Can You Change a WordPress Website Domain from.com to.org?
WordPress is a wonderful content management system and a powerhouse in the world of blogging. It’s popular because it’s free and open-source, which means it’s available for anyone to use and modify. And what’s more is that it’s extremely easy to use, which encourages more and more people to try it out. It has over 70 million downloads and is regularly updated with new features and functions.
But that doesn’t mean it’s perfect for every website. In fact, many WordPress users have complained about the platform’s lack of flexibility when it comes to domain name issues. Specifically, they’ve said that it’s very difficult to find a free DNS provider that will allow you to create a CNAME record for a custom domain with WordPress installed on it.
Is it possible to change the domain of a WordPress website from.com to.org? The answer is yes, but it requires a bit of work. In this article, we will go over the steps you can take to do so. We will discuss both the technical and the legal aspects, along with offering some additional information about how to structure your new domain.
Why Should You Change the Domain of Your WordPress Website?
There are several reasons why you might want to change the domain of your WordPress website. The first and most obvious is that you might want to monetize the site or build a business around it. In these cases, you will need a premium DNS provider as opposed to a free one (in order to qualify for the free version).
Another reason is that you might want to use a different TLD (gTLDs) than your current one. For example, if your current domain is xxx.com and you want to switch to yyy.com, you will need to do so manually. This is because the majority of DNS providers do not support automated domain changing (CNAME record management). You also have the option of registering your new domain with your existing hosting account. In this case, you’ll have to update your hosting account’s DNS record to point to the new domain. Finally, you might want to modify the name of your site (or your author’s name)
How Do I Change the Domain of My WordPress Website?
In order to change the domain of your WordPress website, you will need to take the following steps:
1. Login to your WordPress dashboard
The first step is to log in to your WordPress dashboard. You can do this by entering your username and password in the appropriate fields. If you’re not sure what these fields are, you can click here to get to the login screen. Once you’re logged in, you can go to your dashboard’s settings page. On this page, you can see a list of configured domains along with their associated CNAME records. If you want to change the domain of your WordPress website, simply click the “Add new domain” button.
2. Select a domain name that you want to use
Now that you’re on your dashboard’s settings page, you can enter a new domain for your WordPress website. To do so, enter a domain name in the text field next to the “Save Changes” button. Once you’ve done this, click the “Update Domain” button.
This will take you to your dashboard’s settings page, where you can confirm the change. If you want to use a different TLD than your current one, make sure to check the “Create Sub-Domain With New TLD” box. Doing so will create a subdomain that points to your new domain. You can test this by going to yourwebsite.com in your browser and checking your site’s headers. (You can also use https://gtldr.com/ to find all the short codes for free)
If you want to keep the.com at the end of your domain, make sure to uncheck the “Add Subdomain With New TLD” box. Doing so will keep the existing.com at the end of your domain name.
3. Wait for DNS to propagate
After you’ve filled out the appropriate fields on your dashboard’s settings page, you can go back to it and click the “Update Domain” button. This will take you to your dashboard’s settings page, where you can confirm the change. If you’re using a free DNS service, this will take a while (usually 10 minutes to 24 hours)
Once your domain name has been updated, check your site’s DNS records by going to https://dns.com or your domain’s specific name’s DNS resource record. Using these tools, you can see the various name servers associated with your domain. You can also use the WHOIS lookup service to find more information about your domain.
4. Test it out
Once you’ve confirmed the change, you can test it out by going to yourwebsite.com in your browser. If you’re using Chrome, open the developer tools (F12) and look at the “Request Headers” for your website. You can see a list of all the requests that were made to update your site’s DNS records. The first and most important step is to look at the header’s “Host” value. If it’s changed to yournewdomain.com, congratulations, your site’s DNS records have been changed successfully.
The Risks Of Changing The Domain Of Your WordPress Website
Although it’s very simple to change the domain of your WordPress website, doing so does come with some risks. If you do decide to make the change, it’s important to understand the following issues:
1. Increased maintenance costs
One of the risks you’ll face is that of increased maintenance costs. When you change the domain of your WordPress site, you’re essentially changing both your site’s name and its URL. This means you’ll have to update both the visible text on your site’s home page and the URL associated with it. (You can hide your site’s home page by using the Reading Option on your WordPress dashboard)
Additionally, you’ll need to update your website’s robots.txt file so that it reflects the change. You can do this by going to your site’s settings page and entering the new robots.txt URL in the “Disallow: /” text field.
If you decide to make this change, be sure to hire someone to help you maintain your site after you or someone else has installed it. Otherwise, you’ll be in for a world of hurt when it comes to troubleshooting issues that might arise. (See our blog post for more information about why you should hire a webmaster or an online marketing agency)
2. Possible loss of online credit
Another risk is that you might lose some of the credit you’ve built up over the years on account of the new domain. If you decide to make this change, be sure that your website is hosted on a reliable hosting service. Doing so will ensure that online searches don’t find your old site’s content when they search for information on your new domain.
Additionally, if you decide to make this change, be sure to update your blog’s archives with all the articles that pertain to your new domain. This will help ensure that online searches don’t return outdated results when they search for your old domain.
Structuring Your New Domain
One of the things we love about WordPress is that it offers you a lot of freedom when it comes to structuring your site’s content. This is a fantastic quality when you’re just starting out. However, as you grow as a business owner or a content creator, this freedom can become a little counterproductive. What’s more is that it can make your site harder to manage as you become more and more experienced.
If you decide to make this change, consider using a free service like WordPress.com to set up your site. Doing so will give you the freedom to choose your own domain without the risk of losing any of your existing credit. If you decide to move to a premium service provider,make sure to pick one that offers you support when it comes to domain issues. This will help ensure that all of your questions can be answered and you don’t have to worry about losing any of your hard-earned credibility as a result of not knowing where to look for answers.