If your blog or site URL ends in .wordpress.com, you can export the contents of your site any time using the Export feature. From your Dashboard, go to Tools, Export, choose “All Content” and click “Download Export File.” When you are prompted, choose “Save File.” If you are not given a choice for where to save it, it will most likely end up in your Downloads folder if you are using Windows. (Can’t help with Mac or Android, sorry.)

If the export opens in the browser window, you can probably save it using ctrl-s, or go to your browser’s File menu and choose “Save.”

This export will contain all the text from your site in XML format. You can view the XML in a web browser or edit it with a text editor.

The export does NOT contain images unless you hotlinked to them. You can run a separate export of “Media” which contains links to files in your media library. If your blog is deleted, the media files may remain, and if so, you may be able to access them using these links.

You can run this export any time, to keep a current backup of the text of your site. I would encourage any feminist who spends a lot of time blogging or publishing to do this whenever she makes any significant change to her site.

Using this export file, you can bring the text/comments/etc.from your .wordpress.com site to your own, hosted site anytime you like. Many web hosts offer one-click installation of WordPress standalone software on your own site through the hosting interface.

Two caveats about hosting:

It does not have to be expensive, if you are willing to do some work. You can get a domain name for as little as $10 per year, and a hosting plan for $40 per year. WordPress databases do take up some disk space, so be aware you might have to upgrade your plan if you post a lot. You should check with customer service before signing up to find out what their hosting agreement allows or prohibits in terms of content. In these times it doesn’t hurt to be pretty specific about what they might face if they host your material. Make sure you can work within their rules before you give them money.

One hosting interface is cpanel, where you can install WordPress via QuickInstall. The WordPress software is free and there are many free templates to choose from if you want a particular look and feel for your site. QuickInstall is offering me a bunch of paid options related to my install, but none of them are necessary, so just ignore them if you aren’t made of money.

When installing WordPress with a one-click installer through a web host, you will need to provide an email address, an admin username, and an admin password. If you want to use an anonymous email address for your blog emails, create that account first.

This is an example of a WordPress Install setup form via QuickInstall. You’ll enter the above information. This form also asks you to choose the URL/domain from the dropdown in the first option — you will likely only have one choice here unless you have multiple domains attached to your hosting account. If you want users to go right to your WordPress install when they visit your main URL, don’t enter anything in the “install/path/here” box. If you want to have your WordPress install as a subsite of your main site (for example, feminist-reprise.org/blog), put the part after the / in the “install/path/here” box. The installer will create this for you.

Make your passwords strong and don’t use the same password for your blog email and your blog admin login. Keep your admin username and password somewhere safe, although the installer will email it to you as well.

Read the Terms of Service!

Once you have your new WP installation on your own website, you can import the text contents of your old site using the Export file you created from the .wordpress.com site. From the Dashboard, go to Tools, Import, scroll down to WordPress, and click Install Now.

Your new installation may not be perfect; as noted above, images embedded in posts will almost certainly be lost. This happened when Feminist Reprise relocated from Blogspot many years ago. If you ran an export of your “Media” you can try importing that as well, which might replace your media library; but you will likely have to reinsert the images from your library into your posts.

You will also probably have some formatting oddities. But these deficiencies can be corrected over time. In my opinion an imperfect backup or replacement is preferable to losing years of work.

If you need help you can email me — feminist.reprise via the Google mail.