Should I migrate from .com?

  • So I’ve run my blog for three years. It’s professional, it looks great, it’s so much more than the averagage “this is my life” blog. When I show it to friends they ask how much money I make of it!

    The answer is nothing. It’s a WordPress.com site.

    I increasingly want to add plugins that can’t be done on .com but can on .org. And I want to start using ads, at least try it out, as so many professional bloggers write articles about how to monetize your blog. I do understand that money shouldn’t drive things, but it would be fun to try ??

    The down side: though migrating seems fairly easy if you follow the instructions, the whole .org thing seems wildly complicated. So many troubleshooting forums, long documentations, a lot to learn and do – things that .com do for you!

    My site: https://www.readaninterview.com

    I’ll be as direct as possible. I’m looking for honest but positive answers. My questions:

    1. I have an average of maybe 75 unique visitors and 100 total hits a day – quite low I guess, but it’s been a steady number for the past year or so. I have 700-something subscribers. Is there even any point in thinking about ads? (I know that you can’t give specific numbers, but humor me… in general, is this too low or could it work?)

    2. My blog is different in that the style of posting is the niche (longform interviews, once a week) rather than the content. Each week’s interview can be wildly different from the previous. Is it possible to tailor ads to each post or will the theme of the ads be site-wide? I’m thinking of using AdSense since it seems most popular but am open to alternatives.

    3. Realistically – again, might be hard to give a number but just a rough idea – how much time and money does it require to migrate to .org?

    I’m hoping for some answers and that they will help me decide ona direction. At the moment, I’m feeling a bit lost – .org has so much fun stuff that I want to do but I’m not sure if it’s worth it for me ??

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  • A minor correction as to what .org really is. In contrast to .com which is a one stop shop, providing the whole experience: hosting, software, support etc.
    In contrast .org provides only the support and software side. You have to get your own hosting elsewhere, invariably one of the countless shared hosting resellers.

    Your first step is to subscribe to a shared hosting service, you largely get what you pay for, getting an adequate quota will be easy, of more importance is what support they offer, what hours (and which timezone) and what means (email, phone, text chat ?) they provide. Look for one providing cPanel hosting management, it is by far the most common. Research their reputation. The cost will be in the range of hundreds of dollars a year.

    You will also want a backup of your website database so that you can transfer it to your new hosting. After installing WordPress and loading the database you will also have to update your nameserver settings so that your present name points to your new hosting. I am sure there are in depth instructions and tutorials covering this.

    the whole .org thing seems wildly complicated…a lot to learn and do – things that .com do for you!

    Your concerns about all of that in relation to monetizing your domain is understandable, yet one of the very first things you will need to do in a self-hosted setting is to establish some overall site security. Thoughtful selections of plugins can make that simple, but please do be aware you will have stepped away from a gated community.

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