Go Daddy: How to Set Up a Custom Domain Name
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| Custom Domains _____________ |
You see the URL in the browser box?
Although this blog is hosted on Blogger and has at its root a blogger address (http://www.temptus.blogspot.com — go ahead, check it out, and click on it), the home page address that you actually see is http://www.LifeIsABrand.com. (You might
see more stuff after the .com, but that is just the sub URL info for this
specific post).
How can this be?
Easy.
I have set up a
custom domain, and you can set up your own custom address for your Blogger site.
I’ll tell you
how.
These
instructions are for Go Daddy domains. For domains at other registrars, you
will need to get in touch with your registrar’s support or Google forums, but
it can be done through most registrars.
This process
looks more complicated than it is, simply because you need to flip back and
forth between your Go Daddy and Blogger accounts. There are a lot of parts to
this process, but if you understand that you’re simply sending coded messages between
your domain at Go Daddy and your Blogger site, it does make a kind of sense.
So here goes:
1.
Log in to your account at www.godaddy.com.
2.
Drag your cursor to Products (Green Strip)
3.
Drag your cursor to Domains, which will reveal a Manage
Now Tab (Lower right).
4.
Click on Manage
Now; this will open up your Domains
panel.
5.
Find the domain you want to use for your custom
domain and click on it. You will be automatically taken to the Settings tab for that specific domain.
6.
Switch to the DNS Zone File tab.
7.
Click the Edit
(Gray tab), which will take you to Zone
File Editor.
8.
Under CNAMES (Alias), scroll down until you find www
(in the Host block) and @ (Points
to block)
9.
Replace the @
with ghs.google.com; leave the www as is.
10.
Click Save,
and follow the prompts (you will get a warning that you are about to change
your zone file, but go ahead and do it).
You
aren’t finished yet; you need to set up your commands on your blogger account.
1.
Go to www.blogger.com.
2.
Log in to
your blogger account (or set one up if you haven’t already; the prompts are
very clear, but when you set up a blog, you will have to select a blogspot URL.
You will soon be switching it over to a custom domain name.)
3.
On the side panel, click on Settings.
4.
Under Publishing,
click Edit; you will see your
blogspot URL.
5.
Go to Advanced
Settings. In the box beginning with http://,
type your intended custom domain name, for example, www.YourDomainName.com (be sure to include the www).
6.
You should see two codes, one 12 characters and
a longer one (which will include googlehosted.com).
7.
If you don’t see these codes, click on Save. This Save will fail (because you haven’t finished setting up the Go Daddy
part yet), but don’t worry about this. Saving should reveal these codes.
8.
Highlight the 12-character code and hit Ctrl C.
You
will now be flip flopping between your blogger and Go Daddy accounts because
you can only highlight one code at a time.
1.
It is likely that Go Daddy has automatically logged
you out, so log in again and repeat the process for logging in.
2.
This time, go to your Settings tab, and scroll down to Forwarding. Click on Manage.
You will be forwarding your custom domain to itself, including the www. Don’t ask me the logic behind
this; just do it. That way, your domain, with or without the www, will resolve properly.
3.
Now go back to your DNS Zone File and click on Edit;
this will take you back to your Zone
File Editor, CNAMES (alias) section.
4.
At the Zone
File Editor, at the end of CNAMES
(alias), click on Quick Add; you
will see two new blank blocks, Host
and Points to blocks.
5.
From Blogger, paste the 12-character code in the
Host block at Go Daddy.
6.
Go back to blogger and highlight the
longer code. Back at Go Daddy’s Zone File Editor, paste the longer code in the empty Points to block.
7.
Click Save,
and follow the prompts (again, you will get a warning that you are about to
change your zone file, but go ahead and do it).
8.
Go back to Blogger – you should be still logged
in and still on the Settings (Advanced settings) area.
9.
Check off the box that says “Redirect YourDomain.com to
www.YourDomainName.com.”
10.
Save
again.
That’s it. The change
should be instant, but sometimes it takes an hour or so to resolve, so wait a
while before going into panic mode.
If you have
difficulties in getting this to work, try Go Daddy support and/or Google forums
for help:
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