In our previous article about "What is WordPress Hosting", we discussed the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. To summarize, WordPress.com refers to a blog hosted by WordPress with a subdomain website (e.g. yourname.wordpress.com). This type of blog is ad-supported with limited features (e.g. plugins cannot be uploaded to WordPress.com accounts). In contrast, WordPress.org refers to any blog built on WordPress platform. In order to run WordPress.org blog site, you need to register your own domain name and find your own web hosting firm. However, the advantage of hosting your own WordPress blog is that you can enjoy all features of WordPress without forced ads displaying on your website.

Migrating from WordPress.com to WordPress.org

If you have a WordPress.com blog but would like to try the full features of WordPress platforms, you can setup your WordPress.org blog in just a few steps. First of all, you need to subscribe a hosting account that supports MySQL and PHP. You should check with your hosting firm if their hosting accounts are WordPress compatible. Once the compatibility is confirmed, you need to install the WordPress program to you hosting account. Most of the web hosting firms offer script installer programs which can help account users install WordPress in just a few clicks. Here is a tutorial article about how to install WordPress with a script installer called "Fantastico De Luxe". Next, you need to migrate your original content from WordPress.com to your newly hosting account. From WordPress.com account, you can export all the posts in one file and upload it to your new hosting account. Please read this tutorial article and follow the 5 easy steps.