The Real Blogger Status

Occasionally, we see queries from blog owners, considering moving their custom domain published blogs to new hosts. I bought my domain through Blogger, and now I need to move it to my own hosting. Can someone please advise me. I know that I need to change the name servers somewhere. Here we have a somewhat vague question, that can have several results. You need to be aware of three essential services , that are involved in any blog or website. Be aware of the differences between Domain Registration, DNS Hosting, and Content Hosting, and decide what, specifically, you need to do. Keep the custom domain published Blogger blog, and add a new blog or website to the domain . Keep the custom domain published blog, but host the domain with a different registrar. Move DNS and registration only. Move the blog from Blogger to another host. Move content, DNS, and registration. Move the domain, to host DNS using a third party service . Consider these alternatives carefully, they may affect ...

Up to now, I've written about Blogger blogs, and Classic vs Layouts templates, as if classic and layouts templates are two separate worlds. Classic = HTML = old school. Layouts = XML = new and shiny. Sometimes, you might want to blur the distinction between the two. Maybe you got a shiny HTML design for your blog, or you want to combine your blog with your web site . And, you want to use Layouts accessories, comments, and posts, written in XML . Is it possible to have the best of both worlds? Use a Layouts Blogger blog, and base the template around HTML code? The answer is, yes. And, it's not all that difficult to do so.

A blog, by tradition, is an online journal. We write the posts, and when we enable post titles, we choose the post titles. When we enable post pages and post titles, the URLs of the posts are a function of the dates, and the titles, of the posts. We can choose the titles of the posts, but the Blogger post editor chooses the URLs. This is a key component in the Blogger Infrastructure . The static page editor ("Edit Pages") uses the same engine as the Post Editor, and Static Pages (aka "Pages") use a similar basic URL structure.

When you accept membership in an existing blog, you are receiving an invitation, from the blog owner, as added to the Permissions list for the blog. The blog owner uses your known email address when sending you the invitation. You have the opportunity to use an existing Google account - or create a new account - based upon any email address that you have (or may not have ). The email address (Google account) that you use, when accepting the invitation, may or may not equal the email address where you received the invitation.

Your blog is for you to share - at your discretion - with the world, with your friends, or with one special friend. You make this choice using the Settings - Permissions wizard. If you restrict access to your blog , simply so you can actively meter your readers, you can setup alternate access procedures , and let strangers request access. If you don't want strangers accessing your blog, and you have planned access restriction properly , you can block public access to your blog. Period.

Based upon my observations of questions posted in the Blogger Help Forums, maybe 95% of the folks publishing their Blogger blogs to a non BlogSpot URL, as a the Google Custom Domain , use the Blogger " Buy A Domain For Your Blog " wizard. Why not? It's quick, easy, and linear. Once you choose an available domain, all that you have to do is input payment details ($10 USD for a year). The real work, of setting up the domain in the registrar's DNS servers, is all done for you, by the wizard. Take 10 minutes - and I am conservative here - and you can have a non BlogSpot URL that your readers can use, to view your blog. But there are times when the "Buy A Domain" wizard won't suffice. Maybe you need a domain in a Top Level Domain group, that's not provided by the wizard. Or maybe you don't like eNom and GoDaddy as registrars - or you already have a registrar for other purposes, and you want to continue to use that registrar. No problem, you ca...

Besides surfing blogs using Following , which will let you identify other bloggers with possibly common interests (hoping that anybody who Follows your blog would be somewhat interested in what also interests you), we have the possibility of surfing blogger profiles using profile keywords. When you edit your Blogger profile , you can specify keywords which correspond to specific things that interest you. Having done that, those keywords become links, to profiles of other bloggers who have specified those same keywords. Be sure to check the spelling - you'll be able to test it immediately. >> Top