August 1, 2012

How to Set Up Your Blogger Blog with a Custom Domain on GoDaddy



GoDaddy Blogger DNS Setup can't be used to map your blog to a custom domain anymore.


Are you still on a Blogger free subdomain where your URL says myblog.blogspot.com? Well, it's up to you to be on it or move to a custom domain where things get much easier and visible. Whether you are on a free or custom domain, content is what matters most for users.

A domain name on the web space is considered as an unique identity online. Usually custom domains are not free and you have to purchase, but yet very cheap. Using a custom domain can help you improve visibility of your brand name and content plus it depicts that you are dedicated to it. There are different sort of domain registrars on the web and you will need to select one which suites to your requirements in managing your domain. Have you heard of GoDaddy?


Why Custom Domain?


We have already discussed about setting up a custom domain for your blog via Blogger directly without much effort on it. If you didn't read it yet, read How to Purchase and Set Up a Custom Domain for Your Blog in Blogger and there I've already discussed the importance of a custom domain too. So I'm not gonna repeat it all again here. It's alright, no?

However, now you gonna ask me, why I'm pushing on custom domains again. Selecting a domain registrar is depends on your choice and I'm gonna help you set up your blog if you have selected GoDaddy as your domain registrar or registered a domain there. I was confused when I set up my blog first time too. Yeah, I didn't know it first and now I'm sharing what I've learnt with you.


GoDaddy Domain Name


Before proceeding with the switch, I'd like to talk about features you will get with GoDaddy to be more familiar with if you already own one or else if you are thinking about purchasing a domain for your blog. First off, before I own my custom domain, I've done my kind of research. Here's how my friends responded me about GoDaddy's service when I ask them about it before I purchase my domain.

+Lisa Buben ~ I like GoDaddy, they respond quick on Twitter w/ questions too.

+Carol Lynn Rivera ~ Reliable and simple to use.

+Vanita Cyril ~ GoDaddy is great for domain management and the tech support is pretty good.

After being on GoDaddy, I'm pretty confident with the reliability and domain management tools they offer. Support? I wasn't on it yet. But I know it when my friends say so. Trust me on that. Further I'd like to list out features you can experience after purchasing a domain at GoDaddy.

Easy Domain Management - GoDaddy Domain Manager gives you information about your domain configuration and access to DNS records plus other services available for your purchased domain. There you can easily change settings without prior advanced knowledge as it's rich with help resources and has very user friendly environment.

Domain Locking - You can take control of your domain and prevent unauthorized transfers of your domain. By default your domain is locked where no one can transfer your domain to another registrar. But if you need to transfer, you can unlock and transfer whenever you need.

DNS Management - GoDaddy offers total control of your domain DNS settings. As we focused on Blogger, another advantage is, GoDaddy will set up your Blogger blog to work with the domain you have purchased. So no need to waste your time on setting up DNS records.

Auto Renew Protection - GoDaddy sends you notifications or take control of renewing process upon expiration of your domain. So you don't need to worry about keeping your domain under your name.

Domain Status - GoDaddy monitor and report current status of your domain whether it's active or inactive.

Change Registration Information - When you register your domain, you have to provide personal details. But in case if you wanna change registration details later on, GoDaddy let you change your information and the update information will be reflected on WHOIS directory under your domain name.

Domain Forwarding - GoDaddy supports domain forwarding where you can forward your own domain to another domain. For example, if you are moving to another domain or subdomain, by setting up forwarding, you can send your visitors land on your old domain automatically to new domain of yours. Further it supports masking where after forwarding or directing your visitors automatically to new domain, visitors won't see new domain name on their browser address bar but still old domain name they used to visit, but actually they are exploring new domain of yours.

Personalized Email - GoDaddy offers you a personalized email for your domain with 1 GB of storage.

Except for above features, GoDaddy can be,

Costy - Yeah, GoDaddy is kinda costy as if you wanna use private registration, increase email storage or so, compared to purchasing a custom domain via Blogger. It depends. However it's a relief that you can make use of free Google Apps for your domain to overcome some limitations rather than paying out more.

I've mentioned important features of GoDaddy custom domains you can experience and which are valid for Blogger users. Now it's your turn to go for best one if you are looking for purchasing a custom domain for your blog. Don't forget to read How to Purchase and Set Up a Custom Domain for Your Blog in Blogger before you take the decision. Else if you already purchased a domain at GoDaddy, let's proceed and set up your blog on your domain.


Before You Go:

* If you have third party applications or tools implemented or configured for your existing blog, you may need to check whether they are supporting domain migration to keep them as it is without losing any associated data.

For example, if you have a 3rd party comment platform implemented in your blog, please make sure that you can migrate without losing your existing comments. Else you need to take a hard decision.

