WordPress.com is a great platform for users who want to easily create a free website or blog. With more than 23 billion pageviews in 2010, the service is a hit with millions of users.
Premium themes are now available for WordPress.com, but the nature of the system still limits what plugins can be used and how deeply customized a design and overall site structure can be.
For that reason, it is natural that some WordPress.com users will want to take the leap to the self-hosted WordPress.org software.
Transitioning from WordPress.com to WordPress.org may seem daunting — especially for users who have lots of content and multimedia already hosted on WordPress.com. That’s why we decided to put together this screencast that walks through the en tire process from beginning to end.
Moving From WordPress.com to WordPress.org
Note: This process covers moving from an existing WordPress.com blog to an existing WordPress.org installation. If you need help installing WordPress.org or finding a web host to use with WordPress.org, WordPress offers some recommendations.
Using Plugins to Re-create WordPress.com Features
As I point out in the screencast, the real key to getting WordPress.org to function (and look) like an older WordPress.com site comes via plugins.
Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, has customized its hosted version of WordPress to include some built-in features that just aren’t included in a standard WordPress.org installation.
As a result, some media like videos, embedded tweets and polls may not show up properly.
I mention some of the most common plugins in the video, but here are some quick. ..
