Moving from Blogspot to Custom Domain
Hello friends. How's it going? Me I am doing well. I've been tweaking this old blog again. For one I have been messing with my side bar. I don't use a test blog which is probably not smart but totally how I roll. I often wonder if anyone ever is on my page when I am tweaking and sees how many weird issues I have. Like when little html gadgets are huge and taking up half the blog.
The biggest thing I have done is I made the jump from a blogspot address to a .com. I purchased my Domain name. If you are reading this in a reader than you wouldn't notice but if you are on my page take a look up there it says blueroofcabin.com. No more blogspot in my address. How fun.
There are several different ways to purchase your domain name and several options for hosting. So many that I can't even pretend to know the best option for anybody. There is a lot of information out there for you to make the best decision for yourself.
I found out that the easiest thing for me was to purchase my domain name through blogger. Really it was more like a small step than a jump. Blogger makes it so easy for you. It does have a small cost though, $10 a year. For me the joy my blog brings me is worth it. The other benefit to me was blogger still hosts your blog for free so I did not have to learn any new program. I still log into Blogger and everything looks the same in the background. Blogger does what I need it to do right now. As my blog grows that may change but one thing at a time.
How do you do it?
From your Blogger dashboard go to settings, about the middle of the page is publishing, underneath it says add a Custom Domain. Click on that and it will walk you through the process.
After you go through the steps expect it to take up to three days for everything to be complete. Of course it took all of those three days before my old blogspot address redirected to the .com. I was starting to sweat it but I read that it can take that long so I just had to tell myself not to worry til day four.
So the obvious questions are what happens to followers, subscribers, pinterest, facebook, AdSense.........
That's the best part. People are automatically redirected to the new address and all my old posts are still available. I kept my followers, pinterest traffic and I didn't have to do anything extra for AdSense either.
So why did I do it? I recently met a sweet gal who used to have a blog. She asked me if I owned my domain name and when I told her no she told me a story. Basically she had grown her blog to 1500 followers. She did not register her blogs domain name and someone else did. Okay so I was terrified. Blue Roof Cabin is my name. It's my home, my blog, and now my business no one else can have it. I am emotionally attached to the name. So I came home read up on it and made the decision. Honestly I hadn't been seriously thinking about it until then because I thought it would be harder to do than it is. It was one of those things I would get to eventually.
Overall I'm happy with the switch and it went smoothly for me. So many of us are figuring things out as we go so I thought I'd share. If any issues come up I will let you know.
So have you been thinking about it? Anything to add?
The biggest thing I have done is I made the jump from a blogspot address to a .com. I purchased my Domain name. If you are reading this in a reader than you wouldn't notice but if you are on my page take a look up there it says blueroofcabin.com. No more blogspot in my address. How fun.
There are several different ways to purchase your domain name and several options for hosting. So many that I can't even pretend to know the best option for anybody. There is a lot of information out there for you to make the best decision for yourself.
I found out that the easiest thing for me was to purchase my domain name through blogger. Really it was more like a small step than a jump. Blogger makes it so easy for you. It does have a small cost though, $10 a year. For me the joy my blog brings me is worth it. The other benefit to me was blogger still hosts your blog for free so I did not have to learn any new program. I still log into Blogger and everything looks the same in the background. Blogger does what I need it to do right now. As my blog grows that may change but one thing at a time.
How do you do it?
From your Blogger dashboard go to settings, about the middle of the page is publishing, underneath it says add a Custom Domain. Click on that and it will walk you through the process.
After you go through the steps expect it to take up to three days for everything to be complete. Of course it took all of those three days before my old blogspot address redirected to the .com. I was starting to sweat it but I read that it can take that long so I just had to tell myself not to worry til day four.
So the obvious questions are what happens to followers, subscribers, pinterest, facebook, AdSense.........
That's the best part. People are automatically redirected to the new address and all my old posts are still available. I kept my followers, pinterest traffic and I didn't have to do anything extra for AdSense either.
So why did I do it? I recently met a sweet gal who used to have a blog. She asked me if I owned my domain name and when I told her no she told me a story. Basically she had grown her blog to 1500 followers. She did not register her blogs domain name and someone else did. Okay so I was terrified. Blue Roof Cabin is my name. It's my home, my blog, and now my business no one else can have it. I am emotionally attached to the name. So I came home read up on it and made the decision. Honestly I hadn't been seriously thinking about it until then because I thought it would be harder to do than it is. It was one of those things I would get to eventually.
Some benefits I read about for making the switch included appearing more professional. For me I love other blogspot blogs when I see one I see my peeps but others say the majority find .coms to seem more professional. Not everyone is familiar with blogs which is crazy talk I say, but it's true. I guess I have seen this with people I know. They say oh you have a website? and when I say it's a blog they go "a blog?? oh." (insert confused face) Or when you tell them the blog address and get to the blogspot part their eyes glaze over. Blueroofcabin.com is just easier. Then there's owning your domain name. Mine mine mine.
Some cons on switching include a drop in blog ranking and search engine traffic. Most people said that that only lasted 6 months or so.
Some cons on switching include a drop in blog ranking and search engine traffic. Most people said that that only lasted 6 months or so.
Overall I'm happy with the switch and it went smoothly for me. So many of us are figuring things out as we go so I thought I'd share. If any issues come up I will let you know.
So have you been thinking about it? Anything to add?