website builder, you can have more control over your blog. If you want to move, here’s how you can do it.

Reasons to Make the Switch

You might be unsure about whether creating a proper domain for your website is the best idea. After all, you’ve already got followers on the blog you created. What if you move it and your followers don’t come with you or new people struggle to find you? But there are some great reasons to move to your own domain names.

You can have a proper website address that looks more professional. You’ll also have more control over what you do with your site, and you can learn some clever technical skills. You’ll also be able to monetize your site by adding adverts, sponsored posts, and more.

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Choose Hosting and a Website Builder

If you want to make the move, you have to choose somewhere to host your site. The website host is where your website will be stored once you sign up for it. You’ll get a certain amount of storage space with your web hosting, and you might get a range of extras like SSL security certificates, a domain name, or even email.

You can usually look at a range of packages that will meet your needs. You also need a website builder so that you can create and manage your blog. Many people use WordPress to manage their site. You may already be using WordPress.com, which is the hosted version, and you can switch to WordPress.org.

Start Again or Transfer Your Posts?

If you’re moving your blog, should you start all over again? You could begin anew with fresh posts only if you’re looking to reinvent your blog. However, if you want to keep all your hard work from before (or just some of it), you can export it from your old blog and import it into your new one. Using WordPress plugins, you can export and import content to your WordPress site from both WordPress.com and Blogger.

Redirecting Your Old Blog

Next, you might want to redirect visitors to your old blog to your new one. This means that you shouldn’t lose your old traffic as they’ll get sent straight to your new site. If you use WordPress.com, you need to pay for an upgrade to be able to do this. However, after a while, you might decide you no longer need it as people know your new blog. You can also manually let people know you’ve moved your blog. Put up a post on your old blog and email your subscribers to tell them about it.

If your blog has grown too big for its boots, it’s easy to remove it. Just remember to take the right steps to keep your regular visitors.