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Can I Change My Wordpress Blog From index To a Subdirectory?

by yesacpow
17 replies
Hey warriors,

I have a wordpress blog on my root direstory for one of my domains ie http://mydomain.com but I would want to change the blog to a subdomain i.e http://mydomain.com/blog/ with affecting any of the post or anything on the blog.

Can This be done and if so how?

Thanks in advance
#blog #change #index #subdirectory #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author Dan Sherman
    No, don't do what Traffic-Bug said.

    Log into your wordpress installation.
    Create a page called blog
    Go to Settings >> Reading Settings
    Where it says Front Page Displays, you have two options: Your Latest Posts, and A Static Page. Select the static page option.
    There are two drop downs for the static page option; front page and posts page. Choose the page you want for the front page, and then select the blog page you created for the posts page.

    What this will do is allow you to use Wordpress as a Content Management System, managing your front page and other static pages, while still using its blog feature on the /blog subfolder.

    There's no need to uninstall and reinstall on a different subfolder!

    Here is a video walk through I found linked from wordpress.org's help files:

    Configuring WordPress Settings: Reading | WordPress Training

    It's for an older version, but still applicable if you need a visual walkthrough.

    EDIT: Found a better video on http://wordpress.tv for creating a static front page for your site (which gives you the results you're asking for):

    http://wordpress.tv/2009/01/13/creat...for-your-blog/
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    • Profile picture of the author Success
      Originally Posted by Dan Sherman View Post

      No, don't do what Traffic-Bug said.

      Log into your wordpress installation.
      Create a page called blog
      Go to Settings >> Reading Settings
      Where it says Front Page Displays, you have two options: Your Latest Posts, and A Static Page. Select the static page option.
      There are two drop downs for the static page option; front page and posts page. Choose the page you want for the front page, and then select the blog page you created for the posts page.

      What this will do is allow you to use Wordpress as a Content Management System, managing your front page and other static pages, while still using its blog feature on the /blog subfolder.

      There's no need to uninstall and reinstall on a different subfolder!

      Here is a video walk through I found linked from wordpress.org's help files:

      Configuring WordPress Settings: Reading | WordPress Training

      It's for an older version, but still applicable if you need a visual walkthrough.

      EDIT: Found a better video on WordPress.tv for creating a static front page for your site (which gives you the results you're asking for):

      Creating a static front page for your blog WordPress.tv
      Dan,

      I am trying to do something similar.

      But your method requires installing WP at root.

      I want to find out how to do it with WP in the blog directory.

      http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...-homepage.html

      You have any idea?
      Signature

      .

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  • Profile picture of the author sridhar
    Originally Posted by Traffic-Bug View Post

    Well I have done moving my WordPress blog to a subdirectory and that went fine. What Dan is saying is when you have posts and pages and you want posts to appear on a particular page only. The original question was "i want to change my blog to a subdomain". I have answered that question.
    "Just move the wordpress distribution to a /blog subfolder."

    That's just half of the answer. The missing first piece is this:

    Go to Settings -> General, then enter the new location in 'WordPress address (URL)' and 'Blog address (URL)' fields and save changes.

    Only after the above step should you move all the files to the new location.

    (It's also possible to go into database and change those two values, but something that is not needed if you take the care to update the new location prior to moving the files)
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    HTML/PSD to WP and WordPress Setup
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  • Profile picture of the author JBanis
    hey guys. I have a slightly different question, but related... I have an html site (domain.com) and would like to add a blog to this. I noticed Sridhar contributed (hey Sridhar, you made a blog for me once :-) ), but anyone...how can I put a wordpress blog into the subfolder domain.com/blog?

    Is this a matter of somehow creating a subfolder somewhere (in cpanel?) of my html site, and then installing wordpress in there using fantastico?

    Also, related by slightly different issue: the site I have is a review site and it has articles as content in an 'articles' page. Would you guys agree or not that its a good idea to create a blog (domain.com/blog) instead and somehow have these articles in there? Is there an advantage? I thought maybe because with a blog I can keep adding content much easier and SEO it much easier too etc.

    Thanks for any help!

    Jan
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  • Profile picture of the author Vijay M
    @ JBanis
    If you are using fantastico, at the point of creation after your specify the domain/folder you want the blog to be in, it'll ask you if you want to create the blog at the root (if yes, you do not have to do anything), else specify the folder name in which you want to create your new blog. Make sure the folder name you specify is not already existing.

    It is definitely much better to have a blog to go along with your static html review page. This way, others can add comments to your posts,increase interaction,you can submit the rss feeds for faster indexing etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author Anon7
    I have an html site (domain.com) and would like to add a blog to this.
    You could also install WorPress to the root of your site (after backing up your static pages), then create a page called 'Home' (or whatever) and paste the content of your old static home page into it.

