Welcome to The Real Blogger Status - Beta. Please note the warnings (as of 6/13: 0 active), and the alerts (as of 1/10/2007: 5 active).

Please be aware of the naming variances in this blog. You will find various references to "Classic" / "Old Template 2006" Blogger, and to "Beta" / "New Template 2006" Blogger.

Friday, January 05, 2007

Custom Domain Names Hosted By Blogger

Up to now, if you wanted a blog (web site) named myblog, you had 2 choices.

  1. Setup myblog.blogspot.com, hosted by Blog*Spot, and with all of the shiny features of (now) New Blogger.
  2. Setup myblog.com (myblog.org, ...), hosted by a host of your choice (and extra cost in most cases), but with less features than a Blog*Spot hosted blog.


Note: This post has been migrated (and significantly enhanced) as The Real Blogger Status: Custom Domain Names Hosted By Blogger.

Now, there is a third choice. Setup myblog.com (myblog.org, ...), hosted by Blog*Spot.
  1. You pay for the DNS listing, which tells your reader's computers where your blog is.
  2. You setup a DNS entry, pointing "myblog.com" to "ghs.google.com".
  3. You setup Blogger to publish to the custom domain.
(Note): Set the domain up carefully.

This solution has its good, and its bad, points.
  • The Good:
    • Save money. No need for an extra cost hosting service.
    • All of the shiny features of New Blogger.
    • None of the unstable publishing problems, reported of late.
    • Your current Blog*Spot address will continue to work, and to forward to your new, custom domain.
    • No more abandoned Blog*Spot address, and no more subsequent splog hijackings.
  • The Bad:
    • If you opted for external publishing to get away from Blog*Spot hosting, this isn't for you.
    • If your domain contains more than a blog - ie maybe a chat room or FTP server, this may be a problem. You have two possibilities here.
      • Have two named domains - one inside Blog*Spot, the other outside, and links between the two.
      • Setup a subdomain DNS record, pointing to "ghs.google.com". Make sure that all of the links between the website and the blog are absolute, ie "http://myblog.mydomain.com", rather than "/blog".


(Note 1/16): There's a lot of theory here. See Google Custom Domain - Case Study #1 for an actual exploration of the facts. And see Setting Up A Custom Domain? Here's Advice, for a review of the essential steps that you must follow.

>> Top

5 comments:

Jon Andersen said...

Hi,

I've discovered a NEW serious bug in the new Custom Domain feature in Blogger. In a nutshell, it doesn't work with the TLD (top-level domain) of .info. More than one person has experienced this bug. Its very easy to reproduce.

To reproduce:
1. Attempt to switch your blog to be published as a "Custom Domain".
2. Enter a random DNS name that ends in ".info", such as "dfgjnqwerg137.info".
3. Hit "Save Settings"

It won't work! It will incorrectly report that "Another blog is already hosted at this address." This happens with any .info DNS entries. Compare a random .com address; it will go through just fine.

Please contact me at jonandersen aT umich.edu if you post about this issue.

E P said...

I have found the same problem with .info

bl said...

the same, and it is a pity i've just registered a .info for myself. after trying two days of every possible combinations, i found this. I should be "happy", it is not my fault.

to who should this be reported?

Test said...

Hi,

And how can I set up FTP settings AFTER having created my blog on Blogger ? Because if I have to create a blog and directly set up FTP publishing, it will be very hard and not reader-friendly to migrate from my current hosted blog to Blogger...

Nitecruzr said...

Olivier,

If your blog has already been setup and published on Blog*Spot, all that you have to do is setup the domain DNS with your DNS hosting service, and republish to the custom domain. Or setup your external domain, and publish there.

That's your choice.

Are you asking this question in Google Blogger Help?