Making the decision to move my blog from http://www.courseladder.com to http://www.golfballdriver.com was a big one, and a good one, and it taught me a lot about learning how to relocate your WordPress blog to a new domain name under the same hosting provider. Course Ladder suited me for a while, but from an SEO standpoint it was not a good domain name for me to stick with over a long term and I am glad for the change.
Golf Ball Driver is better than Course Ladder because…
- “Golf” in the domain name
- All domain words are highly relevant
- Direct golf product tie in
- It makes sense. What am I? A golf ball driver!
- The double entendre between the products and the persona.
What You Need to Do:
The first thing that you want to do is to create a new add on domain for the new domain name.
The next step in the process is to copy the entire contents of the old domain folder, which includes your entire WordPress blog, into the brand new domain folder within the same hosting area.
Next, there are a couple of SQL statements that you need to run:
* First, to update your WordPress options with the new location of your blog, the following SQL command needs to be put in:
UPDATE wp_options SET option_value = replace(option_value, 'http://www.old-domain.com', 'http://www.new-domain.com') WHERE option_name = 'home' OR option_name = 'siteurl';
Next, you are going to need to fix the URLs of your posts and pages on WordPress. The URL values are stored as absolute URLs rather than as relative URLs, so you need to use the following SQL query to change them.
UPDATE wp_posts SET guid = replace(guid, 'http://www.old-domain.com','http://www.new-domain.com');
If you have linked internally at any point within your blog posts or your pages using absolute URLs, then this links are going to be pointing to the wrong locations after you change the location of your blog. You need to use the following SQL commands in order to fix all of the internal linking in all of your WordPress posts and pages.
UPDATE wp_posts SET post_content = replace(post_content, 'http://www.old-domain.com', 'http://www.new-domain.com');
Once you have put all of these SQL queries into action, the next step is to browse through as much of your WordPress blog as you can in order to make sure that everything is in good working order. You are also going to need to login to your WP Administration section because the authentication cookie will become invalid when you change domains.
Now you can delete the old folder contents so that your blog is not appearing in two different places.
In order to 301 redirect all old links from the old domain to the new domain, place a single file .htaccess into the now empty folder. You want to be sure to 301 redirect else you will permanently lose any hard earned links you have developed. Here is what the file should contain:
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^.old-domain.com$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.old-domain.com
RewriteRule ^/?(.*)$ "http://www.new-domain.com/$1" [R=301,L]
Finally, update your WordPress blog to have the new blog name in your title.
The process is relatively simple once you have a feel for what needs to be accomplished. Above all else, it is vital that you avoid upsetting your linking structure in the process. Make sure that all of your links are still valid and working after you make the big move, and your blog should be just fine, and more importantly, better off with an improved domain name.
Originally posted 2009-02-05 09:45:03. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Related Posts -
Increase Traffic to Blog, pt1 This is part one in a three part series dedicated to increasing traffic to your blog in a number of different ways. Now that you have your blog set up and you are beginning to post useful information in its pages, the next step is to start attracting useful readers...... -
Installing a WordPress Blog If you want to install WordPress on your own server, the first step is to download the necessary files from the website at WordPress.org download. Next, you will use an FTP program to upload the files to your host site. If you use Cpanel, you can use Fantastico in order...... -
8 Wordpress Blog Theme Design Considerations Most blogging platforms offer a wide variety of different themes to chose from, and most can be altered and edited to suit your needs, or left alone exactly as they are. Some themes are plain and dull while others are colorful, modern and inspiring. There are thousands of themes out...... -
Finovate Startup 2009 Live Twitter I am attending Finovate Startup 2009. It is an action packed 1 day format which I belive will lend itself perfectly to a live twitter. Stay tuned it should be an amazing day. http://twitter.com/BlogTrafficExch In the break I have scheduled some talks with SimplFi, Mint, and Calendar Budget. I am...... -
Advantages of Using Wordpress to Publish a Newspaper Blog If you want to have a blog or website that's in newspaper format, Wordpress is the ideal medium. There are many other services you could use, but because Wordpress is so user friendly it's easy to set up your blog to look like a newspaper (or a website, or whatever......
Related Websites -
Non-Toxic/Non-Lethal Ways To Keep Squirrels, Gophers And Groundhogs Away. Dear EarthTalk: What would you recommend as a non-toxic/non-lethal way to keep squirrels, gophers and groundhogs away? Keeping unwanted critters away can be tricky business, and options are somewhat limited. For starters, make sure exterior garbage, recycling and compost containers are shut tight, and pick up and remove any fallen...... -
Reply To Greetings and Intro Hi Constance. You are lucky to get through - you nearly went into the automatic de-spammer with a subject heading of "Greetings and Intro"!!!Your family history is interesting. Trouble is, everyone in England is related to someone - especially in Somerset! They pulled a body out of the bog near...... - Jagger, Google Analytics, And The Future Of Search & SEO Two big things have just happened in Google-land: Jagger and Google Analytics. Together, these two events may have changed the face of search forever. Jagger First, let's discuss Jagger... Just like hurricanes, Google updates have names. (A Google update is a change to the way Google determines its rankings. Google......
-
Make Blogging Work for Your Business pt 2 Are you ready to make blogging work for your business? If you already know the benefits associated with corporate blogging, then the next step is to put these concepts to work by creating your own corporate blog and sharing your company with the world. This is part 2 in a...... - Fantasy Link Exchange Fantasy link exchange is when you name (with links) the 35 blogs with which you would like to exchange blogroll links. In an ideal world they find out about your desire from Technorati or PFBlogs.org or sheer luck and consummate the exchange. The Simple Dollar I Will Teach You To Be......
