So you’ve set up your website and blog and then you think… wait a minute! The address isn’t very easy to remember!
Your website’s address is what you give to people to find it. Imagine if the BBC’s website address were http://www.thebbcwebsite1235.co.uk – it wouldn’t be very easy to remember or to type.
So have a look at your address. Is it easy to say, easy to type (no double-S or dashes or underscores) and easy to remember? And more importantly perhaps, does it send the right message about you?
If not, you probably want to change it. You could look in to getting a custom domain (like mine – http://www.jonathanbaldwin.co.uk) but for now, let’s just stick with making your WordPress site address as good as it can be.
Go to the Dashboard
Select the “My Blogs” option. You can have as many WordPress blogs as you want – so you could have one for particular projects, one for your personal entries and one for university, or one for a club or society you belong to (with more than one author).
Select “Change Blog Address”
Hover the mouse over your blog address on the dashboard and you’ll see some options appear. Select the obvious one: “Change Blog Address”
Read the instructions
Changing the address is not the same as changing the title. Think of it this way:
- If you get married and change your name, you’re changing your “Title” but your address stays the same.
- If you move house, you’re changing your address and that is where people will find you. Your name (title) stays the same.
If it’s your blog title you want to change (what appears at the top of your site’s pages) then click the link in the text to go to “Settings”
If it really is your blog address you’re changing then carry on.
Type your desired blog address in the box and then type it again to confirm. Check the spelling carefully! Most problems occur because people misspell their address and then either can’t remember it or give it out wrong. Keep it simple and as short as possible. Avoid numbers unless necessary, and avoid dashes and underscores. They’re just confusing.
The section about your username is important. You can create a new username to match your new address, (in addition to your existing username) or change your username to match. Or you can stick with what you’ve got. If in doubt, stick with what you’ve got and choose “No”.
For the option “Discard Current Address” you can give up the old address if you want (which in most cases is fine). But you might want to keep it for the future in which case don’t discard it. It’s up to you, but once you discard it it’s gone. So if it’s something special like your name, hang on to it. But if it’s spelt wrong, or just confusing, then tear it up so you’ll never have to see it again.
When you’re done, click continue.
Tell people the new address!
Firstly, write it down somewhere so you don’t forget it. Quite a lot of students don’t know their own website address, or write it down wrong. It’s the bit that starts “http://” and ends in “wordpress.com”. There should be nothing after that unless you are pointing people to a specific page (look in the address bar now and see what the URL of this page is. It’s longer than the URL of the site itself.)
This is what you also put on your business cards (but consider getting your own domain for that – see the “Domain” link in the screengrab above).
Next make sure people who need to know it are given the new address. If it’s a site you’re using for university that means your tutors!
