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Down below, after the technical stuff: Bonus Corgi Pictorial Short Story "Frosty Doesn't Look Good, Mama"! DON'T MISS IT! |
Okay, so you probably haven't noticed, but a few weeks ago I switched my blog's URL (domain name) from www.chroniclesofcardigan.blogspot.com to www.chroniclesofcardigan.com.
That does not mean that I left Blogger and/or became self-hosted on some other blogging platform, for example WordPress. Nope, I'm still using Blogger (for free*), it's just that I followed the Blogger on-screen directions to add my own custom (previously purchased and "parked" at GoDaddy.com**) domain name.
I will explain why I did this in a bit.
But first, let me tell you why - about a year ago - I went to GoDaddy.com and bought the custom domain:
SO NO ONE ELSE WOULD
Yes, friends. I was afraid someone else would. Why? Well why wouldn't they? ;) Okay, that and because the custom name is easier for people to remember and it looks a lot better (than the blogspot URL) on business cards, and everywhere else on the Internet. But mostly it was so no one else could take it and lure unsuspecting peeps over to some fake Chronicles of Cardigan page with spammy links to window washing and tree removal services, for example.
The trouble is, after I bought the domain name, I was afraid to actually use it. (what if my blog disappeared? no one could find it anymore? I screwed something up beyond repair?) So I did the next best thing and forwarded my new custom domain to my blogspot address:
If someone typed chroniclesofcardigan.com (in the URL address field),
they'd be automatically directed to chroniclesofcardigan.blogspot.com.
Forwarding is easy and (at least with GoDaddy) can be accomplished with just a couple clicks from the Domain Details (Domain Information > Forwarding) page. (Hint: Go to your domain provider's Help section and search for "forwarding.")
Okay, so fast forward 13 months and on this one random day, I just decided it was time to go for it. And I read a bunch of blog articles about why I should go for it***. And looked for user feedback on whether or not their blogs were obliterated after having gone for it. And decided that I could live with a couple months (if that) of not being as searchable in search engines.
To edit your domain name in Blogger, get to this screen and click Edit in the Publishing box. |
And here I am. And here's the ugly:
Things that Broke after the Switch:
My blog roll (Blogger gadget) went blank. (But because I had read that the same thing happened to other users, and that it was a known Blogger bug, and that I would just need to add the blog links again, I was not alarmed when I noticed it.)
That was the only thing that broke.
According to my stats, I'm still getting views from search engines. In fact, I haven't noticed much of a change there, if any.
And in case you're curious, Blogger is redirecting all traffic from my previous "blogspot" domain name to the new one. That means any and all existing hyperlinks to that old address will redirect here (for as long as I keep the custom domain name). Additionally, the old blog feed (for those who have subscribed/followed my RSS) redirects, too. That means YOU SHOULD NOT RESUBSCRIBE (unless you want see my blog twice in your reader, and you will; I tested it)!
And if at any time I decide I don't want to associate the custom domain name with this blog anymore, I can just go into my Blogger blog settings and switch back to the original "blogspot" name. Too easy.
So have you been contemplating making a domain name switch yourself?
If yes and you have a Blogger blog, and use GoDaddy.com to obtain your new custom domain, there is a SUPER EASY tool at GoDaddy.com that will do almost all the work for you:
Note: You must be logged into your GoDaddy account before using the tool. |
In fact, the folks at Blogger think this tool is so awesome, they've written an entire blog post about it at Blogger Buzz (hint: GO THERE!), including step-by-step instructions for switching your blog to your new domain (once you've updated your DNS records at GoDaddy using this tool). (By the way, don't ask me what DNS records are; I have no flocking idea. Just trust me; you will need to update them using this tool.)
And that's all there is to it, friends! I hope this has been helpful!
* I use Blogger (vs. self-hosting on another platform) for a variety of reasons, mostly because I am lazy. It is a personal preference, and I believe personal preferences are okay. :) I pay nothing to use Blogger; however, there is a limit to free image storage space, which I plowed through in under a year. Therefore, I pay $4.99 per year for the lowest available increment of extra image storage space through Google. When my hard drive crashed a few months ago and I lost thousands of stored images, that $4.99 annual fee seemed like a really small price to pay for back-up.
** GoDaddy.com is NOT the only domain name provider. I chose them because they were the only provider I had ever heard of, thanks to their (horrible) Super Bowl commercials. As of this writing, it costs $12.99 annually for me to have my .com custom domain (with absolute basic service). I've set it to renew automatically (highly recommended).
*** You should read the article at the other end of this link @ Spice Up Your Blog (a trusted source of mine) if you are still undecided (or even if you're not). In easy-to-follow Q&A format, it thoroughly covers some of the things I've mentioned in this post, plus several others. Also, because there is great user feedback in the comments, it really helped to put my mind at ease.
*****
And now, your BONUS CORGI SHORT (story):
Frosty Doesn't Look Good, Mama!
In the front yard on Tuesday...
Hey, Dewi, something's wrong with Frosty!
And that's all there is to it, friends! I hope this has been helpful!
* I use Blogger (vs. self-hosting on another platform) for a variety of reasons, mostly because I am lazy. It is a personal preference, and I believe personal preferences are okay. :) I pay nothing to use Blogger; however, there is a limit to free image storage space, which I plowed through in under a year. Therefore, I pay $4.99 per year for the lowest available increment of extra image storage space through Google. When my hard drive crashed a few months ago and I lost thousands of stored images, that $4.99 annual fee seemed like a really small price to pay for back-up.
** GoDaddy.com is NOT the only domain name provider. I chose them because they were the only provider I had ever heard of, thanks to their (horrible) Super Bowl commercials. As of this writing, it costs $12.99 annually for me to have my .com custom domain (with absolute basic service). I've set it to renew automatically (highly recommended).
*** You should read the article at the other end of this link @ Spice Up Your Blog (a trusted source of mine) if you are still undecided (or even if you're not). In easy-to-follow Q&A format, it thoroughly covers some of the things I've mentioned in this post, plus several others. Also, because there is great user feedback in the comments, it really helped to put my mind at ease.
*****
And now, your BONUS CORGI SHORT (story):
Frosty Doesn't Look Good, Mama!
In the front yard on Tuesday...
Hey, Dewi, something's wrong with Frosty!