A lot of people use Blogger because it's easy to get started and use, it's supported by Google and most importantly, it's free.
However, when using it in it's standard form, you will reference it with a generic domain name, such as "myname.blogspot.com" (blogspot.com, being the general domain name for Blogger.)
If you want to publish and access your Blogger blog by a unique domain name, it's relatively easy to do. It will require you to have a registered domain name, or you can purchase one through Blogger's Dashboard setup facility.
To begin, you need to log into Blogger, select "Dashboard" and "Settings" for your blog, then select "Publishing" and "Buy A Domain For Your Blog" (whether you already have a domain or not). Next, if you need to purchase a domain name, follow the process for purchasing your domain name, otherwise (if you already have a domain name to use) click on "Switch to advanced settings".
Blogger also has online instructions: How do I use a custom domain name on my blog? and it will walk you through the setup steps.
I started the process with an existing domain name that I wanted to assign. I also wanted to use "mydomainname.com" WITHOUT the "www." prefix. The instructions were not that clear, actually confusing on what to do in either case of using or not using the "www".
While the actual steps vary for each domain names provider (i.e., registrar, such as GoDaddy, 1and1, etc.), they essentially require you to create a CNAME entry (actually two, which is not clear from Blogger's instructions):
one CNAME entry for "www" (probably already exists, you just have to edit it, otherwise add it) and
one CNAME entry for "yourdomain.com" (you will have to add it)
Both will point to host name = "ghs.google.com"
For example, if you use GoDaddy, here is a link to a clear set of instructions.
Note: You don't have to understand all about what a CNAME is in order to accomplish this. Just follow the instructions step-by-step and you will be fine.
As one of the final steps, make sure that in the Settings --> Publishing section, you enter your "www.yourdomain.com" (or "yourdomain.com") address. And be sure to place a check mark in front of "Redirect www.yourdomain.com to yourdomain.com" (or vice versa).
Now you should be able to access your Blogger blog by it's new domain name and it will display the domain property in the browsers address area as "domain.com or www.domain.com" instead of "myname.blogspot.com".
If you want to reference your blog by a subdomain address such as, "blog.yourdomain.com", the above links will also be of help to you. Just keep in mind that you will be creating a CNAME (alias) entry for "blog", but NOT for "www" nor "yourdomain.com" since they are already referencing your regular web site.
Copyright 2008 by Lawrence Yerkes. All Rights Reserved.