* You need to have a custom domain purchased at GoDaddy.com. If you don't have one already, create a new GoDaddy account and purchase a new custom domain for your blog via GoDaddy Domains page.


Steps:

1. Sign in to your GoDaddy account.

2. Go to GoDaddy Blogger DNS Setup page.

3. Now enter your custom domain URL purchased at GoDaddy, that your wish to set up your blog and click Confirm button.


4. Wait until it update your DNS records.

5. After DNS record updation, go to Blogger Dashboard.

6. Click on your Blog Title.

7. Jump to Settings tab from left pane.


8. Find Publishing heading on Basic tab.


9. Click Add a custom domain link.

10. Click Switch to advanced settings link..

11. Now enter your custom domain URL in given field to redirect your blog and click Save button.

Note: If you gonna set it up for your naked domain which is without www - i.e: www.Mayura4Ever.com, then when you enter your domain name here, make sure to add a space before your domain name. Else it won't accept your domain.


12. Now your old blogspot URL will redirect to your new custom domain. However it may take few minutes or hours to complete.


More Information:

* If you set up a domain name with www or without www, you will also need to redirect to your blog even if users type your domain name with or without preceding www. So make sure to enable redirection at Blogger for your custom domain after setting up. Read How to Enable Domain Redirection in Blogger.

* You can access your GoDaddy domain settings via Domain Manager.


Enjoy :-)




Awesome! Thanks for coming by and taking your time to read this post :) I hope you have learnt something today. Now you can share it with your friends and I'd love to hear from you too.






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Sonia said...

 I have used GoDaddy for years, but don't use Blogger. I will only buy my domain names from them because their interface is easy to use and transferring anything over is simple. When I tried using something else, it was quite confusing and they didn't have a good support system.

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Sonia,

Blogger offers domain via Google Apps and partnered with GoDaddy and eNom :) However the control panel is somewhat different though GoDaddy involved in. As you said GoDaddy interface is really user friendly and offers some advanced features too :) I like the way it is though it's somewhat costy compared to the one purchased via Google Apps.

GoDaddy for years? That's great :) I bought mine 2 weeks ago. Anyway I think I made it right as I heard more good feedback of it from my friends including you :) Transferring - That's another good point dear. I never transferred (LOL... Never owned a domain before, so how do I?), so thanks for your input on it dear :)

Thanks for commenting and yeah, for sharing your experience on GoDaddy too dear :)

Cheers...

Adrienne said...

I also recommend GoDaddy and I did use Blogger years ago with my own domain so it looks like the setup process hasn't changed much.  I have no doubt that anyone using Blogger that would like their own domain will find your instructions very helpful Mayura.  Great job.

~Adrienne

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Adrienne,

Glad to hear that from you and more incoming recommendations ;) Yeah, the setup process isn't changed much except for DNS setup tool. When migration happens, the DNS setup will be taken care by the tool, so users don't need to mess with DNS records.

Thanks for commenting and appreciate your recommendation on this post too dear :)

Cheers...

aaditysony said...

Your blog title is really too big- making a blog title this much long could harm position on search engine or not ?
 

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Aaditya,

LOL... What made you think that mate? :) My title is Mayura4Ever and other part is short description of my blog with keywords. Altogether, all visible in search results. Don't worry, search engines find your pages if you have long or short title and highlight matching search terms of users. But being short is really matters as people can view whole title in search results completely.

Nobody search for Mayura4Ever word itself, so I've added short description first for others to find my blog if they looking for related topics or niche. Anyway rather than blog title, people mostly aware of content pages. Quality content what matters mostly.

Hope it helps :) If you have questions out of the topic, please ask at support section mate. I think yours bit relevant here, but not completely, so I answered here.

Cheers...

Robert Koenig said...

We use GoDaddy, but that little outage definitely had us considering our options.

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Robert,


I'm using GoDaddy as my domain provider :) Had no problem during outage. The outages was affected mostly on hosting accounts.


Anyway I recommend GoDaddy as a great domain provider with my own experience. But has no much faith as a hosting provider. HostGator had an outage an hour ago too. Technical difficulties come and play sometimes :) Research options and ask from real users. Switch to what goes best for you.


Cheers...

Kundan Bhardwaj said...

Hi Mayura Bro ! I was earlier making my blog on blogger but then my domain provider was unable to configure it on Blogger so I switched to WordPress self hosted blog now. If you are taking domain from a renowned seller then its fine else they actually don't know about the settings for blogger, infact they don't have that facility.

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Kundan,


Yeah, it was disappeared few days ago mate :) Blogger has an issue with offering domains and configuring 'em nowadays. Until the problem has been resolved, they won't offer that option at settings. Gotta wait for those who wanna move to custom domain via Blogger. Else they better buy it from another provider and map their blog to new domain :)


Cheers...

