By Sushovan Parida
"www.mydomain.com" or "www.mydomain.org" or "www.mydomain.in"
How do these domain names sound? Cool, Isn't it? Feels proud? Of course!
Having your own custom domain name is a luxury that every blogger yearns for. It feels like a sense of achievement and satisfaction and is certainly better than a "myblog.blogspot.com".
So folks if you are ready with your own domain I'm ready to explain the simplest steps to use your own domain with your blog i.e redirect your blog to your own domain.
Some Bloggers get lured by those free domains like .co.cc (probably already out of business), .tk (good but not as good au you desire). But believe me this free domains won't get you anywhere, what you need is a real TLD (top level domain) like .com, .org, .net or even a CCTLD like .in
If you think a TLD is costly then think again. You can get a TLD at less than Rs.20/month (0.5$/month) at BigRock.in
Click here to get a Domain from BIGROCK @25% OFF
So I'll start this simple Blog Redirection tutorial assuming you are done with your domain purchase :
1. Log into Blogger account. Go to Settings -> Publishing -> Blog Address.Click on Add a custom domain.
2. Now click Switch to advanced settings and enter your domain like "www.mydomain.com" and click Save. that will show you an error (302) with two CNAME (canonical name) entries.
3. Now visit your domain Registrar's website, go to control panel and find the DNS Management Settings.
Find CNAME records to Add the two CNAME records you found (in Step 2)
4. For the first CNAME, where it says Name, Label or Host enter "www" and where it says Destination, Target orPoints To enter "ghs.google.com". This is a common entry for all blogspot Blogs.
FIRST CNAME ENTRY
SECOND CNAME ENTRY
5. The second CNAME entries may be different for different Blogs, so use only the values obtained in Step 2.
Add the first value("3paseuzylwnm") in the Name/Host field. This value is known as the Authorship verification CNAME. Do not change the TTL values. TTL values are assigned by default same for both CNAME entries. You can refer to the above screenshots for help.
6. Now you have to add A-records. Click Add A records in DNS Management.Enter your domain name in the format "mydomain.com", and list the I.P. addresses shown below. You'll need to create four separate A-records which point to four different Google IPs.
216.239.32.21
216.239.34.21
216.239.36.21
216.239.38.21
You have to add four A records with the above given IPs. Follow the format and guidelines in the above screenshot.
The A Records link your naked domain (mydomain.com) to your actual site (www.mydomain.com). If you skip this step, visitors who leave off the "www" will see an error page.
7. Now it's time to update your Blogger settings and Publish it with new Domain . Make sure you wait for about an hour before doing this to activate the DNS settings.
Go to Blog Settings -> Publishing.Add your Domain name in advanced settings and click the Save button. (refer to screenshot of Step 2)
Congratulations!, you’re all set to give you Blog a new identity with you own custom domain.
SOME COMMON ERRORS
Error 12, Error 14
These are the two errors which you are likely to encounter once you click the Save button (in Step 7).
The actual diagnosis of error 12 and error 14 is not possible and the reasons are still unclear.
And if you try to visit your domain (www.mydomain.com) during that you'll encounter error 404.
If you encounter these errors and check and double check your DNS settings and try to Save in Blog publishing again. If it doesn't work then delete all CNAME and A records and re-enter them again in DNS settings. Wait for around 12 hours and then try publishing your Blog.
Do not change your DNS settings anymore after that. If it's taking too much time and you still see the errors then ask for help in Blogger Help Forum or you can ask for help from my dear friend and Blogger Expert Chuck Croll - The Real Blogger Status
If you are having trouble implementing this then drop me a comment, I'll try my best to make things simpler for you.
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