Blogging platforms like WordPress and Blogger have made the web or the internet vibrant. The world of World Wide Web would have been boring without the rich exchange of information through blogging. It has given people the voice to express themselves; even a novice with little technical skills can create a blog and express his or her views. With that said people always want to upgrade themselves learn some new tricks or skills.
The problems with blogging platform are that they are limited. After certain years and use, you feel the need to upgrade. It can be of various reasons; either you are trying to earn form your blog or you want to upgrade your blog for other reasons.
There are many ways to upgrade your blog, either you get a domain name with a hosting plan or redirect your blog to your new domain. Blogger has an amazing option where you can link your custom domain to your blogger account. Other blogging platforms, like WordPress.com have an option where you can link your domain to your blog but it is not free. You can also get a domain name in wordpress.com, by paying an amount.
If you are not a technical person, some questions might be lingering inside your mind like how will people find my blog if the URL is changed. The answer is Blogger will automatically redirect your blogger URL address to your new custom domain. They use 301 redirect, which will guide your audience to your new custom domain. It also tells search engines that you have a new domain name.
In this article we will see how one can link a custom domain to your blogger/ blogpost account. There are three parts to complete this setting.
Since, I am using GoDaddy account for my domain name. So, the steps involved will be using GoDaddy account. The steps involved will be similar to other hosting providers. So if you are ready lets get down to work.
Getting a domain name
Getting a domain name is not a big problem; you can compare prices of domain registrars before you can choose one. You can get domains with good companies with lower prices.
Change settings in blogger account
You have to do some setting changes in your Blogger account.
Step1. Login to your Blogger account(www.blogger.com).
Step 2. In your Blogger dashboard, click the blog for which you want to add the custom domain.
Step 3. In the left sidebar, click “settings” and then “basic”.
Step 4. Under the “Publishing” section “Blog Address”, click “+ Set up a third-party URL for your blog”.
Step 5. Under “Third-party domain settings”, next to “http://” add your newly purchased domain name. Don’t forget to add the prefix “www” to the domain name.
Step 6. Now you can click “View settings instructions.” You will be taken to another page. It is an instruction page from Google.
For Blogger’s official instruction, read the instruction and scroll down to “Where would you like to host your blog?”. Choose the “On a top-level domain (www.example.com).” option.
Step 7. When you choose the option, you will get the official Step by step instruction from Blogger. Under the step 9 of the instructions, copy the IP addresses given by Google and save them for further use.
Step 8. Go back to your Blogger settings and click “Save”.
It will not save, with an error popping up” We have not been able to verify your authority to this domain. Error 32.” Here we have to see at what the error is telling us. It is telling us to go to our domain registrar, locate our DNS settings and enter the data (CNAMEs) given below.
Step 9. Copy the data under “Name, Label or Host” and “Destination, Target or Points To”. Save the data for further use.
Change settings in domain registrar.
Now we have to change some DNS settings in our domain registrars account. Here I will be using a GoDaddy account. For people who have registered in other registrars, the steps involved will almost be the same.
Step 10. Login to your GoDaddy account(www.godaddy.com). Click your “Account” on the upper right corner. Now select “My Products” from the drop down list.
Step 11. Click “Domains” from the list.
Under Domain, select your chosen domain name and click “Manage DNS”
Step 12. In this DNS Management page, go to Records. There will be many records like A, CNAME, Mx, NS. Click “ADD” in the lower right.
Step 13. In the record “TYPE”, select “CNAME”.
Here used the saved data from step no. 9 from the Blogger settings.
The details to use are:
Record Type: CNAME
Host: www
Points to: ghs.google.com
TTL: 1 hour
You can delete the default “CNAME” data that is “www” pointing to “@”. Click “Save” and repeat the same step for our second data.
Step 14. Again, click “ADD” in the lower right.
In the record “Type”, select “A”.
Here used the saved data from step no. 7 from the Blogger settings.
The details to use are:
Record Type: A
Host: @
Points to: 216.239.32.21
TTL: 1 hour
Click “Save” and repeat the steps for the remaining 3 IP addresses. You can delete the default “A” data with “@” pointing to “184.168.221.44”.This will do the settings in your registrar account. Logout from your GoDaddy account
Step 15. Go back to your blogger account. Go to settings and try to save it once again. It takes 24-48 hours to change the DNS. So, if any errors come up, don’t worry.
Step 16. Login to your Blogger account after 24 hours and repeat the steps from 1 to 5 and click “save” and I hope the errors will be gone.
Step 17. When your Domain starts working, again go to “settings” page, click the “edit” link next to your domain name.
Step 18. Under “Third-party domain settings”, check the redirect—to —- checkbox under your domain name. What it does is that, it will redirect people to your website, even if they miss the “www” part. Click “save” and it is done.
Finally we have finished this small step by step tutorial. If this DIY was helpful, please share it in your social media accounts, so that others can get the same help.
P. S: The screenshots are from Blogger and GoDaddy interfaces. If there is any difference or if you are finding it difficult to follow the steps or If you need more help, contact us via comments.