Kundan Bhardwaj said...

Yes actually, it is king of frustrating.

Mayura De Silva said...

Ha ha ;) You're welcome Debbie. Keep up with the forum post dear :)


Cheers...

Mayura De Silva said...

Yeah dear, it set up DNS for your domain and now you most probably seeing 404 error page by Google there.


Now you have to wait for confirmation from Blogger team about this issue :) The Blogger product forum is best place to notify and wait for new updates.


I can't tell you exactly about the time it will be be resolved. But as this is a major issue, I hope it will be resolved in few hours or days.


Cheers...

Debbie Navarro said...

So you mean to say, i wont do anything after i used this tool? nothing else? is their any min or max duration of time for me to input my new domain on blogger after i used this tool?


Thanks for your patience.

Mayura De Silva said...

The DNS setup completed successfully dear? :)


If "YES", after this issue being resolved, you just need to add your custom domain in Blogger settings (Step 5 onwards) and your blog will be live in your new domain :)


Cheers...

Debbie Navarro said...

Yes, I followed all of your instructions but is this already enough or i still need to do more?

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Michael,

I'm so sorry for late reply mate. The comment was hidden and just noticed today. It's my fault.


I hope now you know answers as you already having a custom domain set up for your blog. But let me answer, so other readers will find 'em useful too.



1. It depends on domain provider mate. Usually you don't get a hosting account with domain with full access to it. But if you buy hosting account, mostly you will get domain name for free.


2. Yeah, actually setting up a custom domain in Blogger means you are redirecting it mate :) Your old blog address is still there, but redirect to new domain.


Cheers...

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Debbie,

I hope you have already used GoDaddy Blogger DNS Setup mentioned in the post.

You're not alone in this dear :) Currently Blogger having an issue on setting up custom domains. Now this is a known issue and Blogger team investigating the issue. Please be patient until Blogger team resolves dear :)

You can find more information here ~ http://productforums.google.com/d/topic/blogger/LT3w5BGMsZk/discussion. Subscribe there for future updates of this issue :)


Hope it helps :)

Cheers...

Debbie Navarro said...

Do you have any idea how long does it take for me to be able to add my custom domain on blogger? Cause whyen i tried am having this

error "We have not been able to verify your authority to this domain. Error 14"

I hope you could advice me. Thanks a lot.

Jerome Ibuyan said...

thanks Mayura. I find this very helpful =)

Mayura De Silva said...

You're welcome Jerome :) Glad you found it helpful and hopefully I assume you are on a custom domain now.


Thanks for compliments mate :)


Cheers...

Jerome Ibuyan said...

Yup! My blog is on its new domain now. Keep on sharing valuable posts! =)

Mayura De Silva said...

Congratulations Jerome :)

Thank you for your kind words and love your support here mate.


Cheers...

himshikha khati said...

hey mayura wanted to know which would be best to buy a domain name from godaddy or get it within blogger from google? Also which will provide a hassle free transition of domain.

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Himshikha,

I recommend both of 'em :)

Sometimes you may find limited features on GoDaddy. For example, GoDaddy offers 1 GB of email storage while Google offers 25 GB and you need to pay for Private Registration which is free when you buy a domain in Blogger.

Also if you purchase within Blogger, you can't buy a domain for 2 or more years at once and types of top level domains (.com, .info, .net) are limited there.

So, both have different set of features. The best is depend on your requirements mate :)

I recommend you to read How to Purchase and Set Up a Custom Domain for Your Blog in Blogger to get idea about purchasing domain within Blogger and features included. So you can compare listed of features on both posts and go for what's best for you :)

Cheers...

noora said...

I have been trying to do the domain on blogger but the error 14 keep showing and i cant figure out where is the problem exactly !!!! people saying blogger now making this step very hard ! is there anything i can do !!!

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Noora,



Did you use DNS setup tool for your GoDaddy domain?

Follow the steps mentioned here for your GoDaddy domain again and let me know how it goes.

No, it's not Blogger making it hard but possibly a technical issue from the end of Blogger, if you followed the steps correctly :)

Cheers...

Shahid Khan Afridi said...

Very thankful to you Mayura De Silva, I have solved my problem, a very useful and targeted article you have written.
Once again special thanks to you..

Mayura De Silva said...

Hi Shahid,


You're most welcome mate :) Glad to hear it has been helpful for you to set up your blog on a custom domain.


Thanks for stopping by and sharing your comment on it :)


Cheers...

vhemant03 said...

Thanks it really thanks for to me.

Thanks & Regards,
Hemant Verma
Widget Generators

Mayura De Silva said...

You're welcome :)