Domain "Mapping"???

[Georgias Gifts]

The support at wordpress has been unavailable so I thought I would ask my question here, hope you don't mind.

When setting up my blog (I am not a techy) I was confused about the domain set up. I do have a registered url but wasn't sure if this was what was meant by mapping to a "subdomain" What does "mapping" mean?

I ended up paying the $17 or whatever for a blog url and thought the links between my site and the blog might help in seo. Is this wrong thinking? Also, if I should have done it differently, should I wait til the year is up and change, or forfeit the money & make the change now?

Any help is appreciated.

ggg

[tylerhutchinson]

I have a site via wordpress but did not set up the initial design. If I remember right the mapping is the URL you purchased.

As far as your other questions, if I am thinking what you are trying to explain then back linking between blogs can help slightly with SEO. As far as changing the url, unless you changed your mind in the url you would not want to change it. If you do not like the site url anymore you can purchase other ones and link your old one to the new url. So for example if your initial site was www.abc.com and you wanted to do ABD - The Leader in Compliance Solutions for the Securities Industry (http://www.abd.com) you can buy abd.com as well and on your abc.com simply re-direct it. that way if someone typed in abc.com it would automatically send them to abd.com. This is also why it is a good idea if you have a unique website to purchase right to the immediate alternatives. so abc.com you should also buy abc.co, abc.net ect. This is so competition does not buy your site with alternet suffix to steal your business. You can buy them and also redirect them to the one site.

Sounds complicated but you can set it up through the site you buy your urls generally at no extra cost.

Not sure if that answered your questions.

[vangogh]

When you set up an account with WordPress.com they give your blog a domain like username.wordpress. Domain mapping is having that url point to the domain you registered. Mapping is basically saying when some asks for this thing over here automatically send them to that thing over there. So if someone types username.wordpress.com they'll automatically end up at the new domain you purchases. Both urls will point to the blog.

I don't use WordPress.com so I don't know the process to do the mapping, but I did find the instructions (http://en.support.wordpress.com/domain-mapping/) for you. I assume since you paid $17 you registered the domain through WordPress.com. If that's the case you want to click the first link under getting started.

Since you paid already you might have done everything. If not it might simply be finding the setting inside your account to switch to using the new domain.

As far as seo is concerned I think it's better to have the blog be on the same domain as your site. The content you write on your blog can attract traffic and links and more than likely that's what will then rank in search engines. The links from your blog to your main site will help the main site, but I think there's more benefit in having the blog and site be on the same domain.

However in your case I'm not sure if you're allowed to install WordPress using the hosting set up you currently have. I think your site is run through a shopping cart system and the makers of the cart host the site. If that's the case you might have to go with the separate blog/site for now.

If it were my site I would want everything on one domain. I'd likely use WordPress to run everything and purchase a shopping cart plugin to run the shopping cart. You can always do that later if you want. My guess is you'd want to hire someone to move things if you do, since some of the moving, especially the seo stuff can be a little tricky and doing it wrong can mean a loss in all your search traffic. However you don't have to move if you're happy with where you are.

Assuming you can't install WordPress where the shopping cart is hosted then it's either moving both it and the blog or keeping things as you just set them up. The links from the blog will help your site.

[Georgias Gifts]

Thank you for responding. I did find a "redirect" page on my site. So now I have a button in the index for Georgia's Cat Blog and it does directly to the blog from my site, so it looks seamless to the reader. Then I have a link from the blog to my site so they can click that to go back.

ggg

[vangogh]

Sounds like you have it set up then. Don't forget to add a signature here. You can include links to both the site and blog and then every time you post the links will appear. See below my posts and Tyler's and many of the people here. If you're unsure how to add a signature let me know. I can walk you through creating one or I'll be happy to set one up for you if you send me the links to your site and blog.