    Then Create another page, call it 'Blog', and save it. Now go to "Settings", "Reading" in your wp-admin menu and set your Front Page to "Home" and your Posts Page to "Blog".

    Now your entire website will have one uniform look. Whenever you add new web pages, simply Click "Add New" under Pages & when you want a new blog post, then select "Add New" under the Posts heading.

    So now your blog would be at YourWebsite.com/blog

    -Jack
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    • Profile picture of the author JBanis
      [QUOTE=Anon7;1845269]You could also install WorPress to the root of your site (after backing up your static pages), then create a page called 'Home' (or whatever) and paste the content of your old static home page into it.

      JB: do I backup my site in Cpanel? Never done this..Also...are you sure i need to create a page, not a folder, called home? I mean...how do I put all the files for my html site into a page?

      Then Create another page, call it 'Blog', and save it. Now go to "Settings", "Reading" in your wp-admin menu and set your Front Page to "Home" and your Posts Page to "Blog".

      JB: DOnt I already have a homepage, from my html site? I mean, if I set the front page to "home", wont that mean that the home page of the wordpress blog will now the home page, instead of the homepage of my html site?? Thats not what I want...(I know...this is my confusion, not yours!)

      Now your entire website will have one uniform look. Whenever you add new web pages, simply Click "Add New" under Pages & when you want a new blog post, then select "Add New" under the Posts heading.

      So now your blog would be at YourWebsite.com/blog

      JB: What is really the difference between doing this and just installing a blog into the domain.com/blog folder? How is the 'uniform look' different from the other method? Sorry about this...if its too much beginner question or anything...I can't seem to visualize it yet...I'll get there no matter what!

      Thanks

      Jan
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      • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
        Originally Posted by JBanis View Post

        Sorry about this...if its too much beginner question or anything...I can't seem to visualize it yet...I'll get there no matter what!
        You are over-complicating it as well as most of the 'helpful' advices.

        Leave whatever you have at the root (it's what you called the "index" in your title). The proper word for the main folder of your website is - root (directory, folder).

        Then install wordpress in any subfolder, be it "blog", "journal", "something".
        As you were told, even the not-so-smart fantastico can install it in a subfolder.

        Then you will have your existing webpages wherever they are now + a blog in the subdirectory.

        Later, when you are more comfortable with this whole web-thingy... you may reconsider the structure of the site and/or making it built entirely on WP or not WP etc.
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        • Profile picture of the author JBanis
          Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath View Post

          You are over-complicating it as well as most of the 'helpful' advices.

          Leave whatever you have at the root (it's what you called the "index" in your title). The proper word for the main folder of your website is - root (directory, folder).

          Then install wordpress in any subfolder, be it "blog", "journal", "something".
          As you were told, even the not-so-smart fantastico can install it in a subfolder.

          Then you will have your existing webpages wherever they are now + a blog in the subdirectory.

          Later, when you are more comfortable with this whole web-thingy... you may reconsider the structure of the site and/or making it built entirely on WP or not WP etc.
          Thanks for that. It seems to most practical solution.

          J
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  • Profile picture of the author Tony Hetherington
    You can installl Wordpress in any folder you want. just enter the path during the installation process.

    Tony
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  • Profile picture of the author JBanis
    Great info guys, thanks. Looks like i have 2 choices then: putting it in a subfolder, and somehow linking the main html domain to the blog (and having links from the blog posts back to the main domain home page-where the product reviews are located)

    or put the blog in the root domain as Jack described...

    hmmm....

    Are there pros and cons to any of these approaches? Or am I now overcomplicating things...(entirely possible )

    I'll answer Jack in the next post....

    Cheers
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  • Profile picture of the author Quentin
    I don't know what you are doing but you could leave the blog in the root and just add a index.htm or index.html which will sit over the top of your wordpress site.

    Q
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  • Profile picture of the author Anon7
    Hi JB,
    PM'd you with something that might help.

    -Jack
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    • Profile picture of the author JBanis
      Originally Posted by Anon7 View Post

      Hi JB,
      PM'd you with something that might help.

      -Jack
      Thanks for that Jack. I'll have a look at it. Related question...from an SEO perspective, does it matter if I have a blog installed in the domain.com/blog folder, with links from post back to the homepage (domain.com/index.html) ? I mean, does google see the blog content as part of the site? I know it would follow the links...

      Ok, I'll go check it out.

      Jan
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  • Profile picture of the author Daniel Ray
    even this is an old thread, i came across the same situation today so wanted to post what I did.

    if you're using CPanel and Fantastico:

    If you want to have wordpress in a subdomain, such as http://blog.wordpress.com then you need to create a subdirectory first, and then you'll see that subdirectory as an option for the new install.

    for anyone who might search for this later... it's actually really simple and basically a few clicks to get it done.
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